the moment i stepped into esplanade's dome, i knew i was in for a treat. this is a different hall from the one where sheila majid held her concert last year. the dome is smaller but gorgeously built. i sat in the 6th row, exactly the same row and distance from the stage as my last DFP concert where nah youn sun performed.

it was such a treat to listen to emi fujita in this kind of acoustic environment. i really have to thank my lucky stars that i got so many chances like this in my life to listen to world-class performances in a world-class halls.

emi's peformance was good, steady and sweet, without the technical supremacy of nah youn sun. it just goes to show all you need is a good song and a good voice; technicality may not be everything. you would never expect emi to do vocal acrobatics; she is the kind of singer who will sing a good song in a down-to-earth way. all the songs she chose for the night are golden classics - the rose, tears in heaven, annie's song, all my loving, daydream believer, somewhere over the rainbow etc etc. at times, emi's voice is just too flat to carry the song, like in the chirpy "daydream believer" but the audience just lapped it up. emi even did "singapura, singapura" much to the delight of singaporean fans.

to be absolutely frank, the dome's acoustics are not as great as DFP. the bass, from where i sat, is slightly boomy and a lot of details and nuances were lost in emi's voice, unlike my experience with nah youn sun where i could even hear her breathing. and the big speakers flanking the stage were too directional; one could not feel the sound coming from the centrestage. my anti-audiophile friend was complaining "see, there's no soundstage in live performance?? all the sound was coming from the two speakers!" i just couldn't rebutt him.

a little bird to me that emi's cds sold a whopping 30,000 copies in singapore alone. that's an incredible figure considering that most best-selling audiophile cds sold an average of 2,000 copies. (note: 2v1g sold close to 1,000 copies in sg) it speaks volume of emi's popularity in tiny dot.

the autograph session is overwhelming (as can be seen from the photo), the queue was building up fast as soon as the concert finished. the sales of emi's cds was brisk too with another long queue forming at a different counter. poor me had to wait for the autograph session to be over before i got to talk to emi.

i finally got to meet with emi at around 11:00pm at the backstage and all her crew were rushing to get out of esplanade by then. apparently, esplanade has to be closed by 11:00pm. emi looked tired and but nevertheless she is nice and sweet. her event organizer, ms shirleen jong, actually invited us for supper but we felt that we were intruding so we turned down their invitation.

this trip has been extremely fruitful as i got to meet many audiophile music industry figures in sg. top on the list is mr. sebastian koh, the grandfather of audiophile music in sg. seb is the boss of groove note, the label that houses jacintha. groove note has grown into an international audiophile label in just over a couple of years but seb admitted that the audiophile music biz has declined over the last 2 years. i knew seb from the late 80s, eventho' we were not formally introduced. finally, we got a chance to meet face to face. seb is a really really chatty guy. we shared many things that night, talking about hi-fi in the heyday of 80s and 90s, and the gradual decline, the audiophile music industry and recording techniques and all the those personalities in the hifi scene in singapore. we chatted until 2am that morning!



i also met up with my 2v1g distributor in sg, philip and norman. they were such nice guys. i have never felt so at home in singapore. i made 4 new friends during this trip alone!

i bought caig's deoxit contact cleaner for SGD21.90 at new disc village. when i get back my system, i am going to apply deoxit on all my cables and connectors.

this ranks as my best singapore trip in recent years.

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how lucky can one get?

some kind soul is flying me to SG this weekend to cover the emi fujita acoustic live concert in esplanade!

not only will i get the best seat, i also get to interview her!

btw, something great is brewing and you will be the first one to know it here.

