New Directions

      There are some new directions for me in my tattered path in music in year 2010. Recently I'm working closely with an indie label Music Toxin, and even came up with an idea of recording some excellent talents we have here in Malaysia. We have many talented classical pianists who are well known in the international stages, and there has not been a record company that are interested in documenting their voices. The record companies seem to be more interested in some male version of Vanessa May, or something like that. Not to blame them since they are in the business to make money. Prelude with techno beatz played by scantily clad violinist (male!) sure will make more money than Chopin played in the way it is supposed to be played.

Thus I will be producing a series of piano recordings by our local talents in 2010. So far I've approached several pianists in Malaysia. They all showed tremendous interest in this project, and first recording session is scheduled in the first week of 2010! What a great way to start a new decade!

       Secondly, I've been working with Chui Ling on this project called JZ 8, for Pop Pop Music. We cover some memorable Chinese pop songs in jazz style. I am happy to announce that we are at the last leg of the recording, and it should be scheduled to be released in Feb 2010. This project has been going on for almost a year, due to both our hectic schedules. Chui Ling is the most sought after back-up vocalist in the international scene, thus she has to fly all over the world to sing back up for many big names in the music scene. The studio that we are recording in wasn't ready and was way past the due date. But finally, we are about to complete the meat of the whole project. Can't wait to hold the CD in my hand!

 

 Thirdly, I became a part of this vocal quartet plus piano trio group called Caipifruta (after a song that I wrote, recorded in our WVC TRiO + 1 album EVELEN). We are still pretty much in the beginning of a relationship, but I am looking forward to write more for this group, as it is another challenge to my ability as a composer and arranger. Gambate!

I'll be damn busy, that's for sure. I guess I need to be busy.

Hello 2010.

 

The Beginning of Unit Asia

So, this is how Unit Asia came about. Oooohhhh, I didn't know about that until now.
I think this is written by the manager of Unit Asia Mr. Hommura.

The Beginning of UNIT ASIA

Autumn 2007, I received a request from the Japan Foundation "To create a new Asian Jazz, we would like to form a group of Jazz musicians in Asia comprised of Japanese musicians. We also plan to organize a Southeast Asian Tour for the new group." For an organizer who had organized many tours in Asia like me, this project was "what I had dreamed of". I really wanted to make it a success, so I started to choose musiciansto participate in the project. From the very beginning when I heard of this project, I already decided that the musician who will be the center of the group must be "Isao Miyoshi". Miyoshi is the musician who participated in "Asian Fantasy Orchestra" ASEAN Tour 2003, starting from Bangkok (Thailand), Yangon (Myanmar), Vientiane (Laos) and Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam). The concert was organized to celebrate the relationship between Japan and ASEAN. He is certainly a skillful earnest guitarist with a variety of music styles. Moreover, his endurance is exceptionally admired. He was one of the key people who made AFO ASEAN Tour 2003 successful. I was thinking that, someday I want to organize a concerttour with him as the main role. I discussed the project with him. He immediately agreedand said "Please allow me to join this project". So the next step was to choose a drummer and bassist. We agreed to choose "Hiroyuki Noritake" as drummer. Noritake is a member of the fusion group called "T-Square". He is a very famous and colorful Japanese drummer. His drum is soft and precise with a widerange of skills in jazz, fusion, pop, and classic. For bassist, the name of "Shigeki Ippon" was proposed by Noritake. According to Ippon's studio and behind-the-scene work for musicals and plays, even though he has limited experience as a bassist, his ability is promising. He really is a rising star of Japan at the moment. From the beginning, I had the idea that I would let Japanese musicians play a main part in the rhythm section. To widen the possibility of music for this group, we needed musicians who showed a power to respond and I had confident in these 3 powerful musicians. Regarding the group name, ever since the time that the Japan Foundation proposed this project, (though it seems so ordinary) I already named the group as"UNIT ASIA". When I discussed with the 3 musicians, they all agreed and said "Isn't it good?", so we decided to use this name. After that, we started to ask the Japan Foundation in each country around Asia to submit the list of musicians to participate in this event. Finally we came up  with 13 musicians, their performance CD, and profile. We all watched those performances together. It was a tough decision to choose teammates from all these fantastic musicians. However, we finally decided, for the saxophonist, to choose a famous Thai superstar Koh Mr. Saxman who has a powerful emotional performance technique with beautiful voice. For pianist, we decided to choose Tay Cher Siang from Malaysia, who has a clear piano touch, lively and charming performance. We promptly reached them and explained the project to them. They both showed eagerness to participate and said "I am interested in the project and please let me in". That's how we finally got 5 members for UNIT ASIA. UNIT ASIA Southeast Asian Tour 2008 October 16th 2008, all the group members and concert staffs gathered together at Training Room, Philharmonic Hall in Kuala Lumpur where the first rehearsal of UNIT ASIA started. Miyoshi was the center of the group who collected various music styles and ideas from each member. Since they are the top selected musicians, although sometimes they got lost, at the end of the second rehearsal day they already created a framework of each song. October 20th, we departed to Singapore for the first concert. Lasting for 1 month, Southeast Asian Tour already got started. October 22nd, the memorable first concert of UNIT ASIA took place atSingapore Conference Hall. All of the members showed their excitement while walking onto the stage. However, after the first song, "Song of UNIT ASIA" finished, a big applause and appreciation from audiences gave them the confidence to perform an incredible first concert beyond our imagination. After the encore song, "For the Children", they were given a standing ovation. The warm applause and support from audiences that night encouraged members of UNIT ASIA to work to the utmost ability. After that, we organized concerts in Manila (Philippines), Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), and a final performance at Chiang Mai (Thailand). Every time, they were warmly welcomed by the audiences. For every concert, they developed a new music style and deepened the friendships amongst each other. Although they differ in countries, birthplace, childhood,  circumstances, music learning processes, and career path, 5 different musicians encountered their teammates in this Southeast Asian Tour (some people said they were destined to). With the precious experience gained from this tour, we areconfident for the promotion of UNIT ASIA and their future. Having members with confidence in their teammates, warmth in sharing, powerful performance, gentle expression through their music, and strong intentions toward UNIT ASIA, these compositions urged their performances to be unique. The integration of rock and pop music under jazz's principle goes beyond music's boundary and create the "New Asian Jazz" with their own originality and scale. Later activities of UNIT ASIA are not only to broaden the possibilities of Asian Jazz, but also, hopefully, to represent a promising future of Asian jazz musicians. Regarding the show in Bangkok, we wished to perform a show full of energy which can bring warmness through our audiences' hearts. We are waiting to see you at the concert. November 2009 / Planet Arts Hommura Ryonosuke (Producer) About writer: Mr. Hommura Ryonosuke has long worked as management staff at "PIT INN," the place which has been the center of the Japanese Jazz scene for years. He is active in producing music events such as "Japan and Korea Music Festival" featuring famous Japanese drummer Mr. Eitetsu HAYASHI and internationally famous South Korean Samul Nori ensemble led by Mr. Kim Duk-Soo. He has also designed and produced international music tours like Asian Fantasy Orchestra's Asian tour in 1995, 1998 and 2003, the South East Asian tour of famous Japanese Jazz musician Mr. Satoru Shionoya's group in 2007 and Unit Asia's South East Asian tour in 2008. Unit Asia will perform in Bangkok on Monday 29th March 2010, 8 pm. at Main Hall, Thailand Cultural Center!

