winnie ho starting her vocal recording for her debut solo album, to be released in feb 14th, 2012
you know what i concluded last night: TV (whether it is 3-D or whatnot) and home theatre systems are going to be a thing of the past in a few years' time.
because i discovered PPS (online streaming of movies) on my ipad!
imaging snugging on your bed (best if you have a loved one), munching twisties or sipping red wine (whatever the occasion demands) and watching a movie in the best posture and most comfy environment! i don't know about you, starting today, my AV system is gonna collect dust. and btw, the pps apps was installed by my 12-year-old niece without me knowing. she knows more than i do about how to extract the best from my ipad, for sure.
there's a cliche: the only constant is change, and in this super-advance days of technology, things are moving lightning fast. one blink of an eye, things have changed or moved past you. having said that, i don't mean we have to be the slave of technology. i, for one, still haven't can't quite come to terms with CAS (computer as source). i think readers know my resistance on this aspect of technology, so i need not explain again.
now, the key point of this post. 2011 is best remembered as a year we moved away from CD selling and production. or more correctly, we stopped relying on CD sales as a main source of revenue.
also, we are putting much less emphasis on "audiophile" quality of our music, because we don't want to be constrained by the limited scope and seriously, our core supporters/ fan base are pure music lovers who just want good music, not so much concerned about its recording.
suffice to say, this new direction opens up a window of opportunities so vast that we see CDs now as a mere supporting merchandise or a portfolio for our artistes.
winnie ho's debut solo album "the jazzy sounds of teresa teng" will most likely be our only album in 2012 and without revealing too much, it should further unfold many opportunities to pop pop.
it is breath-taking to even think of how we would progress from here.
"everyone i know is getting married or pregnant. we are just getting more awesome".
with the new year unfolding, you guys should be getting more awesome too.... go and pursue your dreams (quit your day job if you need to! just kidding).... happy new year, guys and gals!
to praphrase what hong kong comedian wong chou nam likes to say: "ngoh jip sao ng dou loh" (i can't accept this".
this audiophile album of cover versions from chris babida ( a veteran producer) and elisa chan (a veteran hk singer) had me wondering: "are you trying to challenge my limit and tolerance?"
review to come shortly! we will dwell on what we called "deteriorated vocal chord" :-)
bought new RM78, now selling RM60. first come first served!
local distributor, new wave, only brought in less than 10 copies and it was sold out, i have to buy from books.com.
we would write more about macy chen in due course... she is something totally different and is about the first chinese jazz singer who successfully melds western jazz stylistics with chinese oldies. we find it really marvelous.
all glories are not purely intentionally created. it is the culmination
of guts, hardwork and sheer determination. when the time is right, they
would come naturally. dedicated to my comrades in music: tay cher
siang, winnie ho, z yan, lydia chew, worm lee, roger wang, yaya sia and
chris lam. you guys will be having an even more fabulous year in 2012!
with increasing recognition, we have been getting many inquiries from agents...
most of these agents are commission based, they have no artistes in their payroll. most of the the times, they just google to get the kind of artistes that their clients want. for example, if they search "chinese jazz in malaysia" they are bound to hit us.
it is always slim getting jobs from agents cos most of the times, they just submit multiple profiles to their clients, and most of the times, the clients engage multiple agents too. so we are not hopeful at all (chance of success is less than 1%) working with agents but we always try to cooperate with them cos it is really a small industry.
we have encountered this case for more than once: after submitting "the jazzy sounds of teresa teng" profile, they would call back and ask:
having left the hifi scene for close to 3 years now, i am still keeping a tap on the latest, most talked-about, most sensational hifi products in the market.
i am a strong proponent of this brand of speakers called "magneplanar", also affectionately known as "maggie". it belongs to a category of speakers called the planars and they are normally huge in size thus making it inconvenient for typical malaysian households.