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once in a while, a concert performance comes along that completely blows your mind away. i couldn't get enough of tonight's concert at DFP (dewan filharmonik petronas).

anyone who was at DFP last night and tonight must have come out from the hall, like us, totally mesmerized over the superlative performance by korean jazz princess, nah youn sun. for the five of us, we went completely ga-ga. how could anyone who's into jazz music could possibly afford to miss such a stunning performance?

i went with winnie (of 2v1g) and her friends who are all in the music line and all of us had nothing but the highest praise for nah and her band. everyone of us thinks we had the best concert ever for the year. for me, it is one of the very best concerts in the last few years, a few notches above diana krall's concert last month.

nah has the silkiest of voice i have ever heard. it not so much of her tone but he extraordinary voice control. some singers can be soft and velvety; some can be power-packed and explosive but nah has everything. she could be tender and sweet one moment, the next moment she could be hitting the high notes and power-packing the song with so much energy. every singer (like my winnie girl) would be envious of the talents of nah. she has the most perfect of pitch; i couldn't find any faults in her singing eventho' it is a live performance. and her scatting, wow, is absolutely out of this world, i am telling you.

another thing worthy of mention is nah sang many original compositions, which normally would not elicit instant response from the crowd because they are not familiar with the tunes but nah's compositions are so good and packed a pop sensibility that even first-timers could appreciate it instantly.

nah sings a few songs in spanish, cuban and french and she even sang a convincing malay classic "jauh jauh" just to please the malaysian audience.

we met interglobal's boss, cheah mun kit there, who distributes nah cd in malaysia (see the cover above). ever the jovial guy, cheah introduced me to nah's producer, who is also called nah. i showed cheah two thumbs-up sign after the concert and cheah the joker jested "i finally met a singer who could sing as well as me!". cheah, you can't sing la!

concert like this enriches our musical life and leaves a permanent mark in our memory. i couldn't believe that i didn't invite all my friends to this memorable occasion. and audiophiles who are always talking about how good music and good singer should be - you really need to watch out for DFP's programme for future performances of nah youn sun. you can bet that i would return for her future performances.

another note. DFP's acoutics are as usual fantastic but i would prefer a bit more midrange thickness and density. i sat on the 6th row and i did feel that the mid-highs were a bit emphasized. but that's the neurotic audiophile in me talking la!

fabulous, superb, memorable, breathless, stunning, what a night!

p/s now go and get the album "memory lane" from interglobal!

just like in hifi, if your system has no contrast, it won't be able to portray the extremes of emotions very well

mrs. costello has visibly gained some weights since she became a mother, something which she proudly declared during the concert in kl last night. she even mentioned about her famous husband but i guess not many people know who her husband is. and yes, krall has the most beautiful blonde hair i have ever seen ;-)

the acoustics in plenery hall are good, tho' nowhere approaching the dewan filharmonik petronas (DFP). from where we sat, the sound did not have enough volume. anthony wilson's guitar came across louder than diana krall's piano but it doesn't matter, the quartet played a tight set throughout the entire night.

what impressed me is how seasoned krall's voice has become. it has a kind of tone that is akin to the best of wine reserved for the connoisseurs. many people dislike krall because they think her voice is technically perfect but lacking of real emotions and this i have to disagree. listening to her rendition of joni mitchell "a case of you" with just the piano with pin-drop silence from the audience, i could feel my goose bumps raised and my heart stopped beating.

and anthony wilson's is a gem, his guitar is so soulful and sensitive. i actually mentioned to my producer (chow) that how i wished roger wang is here. i am not saying that roger is not as good as anthony wilson but he could learn a thing or two from anthony. what i love about anthony's guitar is the contrast in his playing between the fast numbers and the slows numbers. there is a good mix of slow and fast numbers in the set and when it comes to the slow (really really slow) ones, krall (and her piano playing) sounded so very seductive and sensitive; it touched and moved the soul. and anthony's guitar playing complemented very well, like hand and glove.

a lot of local musicians i know do not have enough of contrast in their playing, this much i can tell you. most of them revel in playing fast dynamic numbers but when it comes to slow ones, they lack sensitivity and delicacy. just like in hifi, many systems can play dynamic bang-slam-thank-you-mam pieces well but when it comes to music with one or two instruments in stripped down format, it can't deliver the emotions and sensitivity. if your system has no contrast, it won't be able to portray the extremes of emotions very well.

overall, krall and her quartet delivered a night of quality jazz. but i wished the venue could be smaller with more intimate crowd. i was told that krall and entourage adjourned to no black tie (NBT) after the concert to jam with local jazz musicians but it was too late for me to go to NBT.

