Welcome 2009

We will open the book.
Its pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called "Opportunity" and its
first chapter is New Year's Day.

Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Happy New Year everyone and have a great 2009!

Hector Olivera

I don't think I can find the right word or enough superlatives to describe this man. Prodigy? Musical genius? Amazing? Seems inadequate to describe a man that's truly God's gift to the music world.





I had the privilege to attend a workshop conducted by Mr Hector Olivera at the Roland Training Center this afternoon and came away with the utmost respect for him. Even after many decades of performing to tens of thousands of organ and keyboard fans and enthusiasts, he is still as passionate about his concerts as day one. This man is not slowing down even a wee bit. Hector, who was a special guest on NTV7's Breakfast Show this morning, said that he especially loves to perform to children.

During the workshop, Hector took us on a journey and explored the Roland Atelier organ. We learnt so much from him and discovered so many new features of the organ. His pure, unadulterated technique, style & arrangements make him one of the very few organists who takes every concert to a level that only a genius like him can. He makes the organ sound good, not the other way around. Listening to his orchestral arrangements played on the organ is like listening to a live orchestra! I was truly blown away!!!

Yet, this man, who likes to use analogies and with lots of humour thrown in for good measure, is unassuming, down-to-earth and "pooh poohs" the standing ovations that has become part and parcel of his concerts. We talked like we are old buddies.

So, I'm soooo looking forward to the concert tomorrow (Sat). Actually, I can hardly wait for it... really. If Roland promises to bring him here again next year, I'm going to book my ticket now :-).

"The World's Greatest Organist" - live in KL

November 1st is going to be a very special day in the history of live organ concerts in KL. Never before have we had an organist of this class perform in Malaysia. One who is called nothing less than "The World's Greatest Organist"!

What a privilege it is to have an internationally-acclaimed organist coming here to entertain us. And that person I'm raving about here is none other than Hector Olivera.




"Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Hector Olivera's first musical studies began with his father. He started (aged three) playing the pipe organ, was appointed organist for the Church of the Immaculate Conception two years later and, at six, entered the Buenos Aires Conservatory to study harmony, counterpoint and fugue. It was here that he began to develop the art of improvisation and, by the age of nine, had composed a suite for oboe and string orchestra t hat was performed by the Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra.

He entered the University of Buenos Aires at age 12. By 18, he had performed over 300 concerts throughout Latin America and had appeared frequently on national radio and television. During this time, he also served for three years as the senior improvisational accompanist for the Collegium Musicum in Buenos Aires, a role credited as being a major building block in his noted improvisational abilities.

In 1965, he was offered a scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York and moved to the United States. Three years later he won the National Improvisation Contest sponsored by the American Guild of Organists and began a concert career that spans decades."

... read more here..

So, finally, the man himself is really coming to KL. Certainly a concert not to be missed because we don't know when he'll be able to perform here again. Just checked Hector's concert schedule on his website and he's already booked through October 2009!

Thanks to Roland Asia Pacific again for bringing us another great concert performer. And I could not believe that tickets are going for only RM50!! For a Hector Olivera concert? Must have been heavily subsidised by Roland.

So, if you don't want to miss this wonderful opportunity to watch a great performer play on Roland's latest organ, the Atelier AT900C, keep Saturday Nov. 1st free and make a beeline for KLCC Convention Center.

For concert details, click the picture below.



Tickets may be purchased directly from me. Better hurry, as this concert is going to be a hot-seller!

Here's a couple of "appetizers"...

Roland Atelier Organ and more...

I know that this blog has not been updated for a loooong time. My apologies if you've been dropping by and hoping for something new to read and have been disappointed.

Anyway, I've got a couple of videos for your viewing/listening pleasure. I was at the Roland organ workshop today conducted by Ryoki Yamaguchi (who was also here last year). Check out my previous post here. This time around, Roland's newest organ, the AT900C was featured. Being the flagship model of the Roland Atelier range of organs, this model has tons of features that'll amaze any organist.

Ryoki's workshop is a prelude to the concert that he'll be performing in this Saturday 23rd August. Organised by Roland, it's called "The Night of the Keys" because besides the Organ, other keyboard instruments like the Accordion, Harpsichord and Pianos will also take centre stage. Indeed a rare opportunity to witness such a concert, especially the Accordion and Harpsichord.

Joining Ryoki, who's from Japan, will be Ludovic Beier from Germany (Accordion), Lynn Kang (Piano & Harpsichord), Ko Chuan Li & Kong Su Mei (Champions in this year's Roland Piano Fest in both the Classical & Jazz categories).

If you've already bought tickets, see you there. If not, you're going to miss a great concert :-(

As you know, Jazz and Musicals are two of my favourite genres of music and that's what you're going to hear in these videos. By the way, what you're going to listen to is only a little of what the Atelier AT900C can do. I know Ryoki is going to spring a few surprises this Saturday.










Oh by the way, I will not be recording Saturday's concert so don't expect any videos up here ya... :-)

Abdullah's Bible

Something very enlightening taken from Lim Kit Siang's blog.



