Last Saturday, I joined Nicole and Miccheng to the Victoria Concert Hall to listen to the NTU Symphonic Band presenting their yearly concert.
Admittedly, I’m not that used to listening to these types of music. Nevertheless I found myself enjoying the evening. Below is a quick clip of two of the segments that I enjoyed tremendously.
Sojourn 2008 from rinaz on Vimeo
What do you think?
Link :
You might be interested in :
A most spectacular event. It was surprisingly captivating that I enjoyed every minute of it!
Recently, my friend, Mus invited me to attend the event, An Evening of Southeast Asian Music and Dance.
Having already hanged out with the Singa Nglaras group during their jamming session, I was definitely looking forward to watching the concert.
I brought my mum as a date. By the time we got into the theatrette at the Arts Faculty, it was completely full of people! We had to content ourselves by sitting on the stairs instead.
But the music was beautiful and hypnotic. They sounded so put together since their first day of their jamming session. Mum was going on and on about how powerful the Indonesian singer’s voice was. Whereas I was captivated by the hypnotic sounds of the musical instruments.
Here is a short clip of the first part of the concert :
Gamelan 2008 from rinaz on Vimeo
I think they were great! Thumbs up for the concert! :)
Links :
Wed, 26 Dec 2007
A couple of weeks ago, fellow pingster, Tstar, twittered about her handbell group performing for a concert during the holiday week. After we bugged each other on gmail, she asked if I would be interested in attending. Naturally I said yes!
The tickets that Tstar reserved for us!
Thus on wednesday evening, Cartcart and I spent some chill out time over at City Hall. Prior to that, it has been a busy day for us, rushing over to attend the Islamic class in the morning. We were glad to have a little bit of respite afterwards.
We spent a little time for some yummy coffee at the coffee connoisseur and I admired the adorable decoration which still had a christmas theme to it. It was a warm and cosy place to be.
Afterwards, we took a walk along the parliament road where Cartcart admired the historic buildings that were around since 1800’s.
Somehow this picture looks very London-ish. Credits to Cartcart
We finally reached the Arts house where there were a small number of people already lounging around. Once we found the poster, we went up the rustic staircase and went to have our seats.
Though I’ve been to the arts house, I’ve never actually been into the chamber before. This was where formerly, the place where the member of the parliament gathered to debate. It was a very charming place. The seats were so antique! I even saw very retro speakers attached to the chair.
The show started just as soon as we sat down. I’ve never been to a handbell concert before, hence it was very interesting for me to observe the proceedings. I saw the conductor raise his baton, and then the music began.
My gosh, it was such a beautiful sound that both Cartcart and I were so enthralled by it! It was such a lovely and relaxing sound that everyone who attended the concert were mesmerized.
Here is a short clip of the concert :
Isnt it gorgeous?
I scanned out for Tstar during the concert and there she was, cheerfully swirling her bells around. Tstartsar looks so elegant with her outfit, the cute purple tie scarf and her black gloves. I couldnt wait to say hello to her afterwards.
During the intermission, I made my way to the ladies for a bit, and when I came back, I saw her chatting to Cartcart and I was quite surprised. That was when they retold their narration.
Tstar : Where is Marina? I thought I saw her here.
Cart : Hello. She is in the ladies for a bit. My name is Roberto
Tstar : Who?
Cart : Roberto … Hmm Cart
Tstar : Oh! You mean Cartcart? Hi!
That was when I saw Tstar’s family coming over to give her their support. It was always heartening to see that :)
I quickly took asked for a picture with Tstartstar but when I saw the picture I was rather shocked.
I looked like a giant next to Tstar! I dont remember being so big!? I’m only 1.6 meters -_-”
Next : Cart’s first meet with the aunt
In this series :
Sidenote : Anyone interested in watching the Chingay parade with me?
Monday, 24th December
After confirming our appointment with the ustadz the previous day, Mum, Cart and me headed to Darul Arqam in the early morning to attend his first Islamic lessons.