 "http://www.jfbkk.or.th/2009/art_culture_20091209.php3"

Oh Ya, we will be performing in Bangkok in 2010.
I heard that we might be in Malaysia again in 2011. That's another year away!
But no worries, it is still a year before 2012.

Howdy Ho!

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

When I get older, the feeling of time flying past is more and more obvious. No kidding. I used to lament how slow the time past when I was in primary school. Now, just sitting there doing nothing, the time just flies by. Damn.

2009 has been a turbulent year for me. Looking back, it seemed like I've done a lot, but at the same time I felt the emptiness of not doing enough. Some personal matters also affected me greatly this year. I hope after this great shift in life I will learn not to take things for granted. Easy said than done, but fallen hard on the ground is really painful. Very very.

Some books that I've read this year touched me greatly. John Irving's Until I Find You, The World According to Garp are the two great read for 2009. 龙应台的大江大海, is another great read of the year. Highly recommended. Haruki Murakami's 1QH4, translated by 赖明珠 is another must read. But it is not finished yet. Supposedly Mr Murakami will finish the third book next summer.

Great movies are hard to come by, since I don't go to cinema that often. Some movies that left some impacts are The Watchmen, Julie and Julia, French movie Le Prophet, Japanese movie The Departures. Can't remember them all. Sorry, hopefully I will make more effort in taking notes in movies I've watched.

Music wise, I've come across some Brazilian music that interest me a lot. Maria Rita being one of them. The releases by Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau this year were great. Went to their concert in Singapore and MPO Hall too. Discovered some really great musicians that are not well known. Saxophonist Daniel Zamir, Maria Kannegaard, Yuri Honing, Wolfgang Haffner, Yaron Herman etc. Other musicians that I've been listening to put out some great music this year: Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Paulo Fresu, Tord Gustavsen, Tomasz Stanko, Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani, Richard Galliano, Ralph Towner, John Zorn, Gilad Atzmon. There are just too much to listen to!

This year I've been involved in many projects that I am proud of. Looking forward to next year as a few recording projects that I'm working on this year will be released next year. As recording industry came dwindling down, to plunge into this field seems suicidal. Hopefully there are people who are serious about the music they listen to, and will buy these recordings that we spent much blood sweat and tears, with a lot of ideas and creativity to produce.

Walking pass the darkness, there is light in the end of the path. I am walking towards the light.

Gambate!!!!

WVC TRiO + 1 Tour 2010 in preparation

WVC TRiO + 1 is planning for the year of 2010. As of now, we are still confirming the some of the venues, but at this stage we are happy to say that we will be performing in many new territories. The tour will take place in March to Mid April, covering five to eight cities in Malaysia, eight cities in China, and Singapore. We will also have another concert premiering our original compositions in Kuala Lumpur. Hopefully we will manage to record another album.

So, Gambate!!