When "East Meets West" 《中西唱盘》, a tribute to the 50's by Yudi 友弟

East Meets West 《中西唱盘》is a concept music show that Yudi 友弟 concocted to pay tribute to the wonderful era of the iconic 50's (also encompassing 40's to 60's) when popular music from the West and the East started to flourish and integrate into each other's culture.

It was pretty much the beginning of idol worship of Hollywood stars such Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day to name a few. In the East, there were legendary divas GeLan 葛籣 ，YaoLi 姚利，WuYingYin 吴莺音，LinDai 林黛 .

‘中曲西词’ Chinese melodies with English lyrics

Example:  玫瑰玫瑰我爱你 （meigui meigui wo ai ni) Rose Rose I Love You

The English version was said to have been sung for Rose Chan, the legendary burlesque dancer of Malaya.

‘中词西曲’Chinese lyrics sung to Western melodies

Example: River Of No Return 大江东去

Example: Never On Sunday 别在星期天

Award-winning Yudi 友弟 personifying
"there once was a sassy Chinese lady who time traveled from the 50's"
in 'East Meets West" 《中西唱盘》

#EastMeetsWest #50s #hollywood #goldenoldies #tribute #riverofnoreturn #roseroseiloveyou #neveronsunday #teresateng 

Award-Winning Yudi relives the iconic 50's in "East Meets West"

The Soprano’s is excited to present award-winning Yudi 友弟 in dinner show on 13 & 14 Nov, "East Meets West" 《中西唱盘》, where she leads us into the charming era of the 40's, 50's & 60's which produced many hit songs in both the East and the West, in English and Chinese. The iconic 50's conjures up the glamorous and unforgettable Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn in the West and names like Lin Dai 林黛,Yao Li 姚利, Rose Chan in the East.

At the 11^th BOH Cameronian Arts Award in 2014, Yudi won Best Solo Performance and Best Group Performance for the Malayan-inspired -- ‘KOPISUSU,’ a concert play she produced and performed in that garnered 8 nominations.

She won the inaugural Golden TV awards 2010 for Best Theme song for the hit NTV7 series, 'The Iron Lady' 女头家.  

She has several solo albums to her name, ‘The Iron Lady’, ‘Good Old Tunes’ ‘Mind your Heart. Love your Soul’, a duet audio file ‘Shades of Passion’ with Tay Cher Siang, and the commemorative album in conjunction with “KOPISUSU Re-cham” in 2014.

Throughout the years, Yudi, is known for her soulful rendition of 时代曲 “shi dai qu” ie. Shanghai oldies, and continues to evoke nostalgia for an elegant era. 

She has judged for Astro’s highly-rated 'Classic Golden Melody'   In the musical Princess Wen Cheng, Yudi played the role of the Queen since 2012, which traveled from Istana Budaya in Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, Taipei, Busan, Xian, and Beijing. She was also invited to perform Olympian Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s wedding, before the Agung, in an event that generated highly acclaimed exposure to her jazz singing. 

Make sure you catch Yudi 友弟 and WVC along with Calista Lim in performance! Limited seats available for the dinner show at only RM250/200/150 per person. Get here by 7pm for sumptious 5 course dinner specially created for the occasion, followed by showtime at 9pm.  Book now 03-79728363.

#EastmeetsWest #Yudi #TayCherSiang #WVC #TheSoprano's #music #dance #50's #performance #dinnershow #dinnertheatre #theatrerestaurant #show #showtime #KualaLumpur #oldies #goldenoldies, #chinesesongs #englishsongs #icon #jazz

Sisa-sisa | Three Doors -- my interpretation

Sisa-sisa? The name of the play wandered in my mind. A collection of four plays, the name and the poster did not sound too happy. So I wondered how my Saturday evening date with the theatre would turn out. 

Sisa-sisa? What is it? The English translation came up as "scraps." The dictionary definition is "a small piece or amount of something, especially one that is left over after the greater part has been used."

Hmm....

As expected, the stories addressed the more distressing realities of life, Nevertheless, I went in with an open mind to observe the artistic and theatrical styles of telling the stories. I was thrilled to see that it was a full house in Pentas 2 of KLPAC (KL Performing Arts Centre). Claps for Malaysia's theatre scene.

Four plays: Three Doors (top left), Reservations (top right),
The Joy of Solitude (bottom left),  Blind Spot (bottom right)

Three Doors opened the evening. 

Faridah Merican plays a woman at the funeral of her husband. Though a sad topic, the play is humourous, beginning with two female neighbours, played by Douglas Wong (in wig) and Ho Lee Ching (in wig too), attending the funeral, unapologetically taking advantage of the free prawn bihun (rice noodles) served at the funeral, and then complaining about the coffee. 