to cut a long story short, save for a few die-hards like yours truly, maggie wasn't popular in malaysia in the past until some rave reviews from some authoritative gurus in the USA starting this year. all at once, maggie became a hot name in malaysian hifi with the release of a new generation of models. it won't be too far off to call maggie "the hifi speakers of 2011" or to call 2011 "the year of the maggie".
not ready to upgrade my current big maggie to the latest model, so i bought the smallest model of them all: the mini maggie. the reason for my eagerness to buy this speaker is also because it is a limited edition product and it is so cute and almost cuddly.
mini maggie is every inch a marvel of sound. even fresh from the box, it tells you that it will trash the competition at RM6k a pair. as it breaks in, it unravels a sound
that is larger than its physical limit: pristine true ribbon highs,
pure and uncoloured mids and a bottom that's tactile and bouncy. most precious of all, it is a seamless sound that is continuous and integrated, not like many mini monitors within this price range. it is, in every sense, a true
high end bargain.
i may not dabble in hifi anymore because i enjoy live music (and making it) much much more nowadays but for moments when i need some pure unadulterated good sound, the mini maggie has become some sort of a new found joy for me.
for those with RM6K to spare for a pair of truly high-end speakers and those without the space in the house but wanted high end sound, this is for you. absolutely kick ass.
after the huge success of our tribute to danny chan, we just could not stop but continue to pay another tribute to the hippiest, trendiest, most rebellious, the james dean of the orient, leslie cheung,
mark your calendar： feb 21st and 22nd 2012 at no black tie.
we have lots and lots of ideas how this tribute should be done.
they didn't officially split, they just seldom perform together.
one remains in kk as a celebrity musician, another left for tasmania to pursue her studies.... now she will be coming back to kl for a reunion concert with him in kl......
yes, double take is back for a reunion concert in bentley auditorium on 21st april 2012 and it is hosted by pop pop music!
The other day
I had an epiphany: To the average music consumer, a song is worth less
than a candy bar. It might last longer, sound sweeter, and offer a more
meaningful experience, but don't ask us to spend more than $1 on it. In
fact, we'd prefer you didn't ask us to spend any money at all. That's
why we loved Napster, that's why we loved Pandora, and that's why we
love Spotify.
Early last summer the popular European
digital music service Spotify came to the United States with much blog
buzz and fanfare. Boasting a catalog of over 15 million songs, Spotify
offers free streaming access to its entire library through any laptop or
mobile device. It's ad supported, but subscribers willing to shell out
$10 a month can enjoy their playlists without the interruption of
advertisements. Not a bad deal for music fans. And at first glance, it's
not a bad deal for musicians either. The artist is paid royalties on a
per play basis. Everybody wins, right? Not really.
Will Baker
Spotify doesn't pay pennies on the dollar, it pays pennies on the
penny. Recently, indie label Projekt Records pulled out of its deal with
Spotify, citing a minuscule $0.0013-per-play payout as one reason for
bailing. In 2010, The Guardian published an article in which
author Sam Leith revealed a rather shocking piece of information: In the
space of a few months, Lady Gaga's smash hit "Poker Face" received over
1 million streams. She was compensated to the tune of $167.
Spotify has since countered that claim, saying that the
number is misleading and refers to the performance and publishing
royalties paid to the collecting agency of the song's Swedish co-writer.
But $167 sounds absurdly low no matter how you slice it. Of course, one
could argue that Lady Gaga and her team don't need the money. Fans
argued the same thing after Metallica sued Napster in 2000. When the
conflict is framed as a David-and-Goliath showdown between mega-rich
rock stars and broke college students, there's little question who will
win the fight for the public's sympathy.
