Personal Review for “Blues At House” Music Event at Timbre
Taking a brisk walk along Singapore River, my view on the stage of Timbre was already filled with its gorgeous costume outfit in musical instruments, banners and audio equipments. A sense of "bluesy spirit" was already flowing all over the area as some awesome blue musicians carried out their experimental sound check.
Taking a brisk walk along Singapore River, my view on the stage of Timbre was already filled with its gorgeous costume outfit in musical instruments, banners and audio equipments. A sense of "bluesy spirit" was already flowing all over the area as some awesome blue musicians carried out their experimental sound check.
Friendly staff gave me the "green light" signal to go when I showed them my tix. Wow...so many people were all chilling out around. Haha...it's time for me to bond and check out these cool people in Timbre.
Soon the show started... . Obviously the first line-up was "Smokey & The Bandits". It must have been a whole deal of stress to be the first band to perform. For me, it would have resulted in a cold sweat seeing 30-40 pairs of boggling eyes staring at me if my mind was not fully prepared in performing for such a great festival. Through the sound clips of the band on the internet, they seemed to be a pretty decent band but are they really that good?
Upon hearing live sounds from this band, it totally reassured me that their bluessy sound were authentic. For an instant moment, my soul was teleported to the state of Chicago when the top harmonica player "Smokey" blew his way through the hearts of the audience. His sound is definitely in the league of great blues music. Here's a picture on his live performance of crazy classic crazy show-off blue tunes on the event itself:
Of course when it comes to the guitar, how can we forget the guitarist in a blues band? Here's a pic of awesome Guitarist Greg showing off his blue lickssss!
With tight Gopalakrishnan setting off the time bomb on his drums and tough Chris grounding his feet on his bass, this band is surely moving up to the local "Blues Music" chart list!
Another local band "Heritage" arrived on the stage after "Smokey & The Bandits" ended their gig. They were a pretty cool seasoned band. Obviously...come on...they must have been playing for years judging on the "mature-looking" looks on their faces. An Singaporean in the band featured himself as both volinist and fluist in a blue band? OMG that is actually the first time I ever seen such instruments blending with guitar and drums into blues harmony! The way he played the flute almost made that man look like Pied Piper who's well-known in his propelling breath for luring all the children to follow him. Fantastic! It was a wonderful chance to capture such moments...with my digital camera! Oops...the pics are a bit too blur...my body must hv been moving too much. Here's some pics of that Pied Piper in the band:
Soon my whole body was grooving to the music. My energy level must have caught the eyes of a musician.
"Hey there! U seemed to be enjoying yrself a lot in the music." A friendly man nearby came over to me with a smiling face. "Yap...the music is awesome!" I cried out to him. Soon we were exchanging friendly greetings. Haha...guys can u imagine? I thought he was a friendly audience in the crowd yet it turned out that he was Bowie from the Indonesia band "Gugun & The Blues Bug" (one of the bands performing in the event)!
Finally "Heritage" finished off with its piece of eclectic blues music. Next up coming was a revolution Thai band "Soi Dogs Blues Band". This band naturally plays their pieces with such tight rhythmic blue patterns and notes. No wonder they are considered one of the best blues band in Thailand. I personally love the vocalist's deep husky voice...it just adds a rocky flavor to the songs. Here's some pictures featuring their live performance:
"Hey there! U seemed to be enjoying yrself a lot in the music." A friendly man nearby came over to me with a smiling face. "Yap...the music is awesome!" I cried out to him. Soon we were exchanging friendly greetings. Haha...guys can u imagine? I thought he was a friendly audience in the crowd yet it turned out that he was Bowie from the Indonesia band "Gugun & The Blues Bug" (one of the bands performing in the event)!
Finally "Heritage" finished off with its piece of eclectic blues music. Next up coming was a revolution Thai band "Soi Dogs Blues Band". This band naturally plays their pieces with such tight rhythmic blue patterns and notes. No wonder they are considered one of the best blues band in Thailand. I personally love the vocalist's deep husky voice...it just adds a rocky flavor to the songs. Here's some pictures featuring their live performance:
After the performance of "Soi Dogs Blues Band", something really amazing happened to me. Bowie actually asked a favor from me to be "Gugun & The Blues Bug" Videocam Man. Yes...To help them record their live gig when they were playing in the event! Isn't that cool? How can I reject him? So I took up the challenge and recorded for them.
When it was time for them to perform, the stage rocked! I can't help but admitted that among all the bands, their energy was the most EXPLOSIVE as compared to a blowing dynamite! The crowd was cheering and clapping for them! Only words to describe their music: Bluessy rocking grooving music with a funky edge to their sound! Ooo...it was so fun recording them especially on the part when excuting that 360 degree turn on the spectators' excited looks. After their performance, I ended up as a saleman for that brief moment as people approached me to ask enquires on buying their CDs. When did I become their promoter sia?
Coming all the way from Australia, "Blue Shaddy" was the only western band in the whole event. Various instruments such as harmonica, lap-slide guitars, bass guitar and singing tuned to their rythmic dance blues tones. They were demonstrating so much of musicality sense that the band rightfully deserves the "2007 MusicOz Best Blues & Roots Artist". It sure sounded like we were catching on the horse ride with all those action-packed sounds.
Time for a kit-kat break...A few photos of me and some musicians during the break:
The final showdown came when the bands "Ublues" and "The Soulfellas" launched off with the Blue & Soul Jam Sesssion. Musicians on the stage were pulling off rolls of flying music notes and blues scales all over Timbre. So much so that I caught the Blue Bug flu...my legs and body started to create random dance steps. Towards the second half of the session, musicians from the other bands were also joining in the boogie sounds. A group of ladies were also dancing to the swinging beats. Of course I also glided my way towards the dancing crowd. Haha...the other people sitting around us were also swayed by our "crazy" energy level that they began to dance with us.
All in all, I really truly enjoyed myself in shuttering pictures, talking to musicians & cool people and becoming the videocam cum saleman. Those who didn't manage to attend the event really miss all the fun, excitement and laughter this year. No worries...tho. U can still enjoy the seized moments of that event. Just a glimpse of my pictures and videos: Click HERE!!! (facebook) or THERE!!! (myspace)
Another mini-blues Festival should be coming nxt year! Hope to see u guys soon!
P/S...My special thanks:
To "Smokey & The Bandits" : Thanks for showing us the real blues music genre and "Smokey" for being such a great dude in revealing these marvellous harmonica tunes to everyone in the event!
To Gugun, Eti & Bowie in "Gugun & The Blues Bug" : It's been a great pleasure talking to u guys. Thanks for the CD. Btw don't forget to grab my picture with u guys at the airport. We should collabrate more with bands in Asia to create such wonderful music out there! Hope to visit Jakarta one of these days!
To Gugun, Eti & Bowie in "Gugun & The Blues Bug" : It's been a great pleasure talking to u guys. Thanks for the CD. Btw don't forget to grab my picture with u guys at the airport. We should collabrate more with bands in Asia to create such wonderful music out there! Hope to visit Jakarta one of these days!
To musicians like "Heritage" , "Soi Dogs Blues Band" , "Blue Shaddy" , "Ublues" & "The Soulfellas" : For being part of my wonderful musical experience!
To the event management team and Timbre: For making it all possible for the event to happen!
To all the wonderful people who I have met: Thanks for making my day at that event such a memorable day of my life!