We were introduced to a Haji Mustafa, a retiree who decided to spend part of his time teaching in the center.
It was interesting for me to observe the man. Even though he was in his golden years, he was very fit and active. Full of vigor, he started describing the session coverage and then began the introductionary lessons.
Photo credit Cartcart
After the session, we decided to have lunch at the nearby coffee shop and we looked around to see what cartcart could eat. Cart has made up his decision to become a vegetarian for a number of years and I tried my best to be careful and had to make sure that the food ordered for him has completely no tract of meat in it.
Especially after last year when we patronised a restaurant where there seemed to be a miscommunication and we found out that the food contained meat. I felt really bad as Cartcart had accidentally taken a bite because of my negligence.
Finally we saw an Indian stall which was selling vegetarian meals and Cartcart had a nice plate of Masala Dosai.
Photo credit roboppy
As mum had a prior engagement that day, she left us to our own devices after lunch time and I brought Cartcart to sight see a little :)
We stopped by Bugis where there were already large amount of people congregating around the christmas decorations and children playing around the fountains.
Fountains by Bugis from rinaz on Vimeo
The movie I am legend was premiering. Having already read the book by Richard Matheson, Cart was very keen to watch the movie. So we headed to Shaw Towers where we caught the afternoon show.
Unfortunately for me, being not up to date with movie trends, I didn’t realise that the movie had some horror segments till we were in the middle of the movie.
I pulled Cartcart’s sleeve when Will Smith’s character entered a dark building and stumbled upon some creatures.
Me : Oh my gosh! What the heck is that?!
Cart : Its vampires
Me : What? Vampires?!
Cart : You didn’t know this is a movie about vampires?
Me : No … Oh my gosh! So scary!
And for the entire movie, there I was, wide eyed, sunk in my seat
It was an exciting movie, and I thought that Will Smith did a fine job of connecting the viewers to his character. But without giving too much spoilers away, I was left unsatisfied with the ending of the movie. It was just too hollywood-ised for my taste.
Later on Cart explained to me that in the book, there were a number of survivors whom did not get completely infected but physically looks the same as a vampire. These survivors formed their own society.
Unfortunately for them, the protagonist, Robert Neville was not able to differentiate between the survivors and the vampires and kills them both, making the survivors live in fear of him, comparing him to a mythical character, hence the title, “I am legend”
And at that point, I thought to myself at how interesting it was to actually watch a movie told in the point of view of the zombies / vampires. And I could not help but to carry on discussing about the movie with Cartcart.
How refreshing it is to have someone to banter about movies with!
(To be continued)
In this series :
Last friday, I hanged out with my friend Mus, who invited me a Klenengan, which I found out later, is actually and Indonesian Gamelan music.
It was a very cooling evening when I reached the faculty of the arts and social science in NUS, with no difficulty, I was able to find the gamelan room (which is surprising as I get lost easily) and I said hello to the friendly people in the group who were coincidentally having their break.
I then saw Mus, who looked genuinely surprised to see me (hehehe) and he showed me around and the different types of instruments. Many of them looked like xylophones. I was curious to see that there were different types of hammers used to hit the instruments - I noticed at least 4 different types. I’m sure that this effects the resonance and sound.
They group started their practice session and I find myself fascinated while listening to the hypnotic sounds as they hammered away happily on their gamelan. Sitting in the middle of the room, it was an experience to not only hear the sounds but to also feel the sound. This was something new to me!
The gamelan, in particular, the selemtem, which looked like a xylophone didnt looked too difficult to play. Mus explained that each panel was actually a number from 1 - 7 and you hit the panel according to the score. It was much easier to understand if compared to a piano.
It was so much fun! I was tempted to hammer the selemtem myself if not for the fact that I’d probably be disturbing the others.
Cant wait for the next session. Mus! Quick! When is the next one?
Here is a quick video :
Links :
Updated : Too funny! Eileen, a fellow pingster was there at the session but we didn’t recognize each other!
Although I’m not a fan of hers, I’m quite enjoying the new video for Fergie’s newly released song, ‘Clumsy’. Its a cute video, with the set looking as if it were from a pop out book - something that I had loads of fun with during my childhood.
I enjoyed looking at all the details, like the paper clouds going by and the paper trees being knocked down.
But one thing that I cant help noticing, was the blatant product placement. I saw at least three products in this video :
1. Dsquared
Dsquared² is a fashion label created by two brothers, Dean and Dan Caten.
MAC is brand of cosmetics sold internationally, and used by professional makeup artists, models and celebrities.
I’m not quite sure which model this is, but the logo, its obviously a motorola :P
Watch the clip below :
I’ve never seen so much product placement in one music video before, but I doubt that this will be the last. At the top of my head, I can recall a few other music videos.
Campari in Christina Aguilera’s Candyman
Nokia 7370 in Nelly Futardo’s Promiscuous
Covergirl Cosmetics in Rihanna’s Umbrella
Coincidentally, Rihanna is selling actual umbrellas (yes a brolly!) Wahahaha! Too funny.
Do you watch music videos? Have you noticed product placements too?
Sidenote :
I think I must have Raya’ed too hard as the very next day, I’m hit with fever, flu and cough! I’m still convalescent. Oh the irony.
If you have never been to a WOMAD concert before, you should seriously put it in your to do list.
Having never been to a WOMAD concerts before, I decided to join Geri and Ntt who were coincidentally heading there on that night.
For one of the rare times in my life, It didnt feel like I was in Singapore that friday night. Majority of the people that I saw were foreigners. But it was nice to see all sorts of diverse lifestyles here - groups of friends, a family with their toddlers, Ntt even spotted his professor from Uni.
Many were dancing and moving lively to the different bands. The first one that we watched was the Mahotella Queens from South Africa. It was impressive to see these ladies in their 60s, shaking their ‘thang energetically! They have been performing for the past 40 years!
We were supposed to have Sheila Chandra perform afterwards but as she had a sore throat that night, there was the one man band, Muntu Valdo from Cameroon who played the harmonica and the guitar to replace her.
He asked the audience to sing along with him the song, Di Mala. I chuckled to find out that most of us got confused, till he had to repeatedly slow down and remind us to keep our tempo.
We then headed off to the main stage to listen to Clube do Balanco from Brazil. I really liked the sound of this band. It was groovy latin sound which I dig. I looked with amazement at low voice of one of the female singer. But she was great, along with the rest of the band.
Their songs made me start to tap my feet and finally put me in the mood to dance along with the other lively people! I want their CD :)
Later, we went to see the Shooglenifty from Scotland perform. Its an awesome combination sounds of the Irish fiddle and dance. I tried to do a jig, but it was hard to do that as I had no space.
It was impressive to see inhibitions down, with everyone dancing, no one caring if the others had two left feet.
And finally the segment that Geri has been anticipating, the Asian Dub Foundation. It had a electronic, punk sound and uses Indian drums. Ntt tells me that the band had a strong anti racism message which are delivered in their songs. But both of us couldnt make out the words from the blaring sounds.
Nevertheless, they had the crowd jumping up and down, cheering, asking for more. One cant help but to jump along to the beats. It was awesome!
I seriously enjoyed myself that night. No regrets!
Here is a clip of the nights performance
Friday night at WOMAD was great. Being live, the music was raw and energetic. You can really feel the music and you cant help but to absorb the happy vibe.
Just go. You wont regret it. Serious! The worse case scenario is that you could possibly be surrounded by perspiring, stinky people but the music and atmosphere will more than make up for it!
WOMAD Singapore 2007
Fort Canning Park, 24 - 26 August
Website : http://www.womadsingapore.com/
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