There will be fun and games. ‘The LIVE Challenge’ will showcase the features of the performing arts in the areas of Music, Dance, Theatre and Film in the library@esplanade through special activities.
By completing the LIVE challenge, one stand a chance to win an Acoustic Guitar Set worth $300 and an Electric Guitar Set worth $500, proudly sponsored by Cristofori Music School.

Also, there will be performances by local acts such as Casting Skylines, SavingSomeone, Zahidah, Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Baracuda, Look Behind!, Joshua Simon & Steph Micayle.

For more information, go Live!Library@esplanade facebook

Watch some of performers’ youtube clips below:

1) SavingSomeone

2) Zahidah – Make up song (remix) feat. Maph

3) Joshua Simon – IF

4) Steph Micayle – Why(cover song)

Taiwan’s first ever masked-singer Waterman debuted nearly 3 years ago in his skin-tight suit. And just like other superheroes, Waterman only appears in his white spandex, which has many fans curious about the man behind the silly mask.
The mysterious Waterman first became famous after appearing in a commercial in 2008. He has since released his 2 albums and continues to promote the spirit of good deeds. For his latest album 2010 Greatest Love, Waterman is on a mission to accomplish 15 good deeds in 15 days, such as visiting a seniors’ home, helping a college student to confess, and picking up garbage at a beach.
For the title song “Greatest Love”, Waterman traveled around in a recording vehicle to collect the voices of 10,000 people. He hopes to change the world with the power of love. The singer will donate all proceeds from his album to World Vision minus production costs.           – www.cpopaccess.com

I do not know this singer until he appeared in the Taiwan variety show “100% Entertainment”. This superhero amazed me with his musical talent – He was playing guitar while singing the host’s songs.
A little digging in the internet shows that his 1st album was a big hit – the album rocketed to six on Taiwan’s Billboard Charts in only two weeks, more than 15 news reports and 30 TV shows extended the overall media effectiveness to three months. He was even invited as a singer on the hit show Super Idol. There were over 130,000 visitors to Waterman’s official website, over 400,000 visitors to his blog, and over 180,000 views of his music videos on YouTube.
Now his latest album,“Greatest Love”, has already broken the record of recording ten thousand voices.

His “Heroics” video.
1) Greatest love (10,000 voices version)(愛很大) -

2) The Most Beautiful face (songs from 1st album)(最美麗的臉) -

Performance Date – 21st May 2010s

Time & Venue – 6.45pm to 9.00pm at Far East Plaza (2nd level)

Feel of Music – In line with youthfulness, being hip and energetic

Groups are performing – 10 groups (each having 2 original songs showcase)

This is a competition for local music performers. There are awards to be given out for,
Best Overall Vote and Support for Performing Group
Best Original Theme Song
Best Overall Group Performer
Being one of the performing groups, one will stand a chance to be selected to record their original song in an EP album compilation!

Those unfamiliar with the Korean Indie band scene may only know Kim C as the dorky man on 1 Night 2 Days. However, Kim C is actually part of a very well known band called Hot Potato in the K-Indie world.  -www.allkpop.com

This March saw Hot Potato released their third album “Seesaw”. It is a collection of difference genes of music include hip-hop. In less than a month of its release, the song Confessions reached the number one spot on Cyworld’s rock chart. Other songs, like Seesaw and Modern Woman snatched the 7th and 14th place respectively. Hot Potato’s Kim C is very surprised at the attention that the song Confessions has received.
The band have a Mini Drama made for this album, its has a torching story line – beautifully fused together with the tracks from the album.

The Songs from Youtube:
1) Confessions –

2) The mini Drama that contain the songs and music from the album SEESAW.
Part 1/2

Part 2/2

Song from their older album:
1) Irony

2) Rain Tears

Naotarō Moriyama (森山直太朗) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter born on April 23, 1976. His mother is Ryōko Moriyama, who is a well-known folk singer. He came out with the album “Kawaita Uta wa Sakana no Esa ni Chōdo Ii” in 2002, and distinguished himself by creating the song “Sakura”.

The song “Sakura” is one of the graduation song that have been broadly sung on Japanese Graduation Ceremonies since its released. The song is beautifully sing with well written, heart warming lyric. He have sing many other wonderful, emotional songs as well.

Some of his works:
1) Sakura (with translation)
2) Sakura (performed LIVE)
3) Rainbow
4) To my beloved (愛し君へ)

If you think making a music video is easy with today’s technology, think again. This interesting and quirky video of Diane Birch’s Valentino shows how much manual work is required to synchronize with the actual processed one, you can hear the giggles and wows from the crew behind and you know how tough it is to get it all right.

If you don’t know Diane Birch, do check out our initial featured article of this amazingly talented artist.

Now, I wonder how many times they rehearse?