talking about NBT, yes, two of 2v1g's gigs are full house next week! yay, give me five!

ok, i am a bit late in discovering kokokaina - the latest singing sensation from boleh land. but what a voice! since we already have malaysia's michael buble in sean ghazi, now we have our own norah jones. she has the same shock factor as joanna wang due to her young age. some say she is better than norah jones - she is our own junior billy holiday!

check out this video - which has close to 700,000 views in youtube.

amazing talent she is. wish i could sign her up!

the bananarama girls - sarah and karen, minus siobhan

i just came back from "the best of 80s" concert in genting. i couldn't help but feeling a wee bit melancholic. don't blame me.

the concert boasts of 80s acts like johnny hates jazz, paul young, limahl (from kajagoogoo), howard jones and bananarama. you know you are old when you know who these people are. majority of the audience were uncles and aunties in their 40s, 50s and even 60s. it was surprising to find some obviously young 20-somethings among the crowd.

just when we were (8 of us) about to bask in the glory of the past, we were rather shocked to discover how old and aged our favorite singers have become. paul young ("love of the common people", "every time you go away", "everything must change"), is definitely not young with his terribly broken vocal chord, trying hard to impress with his piercing voice. it was torturous for us to bear with his broken voice. at least, he has plenty of showmanship to make up for his poor voice. howard jones, the one-man synthesizer band, is much better tho' his hair has completely gone white. jonhny hates jazz ("shattered dreams", "i don't want to be a hero", "turn back the clock") is no longer the same with a different lead vocalist who is not half as good as the original man but their catchy tunes stuck in my head for the long time. listening to "turn back the clock", it almost moved me to tears with its lyrics "i wish i can turn back the clock, to a time when love was so much better....". gosh, these are achingly thoughtful lyrics for some of us.

so when bananarama, the british fun girl trio (who was once the darling of trio-producer team stock-aitken-waterman (SAW) pop factory in the 80s), appeared, i was bracing for the worse. when i was a student in the 80s, karen woodward - the prettiest bananarama girl - was my poster girl. from what i could see, karen still looked good on stage, while sarah dallin has definitely grown old and slightly fat. "they must be in the 40s now", i uttered to myself. the two middle-aged women still prance and dance a lot on the stage, complete with synchronized dance steps, exactly the same as they did in the 80s. listening to "love in the first degree", "i heard a rumour" and "venus", my goose bumps were all raised....

i wonder if they perform for a living or as a hobby. some of these 80s artistes are obviously way past their shelf life. it is a sad thing if at this age you still need to act young to please the equally aging crowd.

so it was a night of reminiscing and nostalgia, and some morbid thoughts (about aging). one of the my classmates, who went for the concert, cracked a rather funny but morbid joke. he said if the organizer were to organize a "best of the 60s" concert, there would be very few audience.... cos most of them are not around anymore.

at the launch, regine (left), z-yan (centre) and yuheng (right)

z-yan's cd cover - one of the most glam shots i have even seen!



my new friend, z-yan [欣彦](real name: xin yan), has just released her debut mandarin album yesterday!

after a long wait of 6 years, z-yan finally sees the fruit of her labour. it was a memorable day at the press conference with friends and journalists congratulating her.

i am the first one to buy her album and has since been spinning non-stop.

it is a good album filled with happy and bittersweet tunes that suit z-yan's innocent and angelic voice. good friends yuheng [宇珩] and regine [丽津] also lend their voices to one of the songs.

i urge you to support local artistes by buying a copy of z-yan's cd! it is only RM29.90 and i may even get it at RM25 for you readers.

drop me a comment if you want to order a copy. i have already sold 5 copies to my friends and kaki...

your sunny personality
shines like the morning sun

your dimpled smile
brightens the darkest hours

your immense talent
inspires everyone around you

your sweet voice
like angel descends from above

your musical world
a kaleidoscope of love and happiness

[congrats to regine...for having your composition picked by gigi leung and used it as her major hit song in her latest album! It is a great song destined to hit it big in all the charts all over the world!]

we've got the tickets! 10th row from the stage!!!!! *** shiver in anticipation ***

my agent in SG told me that it may have already been sold out within the first day! AMAZING!

check out http://www.sistic.com.sg/cms/events/index.html?content=1167

synopsis

Armed with perfectly pure voice, Chen Chi Chen (Cheer), now a popular singer-songwriter, has produced songs touching the hearts of many, and her “A Fabulous Adventure” （華麗的冒險）won her the Best Music Album Producer and Best MV Award at the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards in 2006.