But that's
not the battle that's being fought. The real victims here are so
powerless no one even remembers they exist. When an established band
like Radiohead gives away a record for free (as it did with "In
Rainbows") it increases exposure, which in turn boosts touring and
merchandising revenue. But the vast majority of bands out there aren't
Radiohead. They're small, unknown groups with no money or support
structure. Sure, they can give away their record. But will anyone notice
or care? Probably not. Meanwhile, Radiohead and Spotify are busy
teaching us that, as consumers, we aren't responsible for compensating
our artists. In fact, we're being conditioned to feel inherently
entitled to the fruits of their labor. The amount of time and money the
artist has invested is of little concern. If we listen to something,
then it is ours. It's a perspective similar to that of a small child who
sees a new toy and shouts, "MINE!" He's always been given everything he
wants. Why should this be any different?
Many of us
like to celebrate the apparent demise of the big, bad record companies
as a justification for this behavior. We like to say that their business
model is outdated and now they're paying the price. Good riddance, we
say. Greedy bastards! But guess what? We've been singing that tune for
over a decade, and those greedy record companies are still here. Sure,
they're wounded. So they consolidate. They drop artists from their
roster. They stop developing young acts. They stop signing new bands.
They stop taking risks on anything different or exciting. They dump all
their money into the tiny handful of top-grossing acts that keep the
label afloat, like Lady Gaga and Metallica. When they do sign anyone,
they sign safe bets like American Idol contestants and YouTube child
sensations.
The unknown bands are left floundering
in cyberspace, hoping in vain that they can amass enough Facebook fans
to entice industry folk and get noticed. If they're smart, they tour.
But touring is expensive, and since their records aren't selling well at
gigs, they have trouble keeping the van gassed up. Unless they've been
blessed with an angel investor or rich parents, life on the road isn't
financially sustainable. So they figure the Internet is the way to go.
Them and about 15 million others. They try to get some blog attention.
Maybe Pitchfork will pick them up as the flavor of the month. But then
what? I still don't have any friends who listen to The Weeknd. Bands
don't break through blogs.
Point is, it's hard out
there for the little guys, the unknowns. And let's be honest, the
trickle-down devaluation of music hasn't been much better for audiences
than it has for bands. Sure we save a couple dollars, but the culture of
one-hit-wonders, reality star divas, and the general cycle of crap that
gets churned out by the pop culture machine has only worsened, thanks
to musical Reaganomics. They say the customer is always right, but when
the customer stops valuing the product, why bother investing in its
production? Innovation dies in favor of the fast, the cheap and the
guaranteed.
So pay for your music, boys and girls.
Support the good stuff that's out there, and skip services like Spotify.
We can't afford to live off candy bars forever.
one of the best arrangements by tay cher siang. the classic "rain of tears" being totally revamped with this bluesy feel.
marvellous.
you will find this song in winnie ho's album.
a
moment in history. "love is all around" (wen qing man ren jian) fittingly opened the curtains
for "the jazzy sounds of teresa teng" in melaka. what a memorable night!
super trio acting like in the poster
the clock was ticking 7:45pm yet the attendance is only 30%. wasn't there supposed to be 1,000 people coming, did they decide not to come? our sponsor, mr edmond, as well as yours truly, was getting a bit jittery. we just can't afford to have only 300 people in a 1000 capacity hall.
slowly and surely, the crowd built up steadily... from 30% to 40%, from 40% to 50%...... at about 8:15pm, the hall was already 80% filled. so we decided to start in another 10 minutes' time and surely the remaining 20% came in steadily..... and ladies and gentlemen, it was a full house at 8:25pm. 1,000 people. biggest ever chinese jazz concert in malaysia, we can safely bet on it.
the curtain raiser is our usual "love is all around" (wen qing man ren jian) but this time winnie is accompanied by pay foong school choir, making it all the more meaningful. to be absolutely frank, winnie, who was nursing a cold, was not in her top. she lost some sparkles in her top octave and she was not as agile on stage as she would like to be, but never mind, no one noticed that except those who have seen her in better days, like our andaman sponsor, who came all the way from kl and watching winnie for the third time in a roll. you are amazing, mrs teoh!
the first half was just good but it would be excellent had winnie not fallen sick. she has further improved on her body movement and gesturing, after a couple of dance classes.
