Joanna Wang - For No Reason

I stumbled upon this lovely artist called Joanna Wang when i was searching for a song called "For no reason" that I liked through a singing competition recently.

Upon listening to more of her songs, I am slowly falling head over heels with her voice and talent. She is definitely up there along side Olivia Ong as one of the really good "English" Chinese singers out there, a Chinese version of Norah Jones so to speak.

A slight introduction to this Taiwanese born singger :-

Joanna Wang (王若琳) is a Taiwanese singer/songwriter, daughter of famous Taiwanese music producer Ji-ping "Bing" Wang (王治平). Her debut album, Start From Here, was released in January 2008 as a double-disc set, one in English and the other in Chinese. The album reached #1 in Taiwan and has been popular throughout the Southeast Asian region. It was released in Japan in June 2008.

Joanna's views on said album tend to be rather negative, as she has stated often in public interviews that she greatly dislikes its corporate nature, its blatant commercialism, and its misclassification as Jazz. It is rumoured that her sophomore album will be comprised entirely of original compositions.

(source : Wikipedia)

To those that have not heard of this talented singer, I would strongly suggest you try listening to her songs on youtube.

Can't wait till she comes out with her second album!

Here In My Home - Malaysian Artistes For Unity

Arguably the hottest music phenomenon that have hit Malaysian cyberspace, "Here in My Home" composed and written by Pete Teo is a song that instigates human unity. This song brings together more then 120 talents from all walks of life ranging from renowned filmed producer Yasmin Ahmad and Ho Yuhang, artist, Ning Baizura, Awie, Daniel Lee to corporate leaders like Tony Fernandez.

The song is unique in such a way that it was produced at 0 cost. Everyone involved in this project did not charge a single sent to be involved in it and better still, the song is FREE for everyone to download.

To download the song click on the banner below.



Personally, I do think that Malaysians are much more united now then we were ever before. Even if some deny it, without us really realizing, we are actually more Malaysianized then we think. Maybe just maybe, Malaysia will be a truly colourblind country in the next coming decade or so.

Till then, enjoy this video and let us all decry racism and embrace that elusive ideal : human - all inclusive-unity.




Update : Here's a the video (in 2 parts) on the making of this video. It describes how this video came into fruition and the people behind it. Enjoy

5 Year Old Genius

Its amazing when we see talented children with minds/skills that are way beyond their peers.

A friend of mine gave me this link showing a blind 5 year old girl mesmerizing everyone with her skills on the piano. Whats more amazing is the fact that she had never had proper training and plays them by ear. She listens to the song and could improvise and play it on the piano. This clip even shows her accompanying a lady singing a Korean song thus proving that its not just a gimmick.

While watching this, I really felt touched by this talented 5 year old.

I hope you would as well

Amature MV : Kuala Kangsar

As I was preparing pictures for my next blog regarding Kenko Fish Spa, I got a sms from a friend about an MV that they made on our hometown. I was like.... ehhhh? Make a song of our hometown for what? Damn malu'fying lah.... its such a small town!!.

Anyways, i clicked on the youtube link to see what its all about.

Not bad for a first try I thought.



Woot... a MV of my hometown wei!

Fly Me To The Moon - Olivia Ong

You know how powerful music is in which it can bring forth sudden memories from the past and give you a true emotional rush?

Been going through blogs and surfing the net when I stumbled upon this great song from Olivia Ong. Sudden flashbacks came haunting like a quick thunderstorm. I just cannot help myself from listening to the song a few more times while following every word and every tune.

For tonight I truly miss what has gone.



Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars

In other words hold my hand
In other words darling kiss me

Fill my life with song
And let me sing forevermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore

In other words please be true
In other words I love you

Jacky Cheung Concert 2008 Arena Of Stars, Genting Highlands

I was really pleased when I was offered free tickets for the Jacky Cheung concert at the Arena Of Stars, Genting Highlands. I have always been a fan of him since secondary school days. Although I have not listened to his new songs much this couple of years, his golden classics has always been the top of my list among my favourite Chinese songs.

The concert in Genting was only suppose to be for 2 days but due to popular demand they extended it to a 3rd day. Again the third day was fully booked as well. I guess many did not get enough of him at Bukit Jalil last year. To be honest, the concerts at Genting are so much better since you are able to see him so much closer up front.

As I got in the Arena Of Stars, I was definitely not disappointed as my seat was about 10-15 rows from the front and situated almost at the centre of the stage. The perks of having free tickets...hehe.

