Vu Vu Reggae
Matzka
Reggae, which came out of Jamaica in the 1960s and with its calypso rhythms and laidback vibe, seems to be far removed from the Mandopop scene, which has an undisguised penchant for conventionally structured ballads.
Just don’t tell that to Taiwanese band Matzka – they appropriated it and are completely at ease with it. Perhaps the folk music roots of the genre resonated with this group of aboriginal musicians, whose sound is a bracingly original blend of reggae, folk and rock. Matzka were named Best Band at the Golden Melody Awards for their 2010 self-titled debut.
Vu Vu Reggae marks the solo debut of the band’s lead singer, Matzka. As its title makes clear, he is still in thrall to the style. With a full head of dreadlocks, he even looks the part of a reggae musician.
In his hands, he proves the genre can be a versatile tool, as suitable for personal stories as it is for getting the party going and for everything else in between.
A Yi is a lament about the disappearing natural landscape set to an easygoing tune: “Aieeee/If we can’t hold onto it, just remember it in our heads/Aieeee/If we can’t remember, mark it in our hearts.”
The deceptively light-hearted Don’t Care About Him is about the child caught in the middle when parents fight; Uncle is an affectionate send-up of the middle-aged blues; and Tribal Party Night is a call to everyone to come together and celebrate.
His two fellow aboriginal guest stars on the album fit in perfectly. On Uwa U, A-lin sings beguilingly in what is presumably a tribal tongue about a woman as beautiful as a lily. Jia Jia tangos with raspy-voiced Matzka on the duet As It Turns Out, in which music brings a couple together: “As it turns out, we have a tacit understanding, as it turns out, we have feelings for each other/As it turns out, you like reggae with a whiff of Taitung.”
You, too, could find yourself developing a taste for this unlikely musical brew.
(ST)
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
To Be... Nicholas
Nicholas Teo
Let’s Not Fall In Love Again in 2011 marked a career high for Malaysian singer Nicholas Teo. The lush ballad was a karaoke-ready, radio- friendly hit which also managed to tug at the heartstrings with its swell and ebb of emotions.
He has taken his time to follow up on that record of the same name.
This five-track EP seems to offer a snapshot of a more introspective Teo. No Ifs In Life finds him musing over gentle guitars: “No ifs in life, for example/But if my life changed, what would be the result.”
To the question, What Kind Of Person Are You Now, he responds: “Only want to be a simple person, yet I’ve become a complicated man/To be free of wants, yet pray for life to be rich.”
Dilemmas abound. It is a good thing that this EP is no blatant attempt to replicate his former success, but at the same time, one keeps hoping for another gorgeous ballad by Teo to sweep one away.
(ST)
Nicholas Teo
Let’s Not Fall In Love Again in 2011 marked a career high for Malaysian singer Nicholas Teo. The lush ballad was a karaoke-ready, radio- friendly hit which also managed to tug at the heartstrings with its swell and ebb of emotions.
He has taken his time to follow up on that record of the same name.
This five-track EP seems to offer a snapshot of a more introspective Teo. No Ifs In Life finds him musing over gentle guitars: “No ifs in life, for example/But if my life changed, what would be the result.”
To the question, What Kind Of Person Are You Now, he responds: “Only want to be a simple person, yet I’ve become a complicated man/To be free of wants, yet pray for life to be rich.”
Dilemmas abound. It is a good thing that this EP is no blatant attempt to replicate his former success, but at the same time, one keeps hoping for another gorgeous ballad by Teo to sweep one away.
(ST)
The Songs We Sang
Eva Tang
The story: The roots of today’s glittery local Mandopop scene go back to the campus music movement christened xinyao (Singapore songs) in the 1980s and are linked to the closing of Nanyang University in 1980 and the end of Chinese as a language of instruction. Apart from interviews with key personalities such as Eric Moo and Liang Wern Fook and the use of archival material, director Eva Tang also recreates the heyday of xinyao by staging a one-off concert at the nostalgic venue of Bras Basah Complex.
The xinyao movement was previously given the big-screen treatment in the fictional drama That Girl In Pinafore (2013). While heartfelt, it was also a missed opportunity with its homage to a 1970s Taiwanese film.
The Songs We Sang is a labour of love that puts our stories front and centre. After a sold-out premiere at the Singapore International Film Festival last November, the film finally gets a general release.
Film-maker Eva Tang – co-director of popular feature documentaries Old Places (2010) and Old Romances (2012), about disappearing spaces in Singapore – puts together an ambitious account of xinyao, weaving together interviews with singers, songwriters, producers, media reports, radio segments and video footage of television and stage performances.
The research is meticulous, the narrative compelling. Even those who consider themselves fans of xinyao will probably learn a thing or two about its genesis and its development.
Apart from the influence of the Taiwanese campus folk song movement, xinyao could also be seen originally as a response to the dismantling of Chinese-language education in Singapore.
It grew to take on a life of its own as it fed a hunger in students who yearned to have their voices heard – there was such a proliferation of singing groups and concerts that many xinyao tracks were performed once and never saw the light of day again.
The film also shines a spotlight on those who helped to introduce xinyao to a wider audience from radio deejay Lim Cher Hui, who gave the genre a platform on her programme Ge Yun Xin Sheng (Singers And Songwriters), to television producer Lim Sek, who lined up the likes of singer- songwriter Eric Moo on variety shows.
Then there are the little surprises, such as seminal xinyao figure Liang Wern Fook singing with his father the traditional Cantonese ditty that was incorporated into Sparrow With A Bamboo Twig, once banned from the airwaves for its dialect content.
The flowering of xinyao was a unique event and Tang captures the spirit of the times. She also channels it into a moving concert that celebrates both the musicians who wrote and sang the songs, and the fervent fans who were very much a part of the movement.
(ST)
Eva Tang
The story: The roots of today’s glittery local Mandopop scene go back to the campus music movement christened xinyao (Singapore songs) in the 1980s and are linked to the closing of Nanyang University in 1980 and the end of Chinese as a language of instruction. Apart from interviews with key personalities such as Eric Moo and Liang Wern Fook and the use of archival material, director Eva Tang also recreates the heyday of xinyao by staging a one-off concert at the nostalgic venue of Bras Basah Complex.
The xinyao movement was previously given the big-screen treatment in the fictional drama That Girl In Pinafore (2013). While heartfelt, it was also a missed opportunity with its homage to a 1970s Taiwanese film.
The Songs We Sang is a labour of love that puts our stories front and centre. After a sold-out premiere at the Singapore International Film Festival last November, the film finally gets a general release.
Film-maker Eva Tang – co-director of popular feature documentaries Old Places (2010) and Old Romances (2012), about disappearing spaces in Singapore – puts together an ambitious account of xinyao, weaving together interviews with singers, songwriters, producers, media reports, radio segments and video footage of television and stage performances.
The research is meticulous, the narrative compelling. Even those who consider themselves fans of xinyao will probably learn a thing or two about its genesis and its development.
Apart from the influence of the Taiwanese campus folk song movement, xinyao could also be seen originally as a response to the dismantling of Chinese-language education in Singapore.
It grew to take on a life of its own as it fed a hunger in students who yearned to have their voices heard – there was such a proliferation of singing groups and concerts that many xinyao tracks were performed once and never saw the light of day again.
The film also shines a spotlight on those who helped to introduce xinyao to a wider audience from radio deejay Lim Cher Hui, who gave the genre a platform on her programme Ge Yun Xin Sheng (Singers And Songwriters), to television producer Lim Sek, who lined up the likes of singer- songwriter Eric Moo on variety shows.
Then there are the little surprises, such as seminal xinyao figure Liang Wern Fook singing with his father the traditional Cantonese ditty that was incorporated into Sparrow With A Bamboo Twig, once banned from the airwaves for its dialect content.
The flowering of xinyao was a unique event and Tang captures the spirit of the times. She also channels it into a moving concert that celebrates both the musicians who wrote and sang the songs, and the fervent fans who were very much a part of the movement.
(ST)
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
The River
Wang Feng
His stint as a judge on the popular televised competition, The Voice Of China, as well as his marriage to actress Zhang Ziyi last year, have raised Wang Feng’s profile outside China.
But he is first and foremost a singer-songwriter in his own right. He was named Most Popular Male Singer in China at Channel V’s Chinese Music Awards for the album, Belief Flies In The Wind (2009).
His concerts have filled arenas from Beijing to Chengdu. His best-known tracks include Blooming Life (2005) and Flying Higher (2004), which, incidentally, opens with the line “Life is like a big river”.
His ninth solo studio album, The River, is a reminder of his musical prowess.
Opening track Full is a synth rocker which juxtaposes to pointed effect places and things which are packed to overflowing with an aching hollowness elsewhere.
“The city is full of garbage/The sky is blanketed by smog” and, at the same time, “Yet other things are not filled/Things which should be full are not/What do we do now/This expanse of emptiness/How do we fill it”.
This is a record made by a man at the crossroads of middle age, taking stock and chronicling the ebb and flow of life.
His stance is defiant on the stirring ballad, Fleeting Time, What Can You Do To Me. One can well imagine a contestant belting it out in some competition soon.