Over at Great Music Singapore, our team was actually scheduled to featured her performance at Esplanade with Clarence earlier this year but other commitments came up and unfortunately didn’t get the chance. A little quick search on Kewei and I realised she has been in the music scene since 2006, personally I’m not digging too much on chinese songs or media programmes so pardon my ignorance here. I was pleasantly impressed with the covers on her Youtube channel and er-hu performance on David Tao’s concert? Wow, that honestly to me is simply priceless and original.

I could go on and on here with Kewei’s many achievements and entreprenuership but I leave it to you to explore and support her talent to greater heights. And if you like to know more about Kewei, be sure to head on down to Cineleisure this Sunday at 2pm!

Download Kewei’s biography here.

Event Details:
What? - KEEP! Singapore Launch + Mini Concert
Where? – K-Box K-Union, Cathay Cineleisure Level 8
When? – 2 May 2010, Sunday 3PM
Admission is Free

Some Youtube videos:

Singer, song-writer, entrepreneur, erhu-player, are just a few words to describe Tay Kewei, a young Singaporean singing sensation.  Set to dazzle Asia with her smooth and captivating vocals, Kewei has come a long way since her Project Superstar days in 2006.  Then 22, this talented and sweet girl-next-door who is also adept with the violin, piano and guitar has garnered a sizable following from her Youtube videos, blogs and website.

Kewei is no stranger to the international scene, touring as background vocalist for Wang Leehom, David Tao, Amei and JJ Lin Junjie, and has performed at their world tours – in more than 50 shows at over 18 cities.

Einein, a fulltime keyboardist and songwriter, is actively performing in musicals, events, weddings and in her free time, she shares her onstage experiences with students. She has written songs for Fish Leung, Joi Chua, Kelly Poon and Jocie Guo.

Something about JON CHONG

Having written songs for over a decade to capture and express his thoughts and experiences, Jon Chong views music as a natural extension of who he is. In his songs, Jon delves honestly into the themes of life and love and why, and stirs us to consider our unique place in the world.

Coming from the laidback, East Malaysian city of Kuching, he grew up living the peaceful and simple life, travelling up the rivers of Sarawak and putting up in boarding schools near mountains. However, carrying with him an innate curiosity to see how far he is able to go with all his pursuits, Jon has represented his school, university, division, state and country in athletics, football, swimming, exchange programmes and art among others. A recipient of three tertiary level scholarships, he completed his engineering PhD with the Singapore-MIT Alliance in 2006/2007, a period he attributes as the “most trying but rewarding time of his life”. Through this journey, Jon has experienced the vibrancy, hustle and bustle of cities he has travelled to and lived in such as New York, Boston, Tokyo, Moscow and Singapore. His diverse travels have provided a rich palette of life experiences, which have undoubtedly coloured his songs.

Harbouring ambitions of bringing a fresh and accessible brand of music to the airwaves, Jon has completed his much-anticipated debut album “State of My Mind” with producer/arranger, Joshua Wan. Expect his original compositions to be an eclectic mix of genres—pop, rock, blues, jazz, funk, and soul—all commonly linked by his distinctive, original interpretations on the acoustic guitar.

Jon strongly believes in the power of music to influence lives for the better. He strives to create music that reaches deep into the soul, leaving an indelible impression. Ultimately, Jon hopes to inspire people, as a fellow traveller, to pursue their passions and dreams by carving out their own opportunities and breaking stereotypes if necessary, and have as much fun as possible along the journey!     – Jonchong.com

I brought this album at Starbucks – City Link Mall.
On a whole, the album are pleasant to the ear but some of the songs’ almost like from the same arrangement template. There are tracks like “The Brightest Star” and “State of my Mind” do sound a little more difference. They came out top on my recommended lists.

Below are a few songs from his album – performed “live” :
1) State of Mind
2) Undeniably Yours
3) The Brightest Star
4) Cover song -  ” Man in the mirror”

Being unique is indeed important in the competition, or perhaps any competition. But time and time again, artists are always tested for their consistencies and nowadays we hardly hear anything that might be worth listening 10-20 years (e.g. Police, Queen, Eric Clapton, etc) or even 50 years (e.g. Elvis Presley) from now. Once the novelty wears off and listeners will still fall back to classics. Also nowadays artists take a stroll along money park, live happily ever with their MTV cribs episode and you never hear from them anymore, not many will stay and create good music for a long time. The music industry sure need some passion even though most artists aren’t trying too hard because somewhere down the road their music might just become a classic.

So who’s your favorite to be in the top 5? Here’s my pick:

• Crystal Bowersox
• Casey James
• Lee DeWyze
• Siobhan Magnus
• Michael Lynch

Don’t mind me being bias but I absolutely am a fan of Crystal Bowersox, her performances are incredibly consistent and a joy to look at and of course I hope she wins it… or maybe not. ;)

Here’s my favorite pieces of her performance of Come Together by the Beatles and Midnight Train to Georgia few weeks ago: