Bolivian Baroque

It was meant as a treat for Jon & I. I booked tickets to Bolivian Baroque: Music from the Missions of Chiquitos and Moxos Indians concert in Singapore at the Esplanade Concert Hall. It was performed by Britain's period classical group Florilegium and several Bolivian Soloists.

I had heard on the radio that the music was as stirring as some of the 'greats' in the classicial music world, so was interested to go and listen to them. It was a one night only show, and I was surprised to see that the ticket sales were so poor. When we got there we were told by the ushers that they were 'dressing down' the house, so we got a ticket upgrade! Great for us! And the first time I've experienced such a thing in Singapore. I remember in London we regularly got pushed up whenever there were empty seats in front. But it really was very empty. The attendees filled up mainly the stall and a few of the circle 1 seats. Which is also okay for us, cos it made the performance more intimate, but I wondered how the performers felt.

Anyway, the music was spritely and as they played I had scenes of ladies and gentlemen in their elaborate costumes dancing in a castle somewhere in England in the 17th Century. I particularly enjoyed their pastoral pieces (can't rem the title right now, will go dig it up), and absolutely loved their encore piece which was a rendition of a traditional Bolivian song. That tune stuck in my head of most of the night after the concert.

Besides the music, I loved watching the musicians perform. The other concerts I've been to usually had a conductor directing the orchestra. But this was a small group with no conductor. Instead, through nods of their heads, or just looking at each other's eyes they'd coordinate and play together. They were animated too! Almost like watching a dance (but of course much less feet movement). It was music and passion mixed into one. There has to be passion for them to decide to devote their life to the study of period music. The violinists (Bojan Cicic and Jennifer Morsches) in particular were wonderful to watch. They really had chemistry on stage. And Ashley Solomon (the Director of Florilegium) truly brought the recorder to life! I remember playing the recorder in primary school, and I could never make it sound like that! He was such a beautiful flute player too, handling the instrument with a light and expert touch.

The Bolivian singers were varied in their styles, but complemented one another well. The complexity of some of the vocal arrangements made the singers very much a part of the orchestra. It's was really a case of their voices being an instrument.

I'm glad we went and had a sneak peak into the world of Bolivian baroque music that was lost to the world for such a long time, and has now be resurrected for the enjoyment of all!

Rachael Yamagata

Jon managed to get a pair of tickets to the Rachael Yamagata concert which was held at the Esplanade. It was the first time he and I were attending a concert since Asher came along, so it was a much anticipated evening for us! It was nice to be out, just the two of us, and doing what we used to do in London - going to the theatre for a concert/musical/play. Lots of thanks to my Mum who took time out to help watch Asher :)

I must confess, that even though I was glad to have time alone with Jon, I did also miss Asher. I mean, I'm usually with him 24/7. There have been a few occasions that I have left Asher to my Mum's very good care, but that night was going to be the longest period I'd been away from Asher. There have been times when everything was good and fine, but on a previous occasion Asher had been very unhappy with having to drink from the bottle (when we were still trying to give him that) that he cried alot during the feed. On another occasion, he was already so tired he was crying during his bath, and once the lights were out he just knocked out. So, I was a little worried that he would either be fussy during the feed, or during the bath. I was also particularly concerned cos when we were in the theatre there was no reception, so should there have been any problem, my mum wouldn't have been able to contact us! What could I do but pray that God will take care of everything. In the end, it was all ok. Thank God! I think motherhood has made me worry more, at least with respect to Asher.

Anyway, the performance was opened with local act Jack & Rai. They were quite good, though I must say Rai has better vocals than Jack. Jack's enunciation when singing is not that clear, so I missed the lyrics of the song he sang. His accent also sounded a bit too affected. Rai, on the other hand, had warm and inviting voice, and very good voice control. I also notice that they are, I think, influenced by flamenco style guitar playing, and incoporated such strumming and rifts in a few of their songs. It was a good opening act in and of itself, also because they fit Rachael's style quite well.

Rachael's performance was very good indeed, and she bantered a lot with the audience, telling us the stories behind her songs, telling us about herself, etc. I felt that it was an intimate performance, and it really showed off her personality very well. I particularly loved her song "Sunday Afternoon". I think that's definitely my favorite song of hers so far. It's about how someone tries to be strong and walk away, but can't last long, only until Sunday Afternoon. The other song I thought was sooo sweet was "Meet Me By the Water".

Her songs have very good rhythm, melody and flow, and for many of the songs I found myself imagining choreography to accompany the song. I kept whispering to Jon after those songs, "I can imagine a dance to that!" And then later, "Oh! I can imagine a dance to that too!"

Her ballads are the type of songs I could imagine myself listening to when sad and low, especially during my growing up years when nursing a broken heart? Heh. She's got a rock edge too, which is great, and makes for a more diverse range of songs, enabling her to bring out more aspects of human relationships, which she likes to explore.