edmond and myself were worried that some audience would leave after the intermission. but fortunately, only a few did and we retained more than 95% full in the 2nd half.
the 2nd half was a totally different story altogether with roger wang opening the curtain with his all-conquering guitar solo "the moon speaks for my heart". roger wang, the roger wang we know, is always perfect, faultless, calm and composed and he won the crowd again in melaka. winnie put her lethargy behind and came out for the 2nd half sounding freshier and livelier. her duet with roger wang on "a thousand words" was worth a million dollar.
another scorcher is her rendition of "i only care for you", which is simply the best in all the 3 concerts of teresa teng so far. unfortunately, the sound system didn't really cater to the back row's crowd, the sound extension didn't go that far as it was a huge hall. we will learned from this experience. we should have added more speaker in the back rows. apologies to those who sat at the back.
the mass sing-along of "the moon speaks for my heart" was intentional and the great response was expected so we are not surprised. what we think was the golden moment was when winnie dedicated "goodbye my love" to edmond's late wife, who died in an accident a month ago. winnie's speech was sensitive and touching, without mentioning the wife's name but many people would have guessed. winnie's singing, accompanied by solo piano from cher siang, made many people cried that night, including yours truly who sat at the console at the far end of the hall. it was a moment of true love. winnie's voice has a precious quality of heartfelt emotion and sensitivity, she is a true diva that has fully come of age.
mr. edmond was all relaxed after the show as he thinks we did well to justify the high ticket prices. he thinks our brand of chinese jazz is accessible to the layman on the street as can be seen from the largely appreciative crowd. many of them told us that they love winnie ho.
needless to say, 2v1g CDs were sold out on the night. the CD stall was having such brisk business that we regretted we didn't bring more.
we are grateful to edmond and his team of workers, who really worked hard to make sure that everything was covered. there is so much spirits of camaraderie in edmond's team and we can tell he is such a charismatic leader that commands respect.
we are grateful that melakans are such nice audience, well behaved and appreciative. and to top it all, they can sing well!
we are grateful for everything that has been given to pop pop music in the year of 2011. we have a fabulous year, especially in the 2nd half. we witnessed the rise of winnie ho and tay cher siang to stardom, we witnessed the growth in supporter base, we witnessed the growth in sponsorship, we witnessed the improvement in production......
we can assure you that in 2012, if the end of the world doesn't come, pop pop music will rule the chinese jazz scene in malaysia with our packed schedule in 2012.
we hope all of you would be a part of this exciting revolutionary movement, never before seen in malaysia!
like stefanie sun and kit chan, tanya chua actually is english-educated and english-speaking (but as you know, lee kuan yew made the english-educated speak mandarin as well), and she is most comfortable singing english. but english market is not easy, so she has only released only 3 english albums so far, compared to the tonnes of chinese albums she did.
i bought both the new releases, an english one and a mandarin one, from taiwan and i can frankly tell you that i have banished the chinese one to some faraway hidden corner of my house, and just keeping the english one, which is the one we are recommending here.
what is great about this is, in composing and singing english songs, tanya can stick to what she loves most, that's indie pop and not conform/comply with the boring and suffocating ba-lak (ballad) formula demanded by chinese pop. so in a way, she is "liberated" when she sings and writes in english.
to be frank, though immensely talented, tanya is not exactly original in her craft. she listens to too many western indie acts that influence her compositions greatly but what the heck, we still like what she writes. because no one writes like her (except liyana fizi), especially in chinese pop today.
tanya made a name in the chinese scene, and not the english scene for reasons obvious to many. she is totally unique in the chinese scene, but in the english scene, she has too many competitors la.
this album is good, we like it. comparable to liyana fizi's "between the lines" and much better than zee avi's "ghostbird". what tanya really lacks is a strong direction and of course, an international english label like zee avi's brushfire records.
among today's crop of chinese singer-songwriters, tanya chua ranks in our top-3 best after cheer chen and wu jia hui.
have you bought susan wong yet (exclusive for CDRAMA)?
in about 48 hours' time, winnie ho, tay cher siang and roger wang are gonna thrill melaccans with their own brand of teresa teng...
our wishful thinking is that from now on, malaccans can appreciate that local talents can also deliver great music and they don't need to travel to genting highlands' arena of stars every time....
let's pray for the following:
1) good weather
2) full house!