Abdullah's Bible

By Farish A. Noor

For a country that is not exactly known for its reading habit, we seem to be grabbing a lot of books lately. Or to put it more accurately, we seem to be confiscating and detaining an awful lot of books.

For reasons best known to themselves, the benighted authorities in this land of ours have been vigilantly manning the outposts on the frontier lest we, while sleeping, are caught unawares by the legions of dog-eared tomes that are – at this very moment – surreptitiously on their way to this country to ‘pollute, corrupt and confuse’ our minds. The list of banned books grows ever longer; and the outrages continue unabated. The latest fiasco was when thirty-two Bibles were confiscated by customs officials from a Malaysian Christian on her way back from the Philippines, to be submitted for inspection by the Ministry of Internal Security. Strange that Bibles are now seen by some as a potential ‘security threat’ that need to be confiscated upon entry into the sacred precinct that is Malaysia. But Bibles? A security threat? To whom?

All this talk of ‘dangerous’ texts and potentially dangerous Bibles in particular reminds me of one particular edition of the Bible that caused quite a stir when it first came out. In fact so controversial was this particular edition that it almost never came out at all. For here I am talking about Abdullah’s Bible; or rather the translation of the Bible by none other than Munshi Abdullah Abdul Kadir, who is universally regarded as one of the forefathers of modern Malay literature.

Now those of you who remember what you were taught at school (and believe me, as an academic I am all too familiar with the phenomenon of selective amnesia among students), will also remember the name of Munshi Abdullah. He was the Peranakan Muslim scholar and translator who served both the early British colonial administrators in Singapore and Malacca as well as the various Malay courts during the opening stages of the 19th century.

Abdullah wrote his ‘Hikayat Abdullah’ which stands until today as one of the most honest accounts of the state of the Malay world at that crucial juncture in the history of this region. Abdullah was of course a key figure in the exchange of letters between British colonial administrators like Raffles, Farquhar, Minto, et al. and the Malay nobles and kings. The Hikayat of Abdullah was unique for its pointedly frank observations about all that was wrong with the world he lived in then, though perhaps one of the most interesting and touching episodes in the Hikayat is where Abdullah describes his quarrel with his father, who was afraid that his son might be tempted off the right path by the ‘deviant teachings’ of the English missionaries he was working with.

The thorny issue that was being debated between Abdullah and his peers at the moment was his role as translator for a particular text that many of them were reluctant to touch: The New Testament.

Abdullah had been approached by some English missionaries and commissioned by them to translate the New Testament into vernacular Malay, which was to be used at Church as well as the modest missionary efforts among the colonial subjects of the Crown Colonies. As Malay was the lingua franca of everyone who lived in the straits then (including the Peranakan Chinese, Indians, Eurasians and even the British and Dutch), it was deemed appropriate to have the Bible translated into Malay as well.

Munshi Abdullah who regarded himself primarily as a professional translator was prepared to do the job that scared off all other contenders; until his father came into the picture, spewing steam and hot curses, and swearing that his son would never be converted by the heathen missionaries. In a touching passage of the Hikayat Abdullah describes how he appealed to his father’s own sense of values, and in particular to his father’s own love for knowledge and languages in general. His father was further persuaded by the appeals of the priests Milner and Thomson, who promised that they would respect his father’s wishes and refrain from offering any religious instruction to Abdullah. In the end, Abdullah notes how the appeals eventually won over his father’s consent and he was allowed to continue his study of this foreign language called English. The result of Abdullah’s efforts came in the form of one of the first vernacular Malay translations of the New Testament, the Kitab Injil al-Kudus daripada Tuhan Esa al-Masihi.

Now contrary to the fears and doubts of his friends, Munshi Abdullah was not secretly converted to Christianity as a result of translating the Kitab Injil al-Kudus. No magic Christian pills were plopped into his tea behind his back while he was working in the missionaries’ quarters; nor were there any reported attempts to lure him to the Church by offers of money, promotions or package holidays. As he stated from the outset, he was professional through and through and he carried out his translation work in a scrupulous and objective manner, to the satisfaction of all.

Today one can only wonder aloud about the fate of such a text, should it find itself before the customs officials or immigration desk at KLIA or the Golok crossing up North. If Bibles from the Philippines can be detained upon arrival, what then would be the fate of Abdullah’s Bible, born and bred (or translated and bound) right here, in our dear ‘ol Malaysia? And how would be take to Munshi Abdullah, ‘father’ of modern vernacular Malay literature, pioneer of the vernacular autobiography and realist writing; who also happens to be one of the first translators of the Bible? Or have we, in denying the religious complexity and pluralism of Malaysia today, also closed the door to Malaysia’s past where Muslims seemed less easily spooked by books of whichever tongue?

Lingam's Devil Curry

I received this video clip through e-mail recently and it's pretty hilarious. If you've been following the "VK Lingam tape" trial on the judiciary fixing scandal, then you'll be able to see the element of humour in this clip. Very entertaining indeed. By the way, it's sung to the tune of Elvis Presley's "Devil in Disguise". Enjoy!