But the funny thing was that I left the performance thinking that she was a good performer, had a wide range of styles, but that she was maybe too much of a Jack of all trades. For the ballads, I thought it reminded me a little of Sarah Mclachlan, for rock I thought of other artists, for the ambient feel present in some songs I thought of Kitaro. I guess I felt she's not the best in each area, nor the most original, but perhaps that's what makes her unique. She's able to pull together the disparate styles in her own characteristic way.

I'd definitely be interested to hear more of her stuff - especially if choreographing! :)

Rihanna-anna-anna-eh-eh

Jon & I caught Rihanna's performance at the O2! :)










Umbrella-ella-ella!
Yes, we did see some people bringing umbrellas for the concert.










Anyway, in contrast to Smashing Pumpkins where most people were around our age, this time around most of the people attending were young, screaming girls. Gosh. They can really scream. When Rihanna first appeared I thought I would go deaf! Already our ears had a pre-taste of what those vocal chords were capable of. When some celeb (I assume) came in, the girls all started screaming, and already I thought that was loud. Actually, I first heard the screaming then noticed they were screaming over someone that I totally didn't recognise. Jon and I asked the couple next to us (who happened to be around our age) who that guy was, and they didn't know either. I think we're all too old to know these things... :) But yes, there were some others our age and older. But the bulk of the crowd were kids (with chaperons!) and teenagers. Actually it's quite cute to see parents and their kids bonding over this event :)










But lest we sound like old fuddy duddies, we actually knew quite a lot of her songs :) Jon was surprised that certain songs he was familiar with were sung by her.

Paying tribute to Bob Marley










She put up a good show, and actually sang during the concert, not lip-sync, though the back-up singers did a lot of singing too. But I like her voice, there's a distinctive tone to it. Still, the concert felt more rehearsed and structured than the others that I've been to here. I guess it's cos she has to coordinate the songs with the dancers and dance routines, with props and multi-media displays behind. So she had less leeway to improvise. It's probably all timed and choreographed. But that's probably how it is with a lot of pop acts like Spice Girls and Kylie Minogue I think. Saw on TV the Spice Girls rehearsing their moves for their latest tour that just ended. On the other hand, Smashing Pumpkins was a rocking good time that felt free form and independent, and Mika was an intimate affair and crazy fun (even if he did have dancers occasionally, they really just pranced around freely in a non-choreographed way).

Overall it was a worthwhile trip, and fun to join in and sing the songs when I knew them...and of course we all know the ella-ella song! :)

Mika!

Shan, Ben, E-Ping, and I went for the Mika concert at the Brixton Academy. Unfortunately, Jon was unable to make it that day. Brixton Academy is a very nice location for concerts. Although it's an indoor location, once inside you somehow feel like it's an outdoor stage cos of the wide spaces and overhanging balconies. It's small size (relative to the O2) also makes it feel quite cosy.













Mika was just recently awarded the Best Breakthrough Act at the Brit Awards. His more well-known songs include "Grace Kelly", "Big Girls", "Lollipop", and "Love Today". You should check out his website which has excerpts from his songs. I like how it's so whimsical and carnival-like.













The whole performance was very feel-good and whimsical. Lots of jumping, lots of hand-swaying, and sing-a-long whenever we knew the lyrics :) I also thought the lighting and decor was very good. It fit in very well with his style of music and the atmosphere of the night.










Even the encore was hilarious. The musicians, dancers, and Mika himself dressed up in animal costumes and acted out a silly skit. Then as Mika burst into "Lollipop", giant balloons started to fall from the ceiling, and tons of confetti was blown about. Great way to end a happy concert :)

Smashing Pumpkins!

Jon & went to catch the Smashing Pumpkins concert at the O2 and it was FANTASTIC!










I haven't been for a rock concert in ages, and I'm not sure if the one I went for even truly counts as rock. Anyway, this was a fabulous gig. Rock sounds so good live!












Jon & I had really good seats - not in the standing area, but just above it. From observation during the night it seems that if you're in the pit, the only fun place to be is right in front, otherwise it can be quite a drag cos you can't see much. Sitting just above the pit you have the feeling of being part of the crowd but with better view of the stage, and a lot more comfort.










I predicted that most of the people who would be attending the concert would be around our age plus minus a few years. All of us would be going there to relive our teenage years! :) And true enough, everyone looked around our age! And I bet there must have been a disproportionate number of people born in 1979 as well. I'm sure the Pumpkins won a ton of fans from that generation :)


Speaking of that song, Billy Corgan performed a superb solo acoustic version of it. It started hilariously with Billy giving his rendition of the Girls Aloud song 'Call The Shots'. He was saying how that was the greatest song ever written and how much he liked it, and then he suddenly surprised everyone by launching into 1979!! The crowd went wild! It was more than we could have asked for! You have to listen to it for yourself! I tried several times to upload the video but it's too large, such a pity.












We had such a great time! Now if only U2 were playing somewhere around UK/Ireland before we go back...