3) great sound and light
4) superb performance from winnie ho, roger wang and wvc trio
5) audience well behaved
6) great CD sales
7) crowd's participation!
and lastly
8) our sponsors is gonna do another concert with pop pop music!
IT WAS a night of nostalgia when a retro jazz musical charity concert relived the mood for love of yesteryears.
Inspired by Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai’s classic film, In the Mood for Love, the musical of the same name attempted to revive Chinese oldies from the 1960s.
Jazz songstress Lydia Chew gave a subtle introductory performance of the song titled My Glorious Years to begin the rendezvous at the Syuen Hotel in Ipoh last Friday.
Grand opening number: Chew singing subtly at the beginning of the musical.
Dressed in a tangy red tight-fitting cheongsam,
she lifted the mood with her expressive voice telling the story of how a
loving couple cherished their last date before separation through the
song titled “Intoxicated in Your Embrace”.
Accompanied by virtuoso pianist Tay Cher Siang, who displayed his musical prowess by improvising the pop-jazz-styled Lover’s Tears, Chew sang her heart out to the fast-paced yet melancholic melody.
Tay
and the other instrumentalists — a saxophonist, a double bass player
and a drummer — left the audience spellbound by the mysterious and
enigmatic Yumeji’s Theme. Chew later dedicated the song Forever Smile to her grandmother who was absent from the concert. “This
song by Zhou Xuan is her favourite. As a child, my mother would coax me
to sleep with the song, telling me that it is my grandmother’s
favourite,” she said sentimentally
.
For a good cause:
Teoh (fourth from right) presenting mock cheques to SJK(C) Sam Tet
Board of Governors chairman Rev Father Liew (second from right) and Chan
(third from right).
After a short break, “Bossa Princess” Z Yan made her appearance on stage and serenaded the audience with Autumnal Night performed in a classic bossa nova beat. Performing Teresa Teng’s I Only Care for You in her euphonious voice, Z Yan garnered rapturous applause from the crowd.
Chew once again hit the stage to duet with Z Yan on the number The Past Can Only Be Reminisced, closing the musical with a fantastic two-part harmony.
Organised by the Andaman Group, the concert raised a total of RM204,000 for SMJK Sam Tet and the John Moh Foundation.
The
donations were handed out to the school’s board of governors chairman
Rev Father Stephen Liew Khoay Siong and foundation president Chan Kam
Leong by Andaman executive chairman Datuk Patrick Teoh.
what do you notice on the streets? many buntings of "the jazzy sounds of teresa teng" concert!
we are so proud that the sponsor splurged so generously on A&P... now everyone in melaka knows about this event, the grandest ever chinese concert in melaka, so we were told.
this capacity (1,000 pax) is the grandest ever we have done, more than double of bentley. yeah, even jazz concert can command 1,000 people, wow wee!
many said it is impossible to command such a crowd and selling the tickets at this price, now our sponsor shows you that it can be done! power!
we want to do the best show ever for melaka, armed with experiences from the past 5 concerts. if we do well, we can expect there will be more, that's what our sponsor promised.
this is the 2nd repeat of jazzy teresa teng in 3 months, it is quite unbelievable. power.
we also hope to bring "in the mood for love" to melaka, now that it is proven to be a good production. there is a group of people who loves our stuff and wants to promote art and music in melaka. they admit that it is very tough in melaka, knowing how conservative they are but they think by working with us, they have a chance.
make no mistake, we are marching forward from strength to strength.