It was no surprised that Cheer’s “A Piece of Summer” Concert 2007 in Taipei sold out within 12 hours after tickets launched.

Come indulge in “A Piece of Summer” Singapore Concert and watch her “live” performance as she sings to the familiar tunes like [Rang Wo Xiang Yi Xiang], [Hai SHi Hui Ji Mo ], [Yu Tian De Wei Ba ], [Lu Xing De Yi Yi ], [ Xiao Bu Wu Qu ] on 29 Sept 2007.

two suprises are in store for double take's gig next week:
1) jamie wilson may be jamming with roger on one of these nights, you just have to find out which night!
2) and you get to meet me and my two singers, winnie and regine!

Details-
Date : 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th June 2007
Venue : Flo Lobby Lounge, Hotel Equatorial KL
Time : 9.30pm
Cover : RM50nett (inclusive of 1st drink)
For reservations, please call 03-2161 7777 ext 8224

"superman" - great album by gary cao ge

when i first interviewed gary chow (cao ge) back in 1999, i could never imagine that a guy with his physique and looks could possibly make it. i don't mean to disrespect his considerable talents, but in chinese music industry, good looks are prerequisite, regardless of the amount of talents you have. i remembered the interview vividly - gary came to my 2nd hand cd shop (music exchange) one afternoon, dressed in t-shirt and jeans and i was like "OMG, this guy is so ordinary!". so i almost wrote him off.

i am seldom wrong in singling out the stars of tomorrow in the chinese music industry. but in gary's case, i am dead wrong, embarassingly wrong. i ought to be hanged for the crime i committed in writing off gary as a potential star 8 years ago.

fast forward 8 years and i picked up - for the first time - gary's sophomore album entitled "superman". my, was i suprised by how much he has improved and matured and changed! i am listening to a first-class R&B singer from malaysia who has made in big in taiwan just the last 2 years! gary's voice graces the R&B tunes with so much finesse and style, massaging the tunes with the experience of a seasoned R&B and soul singer. i am so impressed.

and here's it - my apology to gary: i am glad you have finally made it. you are another singer who has made malaysia proud.

while the nation is celebrating the remarkable achievements of our badminton doubles pair, a petite malaysian chinese female singer has equally made malaysians proud by being the first malaysian female singer (the male being michael wong) to perform in the prestigious HK colliseum stadium, the mecca for all superstar cantopop singers. more than any local singers (again, other than michael wong) in the country, fish has brought fame to malaysia as a land of many talented singers.

fish's success is a typical story of hardwork coupled with talent and a little bit of luck. while many malaysian chinese singers falter at the prospect of conquering taiwan, fish did it with so much style and maturity. in fact, EQ is one of fish's greatest assets, besides her vocal prowess. the way she handles the media and industry as a whole, shows that she is a woman with high EQ.

it is also exciting to know that in conjunction with her maiden concert in HK, she would be releasing a cantonese singles. now that is exciting; just how many malaysian chinese singers dare to sing cantonese songs in HK? the last one who did it in grand style was eric moo, but his success was short-lived. fish, good with her cantonese, is the only candidate hopeful of satisfying the critical HK listeners (when it comes to cantopop). even the likes of stefanie sun (yanzi), who has such a big presence in HK, does not dare to sing cantonese, for the fear of disappointing her HK fans. i am waiting with bated breath for fish's first cantonese song.

besides penny tai & michael wong, fish leong is easily the most successful malaysian entertainer overseas, and a good embassador for the country. we are proud of her!