Musical Interlude: Lex Vandyke

I've recently come across the very soothing latin guitar music of Lex Vandyke. The CD that I bought was called "Latin Sound of Shanghai" and it is a collection of Chinese classic tunes from the Shanghai era. Really beautiful stuff.

I also see this album as a reflection of the globalised world we live in. Here we have a Dutch musician playing Latin guitar and reproducing the classic sounds of Shanghai, China ...East meets West indeed.

Anyway, enough words. Turn up the volume of your PC and enjoy this piece called "Night of Shanghai" ...

Do share your thoughts and impressions.

On MOUs, Marble and Music

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The recent drought of postings was because I've been busy travelling. This week I was back in Vietnam - two days in Hanoi, two days in Da Nang (where I am right now) and half a day stopover in HCMC.

Da Nang was the key focus of this trip. It's still one of my favourite cities in Vietnam and I've been engaging with various government agencies there for a number of years. The purpose of this trip was to oversee the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the People's Committee of Da Nang and Cisco. I had been working towards this for quite a while, and believed this to be a significant milestone in our partnership. More on this event can be read here.

After the official work was over, I had a chance to pay a visit to Marble Mountain, one of a cluster of five marble/limestone mountains located a few km south of Da Nang, that stretch from the coast inwards (in a westerly direction). The mountains are named after the five elements; Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). There are many caves and tunnels in the mountains and I read that they were used quite a bit during the Vietnam (or American, depending on which side you are on) War. The area is now famous for stone sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts.

Here's a shot of the area where the Marble Mountains are located. You can see three out of the five mountains ...

And here are some shots taken at one of the many stone sculpture shops.

So remember .... if you want to order some marble lions or dragons or deities or nude maidens or fountains for your grand mansions, you can place an order with me. Shipment to all corners of the world provided. I'll give you some good rates. LOL

Finally after dinner last night, I was invited to a music lounge to enjoy some traditional Vietnamese music and modern pop hits. I was impressed by the quality of the musicians (the white-haired violinist you see in the photo is particularly good!). And of course, there was a variety of singers doing everything from Vietnamese ballads to Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me". Alas, none attempted "Nobody".

All the lady singers I saw were lovely and had extremely powerful vocals. This was evident as each lass belted out soulful numbers one after the other with ease.

Da Nang and its surroundings are indeed fascinating places - ideal for relaxation and for exploring the real Vietnam. It is clean, safe, scenic and the people are mostly friendly. I have quite a number of friends in Da Nang and I'd certainly recommend it to all.
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The Allure of the Wonder Girls

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Pardon this minor digression into my personal enchantment with this musical group and its catchy hit song "NOBODY". Even if you've never heard of the Wonder Girls, a girl group from South Korea, I would suspect that many of you would have heard strains of this tune being played on TV, radio, music stores or even someone's mobile ringtone.

This is not usually the kind of musical group that grabs my attention, but I must admit their hit is extremely catchy and their performance style quite entertaining (I also find it amusing to imagine someone surnamed Chew or Chiu or Choo in the audience who must feel very flattered by their vocal rendition!).

The five person Wonder Girls, are managed by singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young of JYP Entertainment (who formerly managed that other Korean sensation, Rain ... tho' I must say I'm not as impressed by him!). This is an artifically constructed group with each of the five original members selected through auditions (kinda like the UK's Spice Girls a generation before). The Wonder Girls debuted in early 2007 and became popular later that year with the song "Tell Me." They have scored three consecutive #1 hit singles: "Tell Me", "So Hot", and "Nobody". In 2008, they won two Daesangs ("Artist of the Year" Awards).
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Even more impresssive was the fact that the group entered into the American market in 2009, with the lead single "Nobody" - which also became the first song by a Korean artist to enter the Billboard Hot 100.

Enough from me ... Turn up your speaker volume to the max and enjoy the music video ...

Like it? Share your views on this and other music groups you like.

Chinese Classics at the Singapore Botanic Gardens

One weekend earlier this month, I attended a free outdoor concert of Chinese Classic songs, held at the Shaw Foundation symphony stage at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The event was part of the 85th anniversary celebrations of the Lianhe Zaobao newspaper.

When we got there around 5:45pm, just a couple of minutes after it had started, there were probably a few thousand people lounging on mats or simply sitting on the grassy slopes around the stage, enjoying the entertainment.

There were three key lady performers - erhu expert Ma Xiaohui from Shanghai, vocalist Christine Hsu from Taiwan, and singer Jizhe from China. Let me quote from the official SPH programme to give these ladies a more complete introduction.

Ma Xiaohui (马晓晖)
"Fresh from her successful concert in June at the renowned Carnegie Hall in New York this year, erhu maestro Ma Xiaohui from Shanghai will impress with her virtuosity. Hailed as the “Queen of Erhu” and a “national treasure” of China, Ma Xiaohui has twice been awarded first prize at the National Guangdong Music Competition. She also claimed the first prize at the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.

She has performed with some of the most accomplished orchestras in the world including the National Symphony Orchestra of China, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Her duet with cellist Yo-Yo Ma on the Oscar-winning soundtrack for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon also put her in the international limelight."

Christine Hsu (许景淳)
"... from Taiwan is a multi-award winning vocalist whose versatility sees her performing a wide repertoire across different musical genres from pop, jazz to ethnic folk tunes. Often regarded as “Taiwan’s most beautiful voice” by music critics, Christine Hsu has performed at major music festivals."

Jizhe (吉 喆)
"Joining Ma Xiaohui and Christine Hsu will be the talented Jizhe from China. The performer with a Masters degree in vocals from the Zhengzhou Song & Dance troupe has a popular fan base in China, and is famous for her lead roles in Chinese musicals."

The audience was treated to familiar Chinese classics such as "Wei Liang Dai Piao Wo De Sin", Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Butterfly Lovers and Jasmine Flower.

It is nice to see that some aspects of Chinese culture is still preserved in modern Singapore.