The woman, instead of being depressed, shows off her fiery character by chasing away the obtrusive neighbours, and questioning the dead "old man" about leaving her there by herself to decide which of the three doors she should choose from -- the three doors being her three sons. With whom could she spend the rest of her life with?

Faridah Merican. Courtesy of KLPAC


Then, as she related how differently she served curry chicken to each of her three sons, a revelation of how different each relationship is, she moved three chairs for us to symbolize the three persons.

From left: Ho Lee Ching, Faridah Merican, Douglas Wong (Courtesy of KLPAC)

Douglas Wong's silhouette and voice becomes the dead old man, who is still having a conversation with his wife, albeit imaginary. 

Then he takes on the roles of each of her three sons, coming on stage as flashbacks of her conversation with each of them. The director could have cast 3 different actors to play each of the 3 sons, instead, he had Douglas Wong come on stage in 3 different personalities, which somehow differentiates even more how differently each feels about their mother. The character that struck me most was her eldest son, a health freak who ironically lives nearby to her, but distances himself from mother by only offering her brown rice and tofu... if she came over.

Ho Lee Ching and Faridah Merican. (Courtesy of KLPAC)

Ho Lee Ching also potrays several characters, one of it being a very blonde Chinese girlfriend of her second son who offers the old woman chocolate as condolences, which pisses off the old lady even more. This also tells that all is not well of her relationship with her second son.  Ho Lee Ching offers more comic relief as a dreadlocked vagabond, who meets the woman on the streets as she searches for her missing son. The vagabond then breaks into a funny rendition of popular Hokkien song "jiu gan tang boei bo..." (do you have empty beer bottles to sell), which is an iconic song of the poor who lived on the streets, as it is from a hit Taiwanese movie about a mute man who found a baby girl while collecting bottles on the streets.

Saturday night out at the theatre!

A rare photo opportunity with Datuk Faridah Merican

Three Doors' humourous presentation, with great acting in English and hilarious smatterings of Hokkien, was interesting enough to make it worth an evening drive out. 

The reason NOT having 3 actors play the 3 sons WORKS, because in the end, the 3 chairs that symbolize each one are still empty. As an audience, we also agreed with the old woman that neither of the three doors would make her ideal life.

Three Doors was directed and written by Mark Beau De Silva.

New-Born Stars: Astro Star Quest 2015 Final

After several years not following this competition, I found my way to the Final "live" show again. So there I was, sitting among Astro celebrity guests, coaches and entertainment professionals, behind the Rock Zone, with many tall boys standing in front of me, in anticipation of the show I had been kindly fed information with, courtesy of ex-colleagues who have something to do with the show one way or another. 

An indication of the success that's built up over the years, the supporters and audience receptively add their own enthusiasm with coloured light sticks that illuminated the hall and made the entire event more exciting. 

As the lights dim, and the countdown to the "live" show over Astro Wah Lai Toi starts, my view was again, silhouettes of people, now with illuminated sticks.

I was told that for the first time, the judging format would give each of the 5 finalists: Jacqueline, Debbie, Daniel, Joseph and Apple, 15 minutes to perform their own concert. In between their solos, they would be joined each by an assigned past year winner to duet with.  

"Animals" danced during rendition of "Roar" originally by Katy Perry

I had no favourites in mind going into the final. But I had taken the trouble to watch the music videos circling in facebook-dom, where they each had recorded a cover song.

First up was Jacqueline. I thought she was a strong contender with a strong voice & strong stage presence, although she apparently slipped during a dance routine. But then again, I couldn't see much due to the standing audience in front of me.

Debbie was the next contestant. I can say, she is the least of my favourites as I did not care for her entire packaging. I thought the straight blond hair with big headgears on her head was something she could not carry. Neither could she carry all the English songs that she sang as her pronunciation was apparent of someone who does not really understand English but chooses to mimic somebody singing English.  

When it was Daniel's turn, he lightened the heavy mood set by the previous 2 ladies, as he was a natural showman. Rhythm and a flexible body language was very much a natural state for him and I can say, he is truly a born performer.

From screen capture of Uriah's moving performance, 2 violins and a piano

From Uriah See's facebook: with his mom & brother who accompanied him on stage

The mood became even better when he was joined by guest performer, Uriah See, last year's winner, who has a great star presence. Uriah then went on to perform his new composition, 给爱 （Give Love）for the first time in public, joined by his mother on the piano and his younger brother on the violin. I must complement it as it was a very mature and moving song, away from the norm of the teeny-bopper melody-less songs that fill Chinese radio airtime nowadays. 