Courtesy of Comedy Court

Coincidence or not?

It was a Friday just like any other. I had a good workout at the gym and even had time to enjoy a sauna session and then relax in the steam room. After a nice refreshing shower I proceeded to have lunch at the Oasis food court. From where I was seated, I could see The Gardens through the glass wall of the food court area and was reminded that it's time for my two-year-old pair of Reeboks cross-trainers to be "retired". I thought that I would take the recently completed overhead bridge and go across to check out the shoes at the New Balance shop over at The Gardens.

I've been there once and found that I can a get pair of cross-trainers for around RM200 which I thought is quite reasonable. Besides, anyone with a valid gym membership card gets a 20% discount, anytime. The owner himself is a really friendly and helpful guy. But suddenly, memories of Christmas eve came flooding back. I shall not digress, but then again, I already have.

Well, like I mentioned, it was Christmas eve and I had some very last-minute gift-shopping to do. After lunch, I decide to use the bridge to get across to The Gardens. It's the most convenient way as it's located very near the Oasis food court. The skies had opened up and was pouring cats and dogs as I made my way to the glass-paneled bridge. I was barely a third of the way across when I realised that water was gushing in from the top of the side glass panels. What was shocking was that water was coming in from the entire length of one side of the bridge. Shoddy workmanship? You bet! The entire floor started to flood faster than you can say "Jeepers creepers, mah shoes gonna git wet!" I had to run, no, hop on the parts of the floor that had not been flooded yet to get across. Phew! Made it. Barely. The maintenance crew were quickly summoned to close the bridge and the "big boys" were brought in to suck up the water. And so, the bridge had to be closed for a few days for repairs to be done and people had to use the lower ground tunnel instead. What an adventure! :-)

Okay, I have really, really digressed. That was not the story I started out to write about. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it started raining again that day so I decided not to go over to The Gardens and will leave my gym shoe shopping for another day. Instead, I went over to Watsons Pharmacy to get a couple of things before going home.

After picking up the stuff I needed, I decided to just browse around the pharmacy looking at some new items. Big mistake! All of a sudden, this lady appeared in front of me and started rambling about this product and about how good it is. She went on about it's proven efficacy, the country of origin, etc, etc...

Lady promoter: Have you heard of Esberitox?

Me: Er, no I don't think so.

Lady promoter: The moment you feel a cold coming, take this and you'll stop it from happening.

Me: Wah, really ah?

Lady promoter: Yes. And it's safe because it's all natural. Made from herbs. Does anyone from your family frequently gets the cold?

Me: No, not really.

Lady promoter: You should keep some handy at home. You can catch a cold anytime, right?

Me: How much is it?

Lady promoter: Seventy-five ringgit for a box. There are five strips.

Me: Wah! Seventy-five ringgit ah?

Lady promoter: You can buy just one strip first (and proceeded to pull out one strip from the box). It's only fifteen ringgit.

Me: Well, I don't want to buy something that I may not use as my family and I hardly ever catch a cold.

Lady promoter: Wah. Your body resistance must be very good then (twitching her eyebrow).

Me: I guess so. Thank you for sharing about this product. I'll keep it in mind should I feel a cold coming on. Thanks.

Lady promoter: You're welcome.


End of story? I wish! That very same night, my throat started feeling sore, then the "achoos" came and my whole body began to feel like it's breaking down. By Saturday morning, my nose was running and I was coughing and coughing and coughing! But I had a whole teaching day ahead. I wanted to cancel my classes but thought that I should try and get through the day as best I can. Besides, I had arranged for a potential new student to come for an assessment that morning. So, I went to work as usual. By evening, my head felt like it was going to explode as I began to experience sharp piercing shots of pain each time I coughed.

On my way home from work, I stopped by the traditional Chinese medical shop to see if I could get something for this cough. I was prescribed a cough and cold concoction to boil and drink to rid me of the cough and phlegm. It actually did help as it greatly reduced the coughing and phlegm. But there was this bit of gooey stuff that refused to budge no matter how hard I tried to cough it out. That made breathing very difficult. I could not lie down to sleep as I was literally gasping for air like a goldfish out of water. That night was probably one of the longest ones I've ever experience as I did not get to sleep at all.

TCM prescribed for cough & cold. Some bitter
almonds, dried peel and Lohan Guo (Buddha's fruit).

I was disappointed to have had to miss church on the very first Sunday of the new year. I was supposed to play the organ for the service too. I hope the congregation did not have to sing A cappella that morning!

All this while, that little encounter with the Esberitox lady never even crossed my mind until late Sunday evening when I reached for something in my waist pouch and saw the flyer she gave me still in there. I recalled the conversation and what I had said to her. Especially the part about me hardly ever catching a cold. And the way she responded accompanied by the I-don't-really-believe-you eyebrow twitch.

So now I'm thinking. Should I have bought at least one strip from her?

Was this all a coincidence or... well, you decide.

The next time you bump into the Esberitox lady you could...



.. buy something from her or...







.. RUN FOR DEAR LIFE!!!