8.30pm sharp, the concert started with Jacky Cheung rising up from a platform at the centre of the stage and him singing "Ngoi For Far" (Love Fireworks).

From the start of the concert you would know that something was a miss. Somehow the Jacky I knew that has perfect vocals did not perform up to expectation. After a few songs, we were informed by Jacky himself that he nearly cancelled the concert due to a terrible sore throat and flu. You can hear from him talking that indeed he was not well. There were points in the concert that I truly thought he would not finish the concert as he was grasping with air and notes that he is able to hit easily seems so hard to achieve. But beside his health, everything was spot on. The dancing was very well choreographed and every part of a medley ended with a well planned finally (ie confetti flying all over or fireworks shooting up). He also told us a bit of himself and in a way gave us a slight insight on who Jacky Chung was.

One thing that I did learn through this concert was his sheer determination. He persevered through and made the 3 hour and 15 minute concert a night to remember for a long time for his fans. This concert was not about his voice but about a dedicated artist trying his very best not to disappoint his fans. There were a few parts into the concert where he was virtually shouting and you could feel his pain and there is this sense of disbelief that he is doing it, despite his condition. There was also parts in which he had to catch a few gulp of water before he could even speak a few words as every attempt to talk ended up with him coughing. Who else would command such great cheer from fans even when singing while eating an apple! (yup... he was singing while eating the apple at the same time.... apparently it helps). He had to drink water after every song half way through the concert as well. And to top it off... he gave 10 encore songs (that's another 40 minutes of golden hits).

I guess some of the fans might complain that they did not hear Jacky at his best that night but for me its not that important. If I wanted to hear him sing at his best, I could have just listened to his CD's in my car or at home. For me, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It made me realise that this 46 year old artist cares a lot for his fans then the money that he is getting (So far he has made RM11 million over 98 concert). They nearly cancelled the show.


Respect to you Mr. Jacky Cheung!

Here's a short video of him at the very end of the concert



Enjoy!

MV - Owe You 10 Dollar

This song is originally called "Thousand Miles Away", a duet song by Jay Chow & Fai Yoke Ching (sorry peps, I don't know his English name).

The one I am showing now on is a parody called Owe you 10 Dollar. The lyrics is hilarious.

P.S Can anyone translate the lyrics to english? Please put in comments or email me if you can. Thanks!

What If God Was One Of Us

A friend sent me this song during one of our usual msn conversations. This is definitely one of the many favourite songs of mine by Alanis Morissette.


Lyrics is definitely a very powerful tool to bring forth one's thinking of the mind and soul. Alanis is one such great artist in which her lyrics are real captivating and gives a real insight of topics of the mind.



Alanis Morissette - What If God Was One Of Us

If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with him in all his glory
what would you ask if you had just one question?

Yeah, Yeah, God is great
Yeah, Yeah, God is good
Yeah Yeah yeah yeah yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

If God had a face
What would it look like?
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and Jesus and the saints
and all the Prophets

Yeah Yeah God is great
Yeah Yeah God is good
Yeah Yeah yeah yeah yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
Just trying to make his way home
Back up to Heaven all alone
Nobody callin' on the phone
cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

Yeah Yeah God is great
Yeah Yeah God is good
Yeah Yeah yeah yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
Like a holly Rolling Stone
Back up to Heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody callin' on the phone
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

The First Chinese Song That I Learnt To Sing

This is the first ever Chinese song that I learnt to sing back during my college days. Its by Alex To called "wu xing xiang hai" or directly translated as "no heart to hurt you". Alex To in my opinion virtually introduced the R&B genre to the Chinese market in the 80's way before David Tao, Li Hom and all the rest of the R&B kids.

Those that knows me well enough would know that I am those typical banana man that can't read Chinese (although i can speak Cantonese and enough mandarin for basic communication). So you can imagine me scribbling the pronunciation in paper while listening to the song over and over again till my ears go red.

Oh yeah and I do have a song book in my room which consist of loose papers stacked together with songs that I have learnt and written in my own English pinyum. Nevertheless, I am those typical bathroom singers that sings like a toad. So you will not see me singing at K's anytime soon... unless insanity hits me on those once in a blue moon.

P.S Oh yeah.... actually I did go to K not too long ago. It was loads of fun with me and others taking turns singing badly and skipping songs as we see fit.....