Next contestant, Joseph, seemed to be a dfficult one to fathom. He has the best-sounding textured voice amongst all. But he was unable to wow the audience and judges due to his stiff figure on stage.

Apple was said to be the favourite to win for the night. And she came out last, very much a topic of discussion amongst the audience, who identified balloons dropping, and other special effects awarded to the final contestant to perform, as indication for an intended winner. She has a naturally-clear high-ranged voice, but as a performer, it felt as though she was being pushed to be the rock star with her purple hair, but instead of following that built-up momentum, she reacted instead with demure side-to-side swaying.

As a producer of competitions, a difficult one to balance is always the need to create an  entertaining show VS the fairness of a competition. 

This concert format rundown, by obviously placing a strong vocals Jacqueline and ending with the favourite to win, Apple, strongly shown that entertainment value was placed first over what is deemed the fairness of a competition. In deciding the line-up of an entertainement show, we always start with someone fairly strong with upbeat entertainment (in this case, Jacqueline) and give the last performance to the one who is most popular (Apple). 

Apple eventually won, and the judges had hinted it to be so even before the winner's announcement by the MCs.

Nevertheless, despite the weaknesses shown by the contestants who are yet to be seasoned performers, this was an extremely grand concert and an amazing production for them to feel like stars. 

With past year winners lending their might, it was no doubt, a celebration and a reminder to all to keep appreciating this production and its new-born stars every year.

The Dream Lives On: Astro Star Quest, Astro 新秀大赛

In one week's time is the Astro Star Quest final 2015 Astro新秀大赛, which will see the birth of more new Chinese talent winners into the Malaysian Chinese entertainment industry.

It feels like the blink of an eye. Has it been 18 years since I produced the first of its series in 1998, the first time ever we used the name Astro Talent Quest, which was subsequently changed to Astro Star Quest a few years later. (In 1997, the first singing championship was organized by the newly-launched Astro but it was named after the Hong Kong counterpart International Chinese New Talent Singing Championship.)

Those beginning years, as a pioneer producer for Astro, life was fresh but dramatic in unchartered territory. Astro was like the rescuer of the Malaysian Chinese entertainment industry that never took off. 

When I was assigned to be the producer for Chinese channel, which was something I expected very naturally, I took it up with unpolluted boldness,  even though I could not read or speak Chinese well. There was no one there telling me what I should and should not do, therefore, I created the content,  the competition, the working procedures, everything that came to my path, with a fresh and simplistic mind. 

This is the only photo in my personal collection of
Astro Talent Quest1998 Astro  新秀大赛

In the first year I produced it, the economy was not doing well. Budgets were small. Astro was just beginning to find its way into homes. We built a set in Astro's Studio 1, for the live show performed to only 100 studio audience.

The next year, I was not contented to be told that it was unnecessary for the show to become bigger than where it was originally planned -- in the 100-seat studio. This show was created to start a loyal following and to build the Astro brand, so shouldn't we make it into an event where more fans could attend? The  management then only had to fulfill having programs be seen on the TV screen, so having a public event was considered unnecessary. 

Anyway, with rash determination, I found my way to having, not only this competition's first, but Astro's first ever live Finals production at the Arena of Stars, Genting, in the wide open public, beyond the walls of the Astro building. 

Internally, my actions were met with lukewarm responses. How are you going to grow your audience from 100 pax of contestant family members to a 6,000-strong crowd to fill the seats at the Arena? Who will come to watch a show filled with only "kuchi rats?" Those were real questions being thrown at me.

I have never had answers for them, and neither did the Chinese channel head. In those days, I was young, proud, believing, determined and ambitious, and I never could adjust myself to the corporate need for justification and "guaranteed" forecast results. I just believed we could and we had to. 

Nevertheless, the marketing personnel did their best to give away free tickets to the 1999 Astro Talent Quest Final at several shopping malls to Astro subscribers who showed up with proof of their Astro bill. 

The marketing people came back and reported, to their great surprise, that at each of the shopping mall that Astro had decided to set up a ticket booth, the people were lining up till outside the building to get the tickets!

At this time, Lee Hom had just released his 2nd album and was still relatively unknown in Malaysia.
Here he is rehearsing with the contestants for the Top 3 challenge.
That's Gary Chaw, in black top and blue jeans, who later became a superstar, changing his Chinese name to 曹格.

Finally, it was time to go up the hills and set up our stage. I had agreed to invite an upcoming singer from Taiwan, called Lee Hom 王力宏 to be the guest performer and to "test" the final contestants before deciding on the winner! Again, internally, questions were posed to me. In cantonese -- "Mat sui lei ge?" Who is that?

