Corrinne May Newsletter - November 21st 2008 (Asia)

Hey guys,

In my past blog post, I promised that news of our international Singaporean song-writer Corrinne May will be posted up here if u guys have been following faithfully to my blog. Anyway Kavin Hoohas (Corrinne May's husband and music producer) have just released his first solo instrumental album 'A Moment in Time' and Corrinne is featured as a singer in some of his songs. A great peaceful tune in one of Kavin's tracks "Forever Yours" (free download in his website...read Corrinne May's newsletter below to find out where to download). She also co-wrote a song " Stranger" for 'It's My Life' musical concert in Nov 08 - Dec 08. Interested parties can buy tixs for the musical here.

Without further ado, here's the latest newsletter from Corrinne May:

Dear friends,

It's been a little while since we last spoke and I wanted to just write a little note to update you on what I've been up to. Some of you have wondered if I am going to be back in Singapore for a concert any time soon. Well, I'd love to, hopefully, sometime next year. I'm also working on getting a book of piano scores to my songs done.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you some new music that I've been a part of. For the past few months, my music producer and husband Kavin Hoohas been working on his newest solo instrumental album, 'A Moment in Time'.

For those of you familiar with Kavin's music, you'll know that it's the type of music that reaches really deep into one's soul and tugs at the heartstrings. It's the type of music that makes my heart soar. It's piano instrumental music at its very best.

Kavin's previous 9 albums, have done very well at the American-based Target Stores nationwide,under the COMPASS records label. This newest album, titled 'A Moment in Time' is his first album for our record label Pink Armchair Records and we're both excited to share it with you.

I'm honoured that Kavin asked me to sing on five of the songs on his album. You can hear samples from the record, including two of the songs featuring my vocals 'Pilgrim's Journey' and 'The Winding Path' and even download a free song at http://www.kavinhoo.com/AMIT/AMIT.htm

For our friends in Singapore, the album is being released by Warner Music Singapore and you can now find the album for sale at all good music stores in Singapore :) For our friends in other countries, The album is now available for pre-order at a special price at http://www.pinkarmchair.com/flash/kavin/AMIT/albumamit.htm
And yes, we do ship to every part of the world.

I think the music on this record is the perfect soundtrack for this Autumn season of reflection and introspection and I hope you'll agree :) (it also makes a great stocking stuffer)
My personal favourites on this album are the sweet strains of 'Hush Little Baby'and the very touching 'Miracle of Life'. Also listen to 'Revelations'. Very evocative, emotional, visually-rich music.

The other piece of news for those of you in Singapore, is that I've recently co-written a song titled 'Stranger' for the 'It's My Life' musical which opens in Singapore at the NUS University Cultural Centre from the 27th Nov. to the 7th of December. It's a very meaningful musical and I'm honoured to be able to contribute a song for it. Read more about the musical at this link http://www.itsmylife.sg/itsmylife/

Thanks for listening :) And I'll update you on more news soon.
Hugs,Corrinne.

http://www.corrinnemay.com/

THE AMPS Concert featuring local songwriters of the theme song in our famous local movie "881" - 28 Nov 08

Hey guys

remember our local hit movie 881? It was a really touching movie to me especially on the part where one of the sister was losing her hair due to cancer. I am sure that u guys will have a faint impression of the theme song...it makes me remind of the Chinese lyrics in the song which can be translated into Singlish "each person get half of the pie...feelings won't spilt"...lol. Anyway the song-writers who wrote this theme song will be performing in Esplanade this coming Friday 28 Nov08. So do catch them.

News featured below from Esplanade:

Dreamed up by well-known homegrown producer/songwriter/guitarist Eric Ng and made up of members who are individually established music-makers, The AMPs is a bilingual collective that delivers uniquely re-interpreted English pub favourites and Mandarin chart-toppers from the likes of Jolin Tsai, A*Mei and Tanya Chua, in addition to their self-penned originals such as the theme song for Channel 8 drama serial The Defining Moment, as well as their contributions to hit movies 881 and 12 Lotus.

The AMPS are Eric, charismatic singer/songwriter Ngak, backing duo Clement Yang Xi and Brandon Khoo, regular hard-rocking performers at Hard Rock Café, Wala Wala and Timbre, and ex-Dreamz FM member and singer-songwriter Jim Lim who has toured with superstars such as Lee Hom (Wang Li Hong), JJ Lin Junjie and A*Mei for their worldwide concerts.

