did u catch Bevlyn in action during 13Aug08 @ NUS University Culture Centre? If not, then u miss a cool concert and maybe years to come before her next gig since she mentioned that she had no idea when's the next one of hers coming up!
Here's my personal write-up in my true honest opinion with absolutely no honey-coated words.
When I arrived at NUS University Culture Centre, there were quite a no. of music supporters settling their food at the resturant nearby and lining up. Haha...luckily the queue wasn't that long. Soon I got my tix and went into the theatre. Generally the ushers were quite helpful as I quickly settled down to sit down.
Bevlyn started off with her first song "Lonely Afternoon" with her band. For some particular reasons, I felt that I liked the arrangement of the song in her CD than the gig presented live. Through the song, it felt as if the musicians weren't listening to one another close enough to form tight harmony through their own individual instrumental parts. Apparently the song tempo was a bit faster as Bevlyn was slowly warming up her voice. I cannot help but stress the essence in the art of hearing when performing together with yr band members in yr own band especially in a true jazz band which does a lot of improvisation and musical changes in key centre chords. That's what makes a huge difference btw a great band & an average band. Even for me, its still a long way to go before I can play in a band let alone a gd one.
Indeed it must have been the usual nervous "butterflies in the stomach" feeling for the performers. Any performers will feel nervous. Who doesn't unless u totally "bo char" (definition in proper English "dont give a damn care" ) whether the performance will be a success? It's a matter of conditioning yrself to prepare and rehearse for yr performance beyond that 100% effort of yrs in ensuring that the sound check is really good. Easier said than done...lol. It takes years of experience and exposure and constant self-awareness to attain peak performance. Things started to change better when Bevlyn and her band performed the third song. All of them were starting to settle down and blending much more in tune with each other.
Next was another singer songwriter Chia Tien Yao (the guitarist in Bevlyn's band) introduced by Bevlyn who was constantly helping her in her CD album. From the moment he opened his mouth to sing his song "Close to Me", I felt he almost stole the spotlight from Bevlyn...lol. No kidding really! His first song almost melt my heart with his high soothing voice. It's been a long time I have heard such tenorish voice float so smoothly into the sky. Haha...even the lady sitting besides me was like "ooo...his voice..." . The whole audience was mesmerized by his voice and skillful guitar strumming. Apparently he is releasing his album next year. I am looking forward to it!
Another singer songwriter Yet was introduced by Bevlyn as a guest performer. His warm singing tone with vibrato really touched my heart. Wow...he even offered to give his limited edition CD single for the first 10 audiences who rushed out to buy Bevlyn's CD after her concert. Nothing is more heartening than seeing musicians supporting each other! Check out his video:
One of the highlights in her concert was a new song "Feel about u". This is a particularly soothing song of hers which she just composed recently. Did I mention that it was not in her EP album "Lonely Afternoon"? Yeap...it wasn't. She must be preparing to write more songs for her next album.
Bevlyn's vocal tone for her song "Play with Me!" in that gig was seriously darker & richer than the one recorded in her CD... .To me, it felt as if the whole atmosphere drew out suppressed emotions of seduction & desire which we Singaporeans don't dare to express and acknowledge "flirting is just part of adulthood" openly in our conservative society. Opps...going a bit over board...anyway back to the topic.
Then a note on song covers...sung by Bevlyn...I was pretty surprised that Bevlyn performed song covers so well. Man...I mean like literally she sang refreshing renditions of the songs just like the one in her cover of French song La Vie En Rose. I particularly like her vocal backup harmonies when Tien Hao was singing.
To Bevlyn: Hey u will make a good demo/backup singer if anyone interested to find one lol! How u sing so well? Teach me lei...lol. Well maybe no need hor...Just recommend u to sing for weddings since u done that song cover "Just The Way U Are" by Billy Joel so well!
The deepest impression that made on me for Bevlyn was her last Mandarin song "When I am 80"! She was so emo...really even better than the one recorded in her CD! I could really feel her longing feelings of love with her loved one. Apparently if u guys want to know the story behind this song, check out this blogger who also wrote something about this song in Bevlyn's concert: HERE!
All in all, it have been a wonderful experience for me to witness the local works performed live by our local music talents. Coming to think of that, well we should start to support our local talents by buying their albums and applauding them for the sheer hard work and effort to share their music with us!
No comments:
Post a Comment