Capturing That Late Night Feeling ........

Music, played right, will evoke images from an era that we might not even have lived in before. Memories can be based on real events, somehow some memories can be concocted from movies, magazines, photos as well. Possibly the finest jazz pianist in Malaysia, Tay Cher Siang, has conceptualised such a delicate album. It needed the voice of Yudi to bring forth such intoxicating "memories".



p/s in case you were wondering, the photo is not chersiang n yudi ..


The music can mean many things to you. Just the piano caressing the gentle notes, with just one mature voice ... speaks of late nights at old shanghai jazz bars, past midnight as the place is about to close, with the last few patrons sitting around for one last song. Cigarette smoke (or cigar smoke for me) wafting in the air, even the smoke wafts at the same slow speed as the tempo of the songs. Its perfect yet in a dimly lit place its perfectly un-perfect and temporary. Its exactly the temporary that causes this wonderful congregation of factors to be even more worthwhile and intoxicating. Nursing your last whisky ... aahhh... with nowhere to go ...


Look for the album "Shades of Passion", one voice, one piano ....

Do Not Miss This Mini Concert By Yudi

There will be a series of mini concerts which will be very popular (and probably fully booked within a couple of days) at my favorite live spot in town, No Black Tie. Yudi Yap who has made a name for herself singing yesteryear Chinese songs, will be performing on 4 nights. It will be refreshing to be see her singing accompanied by the very basic quartet, which should be different from the usual accompaniment by Chinese traditional music instrumentation. The setting at No Black Tie will make for a wonderfully intimate setting, I am waiting to be blown away by the solid acoustics.

Come and listen to the songs that your parents and grandparents fell in love listening to. It was a grand era of music and melodies that easily stood the test of time. To many, it was an age of decadence, an age of romance, a heady mix of violence, gangs, cabarets, beauty, extravagance and style.

Come and listen to Yudi's interpretations of classics by Zhou Xuan, Bai Guang, Li Xiang Lan, Ge Lan and many other Chinese divas of yore. Please make your reservations (03-21423737) early so that you won't be disappointed! To get directions to No Black Tie, click on link on the sidebar.

20/21 & 27/28 March 2009
Fri/Sat

Shanghai Jazz
No Black Tie

Yudi (v)
Cher Siang (p)
Salvador Guerzo (sax)
Vincent (b)
Rizal Soliano (d)
10.30pm RM35


http://cdn1.tubegotchi.com/viframecontent.aspx?v=zMMCTGsSazs&user=wsengy12&vid=3016811

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui9m9cAvRN0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMxJRBQHmrk&feature=related

To those nerds who would like a more scholastic write up on "The Rise & Generic Feature of Shanghai Popular Songs of the 1930s and 1940s", please go to:
:
http://journals.cambridge.org

and search for the above document.