On the title track, The River, his raspy voice is tinged with melancholia. But he remains unbowed as he wonders: “How much hurt can we bear before we can see past pain/How far do we have to walk before we return to the start.”
The mood lightens up on Go Your Own Way as he sings: “You go your own way/I’ll go your way as well/When I see your smile/I finally grasp this truth.”
While on Why Not Be Happier?, he quips: “Why not be happier, baby/We’re making love, not cooking a meal.”
So, which is a reflection of his relationship with Zhang?
It might never be possible to tease out the truth of his personal life from his songs, but still, his music paints a picture of a passionate and sensitive man.
On the lively number, Untimely, he takes pride in being different: “I’m beginning to get old when it’s popular to be young/I only wish to cry when happiness is revered.”
Sometimes, it pays to go against the flow.
(ST)
Wang Feng
His stint as a judge on the popular televised competition, The Voice Of China, as well as his marriage to actress Zhang Ziyi last year, have raised Wang Feng’s profile outside China.
But he is first and foremost a singer-songwriter in his own right. He was named Most Popular Male Singer in China at Channel V’s Chinese Music Awards for the album, Belief Flies In The Wind (2009).
His concerts have filled arenas from Beijing to Chengdu. His best-known tracks include Blooming Life (2005) and Flying Higher (2004), which, incidentally, opens with the line “Life is like a big river”.
His ninth solo studio album, The River, is a reminder of his musical prowess.
Opening track Full is a synth rocker which juxtaposes to pointed effect places and things which are packed to overflowing with an aching hollowness elsewhere.
“The city is full of garbage/The sky is blanketed by smog” and, at the same time, “Yet other things are not filled/Things which should be full are not/What do we do now/This expanse of emptiness/How do we fill it”.
This is a record made by a man at the crossroads of middle age, taking stock and chronicling the ebb and flow of life.
His stance is defiant on the stirring ballad, Fleeting Time, What Can You Do To Me. One can well imagine a contestant belting it out in some competition soon.
On the title track, The River, his raspy voice is tinged with melancholia. But he remains unbowed as he wonders: “How much hurt can we bear before we can see past pain/How far do we have to walk before we return to the start.”
The mood lightens up on Go Your Own Way as he sings: “You go your own way/I’ll go your way as well/When I see your smile/I finally grasp this truth.”
While on Why Not Be Happier?, he quips: “Why not be happier, baby/We’re making love, not cooking a meal.”
So, which is a reflection of his relationship with Zhang?
It might never be possible to tease out the truth of his personal life from his songs, but still, his music paints a picture of a passionate and sensitive man.
On the lively number, Untimely, he takes pride in being different: “I’m beginning to get old when it’s popular to be young/I only wish to cry when happiness is revered.”
Sometimes, it pays to go against the flow.
(ST)
Wednesday, March 02, 2016
Alfred
Alfred Sim
Project SuperStar winner Alfred Sim has turned heads for his debut EP because there are pictures of him in the buff on the cover and in the lyric booklet.
The songs, unfortunately, are not exactly revealing – there are fewer singer-songwriter confessionals and more middle-of-the-road songs with titles such as Lover and Glimmer.
At least the rock-tinged ballads showcase his slightly raspy, powerful pipes.
His voice soars with optimism and idealism on My Friend: “Insisting on the right and ordinary can also be resplendent/Carved on our hearts is a kind of strength.”
On the duet, Proud Of Love, he splits lyric-writing and singing duties with his singer-songwriter wife, Tay Kewei, and it sounds tailor-made for the weddings they have performed at over the years.
At the same time, it is also a sweetly personal track as the title in Mandarin combines characters from both their names.
It would have been a stronger debut if there had been greater variety to the music.
Sim should definitely expose himself to more genres.
(ST)
Alfred Sim
Project SuperStar winner Alfred Sim has turned heads for his debut EP because there are pictures of him in the buff on the cover and in the lyric booklet.
The songs, unfortunately, are not exactly revealing – there are fewer singer-songwriter confessionals and more middle-of-the-road songs with titles such as Lover and Glimmer.
At least the rock-tinged ballads showcase his slightly raspy, powerful pipes.
His voice soars with optimism and idealism on My Friend: “Insisting on the right and ordinary can also be resplendent/Carved on our hearts is a kind of strength.”
On the duet, Proud Of Love, he splits lyric-writing and singing duties with his singer-songwriter wife, Tay Kewei, and it sounds tailor-made for the weddings they have performed at over the years.
At the same time, it is also a sweetly personal track as the title in Mandarin combines characters from both their names.
It would have been a stronger debut if there had been greater variety to the music.
Sim should definitely expose himself to more genres.
(ST)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)