Source to get tickets: http://www.esplanade.com/whats_on/programme_info/amp/index.jsp

World Aids Day Concert - 29 Nov 08

The first World AIDS Day Concert in Singapore??? Yes u are right. As mentioned in the Love Amplifed website, LOVE Amplified aims to crank up the volume on HIV and AIDS awareness in Singapore and bring down the walls of ignorance about the disease and about People Living with HIV (PLHIV). It's more than just discussing and understanding, it's about embracing the truth and facts about the disease. Only then can we begin to fight HIV and AIDS and spread the message of love and hope.

Of course there will be a music concert to support this cause. So guys do yr part and buy tixs. Whats more, u also get to see our local musicians and our famous local mandopop queen Stefanie Sun perform live!!!


Music Event: World Aids Day Concert
Date: 29 Nov 08
Time: 1930 -2200 (0730 pm - 1000pm)
Venue: Fort Canning Park

Where to get tickets: HERE!!!
More details can be found on the Love Amplified website.

Personal Thoughts on DJing music?

Hey guys,

I am really happy to see that more Singaporeans are helping local musicians in Singapore. Recently I just went for Denon DJ workshop in Republic Polytechnic. It was really an eye-opener to see our one and only Denon Ambassador Brand DJ Razaq and his fellow helper DJ Timo (Resident DJ of DLBo) giving us an introduction to DJing workshop. I must say that I had a lot of fun doing scratching and pressing the buttons on the latest Denon DJ equipment to "mis-mix" the groovy hip-hop sounds....Yo Yo...to House Music. To some, u might not consider DJs as musicians. But I think as long as they are producing or composing music, I feel that DJ are also musicians.

Coming back to DJing, I have heard of bad DJs mixing music. It totally sucks. Can u imagine that u are dancing half-way through the music when there is an abrupt change of music from the first sound track to the next sound track??? It totally kills the mood!!! Maybe...that's one of the factors why one of our famous local clubs closed down recently in Singapore. Alrite I am not going to name the club. U guys should know. And I am going to kill the next DJ who don't mix properly (just joking). DJs out there...pls learn to mix the appropriate tempo and chords between different tracks properly to avoid scaring customers like us away.

For inspiring DJ wanna-babes and hunks, U really have to work yr way up into the DJ industry even if u have the talent. DJ Razaq and DJ Timo had their ups and downs too. I really respect Razaq for his sheer determination. He actually self-taught himself and went to watch how DJs were doing all those mixing & scratching where DJing was considered as a secret music skill-trade market among DJs back in the old days. DJ Razaq also teaches his own personal DJ mentoring course (for a few years) to inspiring DJs. What's the difference??? U actually have OJT (on-job-training) with DJs in local clubs!!! Such invaluable experience...where can u find???

Razaq is such a busy guy who goes around touring and DJing in various famous clubs in the world. If u guys are waiting for Razaq to start the DJ course, u will have to wait for a while. Those interested for the course, just email me. Who knows??? If the response is so good, he might consider starting the course earlier. In the meantime, I will keep u guys updated if he is ready to launch his next session in DJ mentoring course.

It's also heart-warming to see our DJ Razaq (who is also the Group Entertainment Manager of The Emerald Hill Group Pte Ltd) searching for young music talents to play in one of the new outlets in his company. I have recommended D'Fusion (a local music-duo band who I met in the Songcraft Songwriting Circle gathering) to him. Hope that this news will inspire more musicians to improve themselves in Singapore.

If u guys have any local or international news about our local musicians or upcoming local music events or any venues which promote Singapore Music, contact me via email or leave me a msg in my tagbox. Singapore Musicians...u guys are also welcome to send me news or happenings about your latest album launch, events or anything related to music in my blog.

Email: wjvocalist@yahoo.com.sg

Do come back soon to watch out for the upcoming news on our international song-writer Corrinne May.

If u guys are wondering who's the people in the picture on top: It's DJ Timo (Left), Me (Center) & DJ Razaq (Right).

Signing off
Yr dearest Music Blogger
AJ

French Music – Concert by the Paris Graduates Presented by By The Flute Studio (Singapore) - 23 Nov 08

Remember how our teachers used to tell us stories of Pied Piper of Hamelin how he lured the children with his enchanting flute tune?

Here's a chance for u to get mesmerized by beautiful flute tunes by our own local Singaporean musicians. Details are shown in the posters.










Extra information: http://esplanade.com/whats_on/programme_info/french_music_concert_by_the_paris_graduates/index.jsp