Lee Hom 王力宏 surprised everyone with his 

incredible stage presence.

The moments leading up to the 8pm "live" show was unbelievably exciting. By 7:30pm, the entire Arena of Stars was over-filled. Audiences who couldn't find a seat were sitting on the steps or standing by the walls!

Everybody in Astro could not believe their eyes. Here was a singing championship, still in its infancy, and starring "kuchi rats." The contestants were far from being famous celebrities. Lee Hom was still not a household name. The judges were also low-profile industry professionals. It was unheard of in Malaysia for such a great public response to a singing competition. These were the days BEFORE American Idol and other Western singing reality shows had even started.


The show had a fantastic response, and a respected music producer friend congratulated me instantly, saying it was the most entertaining show she had ever been to.

The undisputable winner of 1999 Astro Talent Quest, Lee Yih Ching 李玉钦 

Giggling and excited till I forgot to comb my hair

With the old gang & Lee Hom 王力宏  

Lee Hom 王力宏 with the Finalists of Astro Talent Quest 1999 Astro 新秀大赛

This competition is still going strong in its 17th year. It is even now performed to a live audience of 10,000 at the stadium. 

We have come a long way. And it is good to know that it is still going on, despite the complaints and the struggles the production team, the broadcaster, and the singers have gone through the years. 

But still it is moving along. Some dreams are still being nurtured. Some dreams have been shoved into the store room of unfulfilled desires. 

No matter what, an advice to those who have perseverance to live their dreams, just remember that your dreams are not decided by a corporation, a manager, a rival, the smallness or bigness of the industry, the advent of Kpop, your mother's opinion or even the audience. A dream will simply not live on if you do not let it live. 

Witnessing Sean 许益凯 Celebrating 21 At Kobe

I was privileged to be invited by the bosses of Kobe, a newly-opened, huge Japanese feasting hangout at its new residence at Nihonkan Club, Jalan Ampang.

And was privileged to bump into many young and talented singers from the Astro Star Quest 2014 who were having a birthday celebration for Sean 许益凯.

It is what we call 缘分 (yuan fen) - fate -- because I have friends who work closely with them, and through youtube & TV,  I recognize their talent.

From left: Uriah 徐凯, I, Sean 许益凯, Ron 彭世豪

It was a sweet time witnessing the sweet and clever table deco that Sean's friends and family had put up for him on his 21st birthday, a huge difference compared to my own humble 21st at home. 

It was interesting to see fine dining Japanese food being prepared. An earnest work of delicious art!

I heard it was an 8-course Japanese dinner. Me never go out too much. So it was interesting to hear about the creative ways of doing business and serving food. 

It's a pretty casual and special atmosphere to eat in the cool breeze of the night beside the little pool in Kobe. It was a great chance to taste such refine Japanese dishes and have a few Asahi's in between, really a rare delight for me.

The edamames, just peas in the pod, can make a dish look so elegant.

After a full, hearty meal of vegetables, seafood and meat, it was a time for more cheers before cutting the cake. The entire restaurant joined in the celebration. 

The whole gang line up for a photo memory

Fireworks to celebrate the shooting up of a boy's career

Ron's 11-year-old cousin, up to his tricks and his best entertaining self.
I think he may grow up to be an entertaining MC or talkshow host.

Worthy to mention is this song by Sean. Not many know the story behind it. 

Sean 许益凯【听见爱】 MV 完整版
 

My good friend, Eugene, decided that he would set a challenge to himself to achieve something in his life. From the very start, he and I set our minds on having the positive Qi, and he set about telling me that he just decided to do something which would be a success. 

Without any experience doing something like this before, he boldly initiated the project of getting a song composed with Sean in mind for Astro's Parents' Day campaign. I spent many hours listening to him talk on and on about this wonderful song, listening and smiling by himself, enjoying this song, and about the marketing that he had a hand in. At the time of writing, this song has hit No. 4 on MYFM radio charts.

Skip to minute 4:04 to see Uriah's winning performance at the 2014 International Chinese New Talent Singing Championship in Hong Kong.

My pleasure to have known Mr & Mrs Leong, who are the most excited, energetic and gracious-hearted people I have met, and who truly love music and entertainment with all their beings.

Bosses of Kobe, Mr & Mrs Leong, congratulating Sean.

As I focused my wishes on meeting like-minded people, to keep on loving the idea of creating music, promoting talent and continue floating in the storms of showbiz which has been my entire life's journey, I am led to shore to sweet surprises I have never tasted. Mr Leong & Xian Hui, are a couple who have shown me an example of "follow your bliss."