The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Posted: 28 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT In Perfect Harmony will take viewers down memory lane with a diverse mix of tunes from various genres, eras and cultures. If you didn't know how these songs came to be, here's a quick history lesson. I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke has its origins dating back to Jan 18, 1971. The concept of the song and its execution are credited to Bill Backer, creative director on the Coca-Cola account for the McCann-Erickson advertising agency, Billy Davis, the music director on the Coca-Cola account, and British songwriters, Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. On February 12, 1971, I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke was shipped to radio stations around the United States. The famous commercial featured people of all colours on a hilltop in Rome. The song was released in the United States in July 1971 and immediately struck a responsive chord. The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers received more than 100,000 letters about the commercial. Many listeners called radio stations begging to hear it. Billy Davis wanted to produce a record version of the commercial with the New Seekers, but the group's manager claimed they didn't have time in their schedule to do so. Davis allowed a group of studio singers to record the new song lyric to I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke. They called themselves "The Hillside Singers" in order to identify with the TV image. Within two weeks of the release of the Hillside Singers recording, it was on the national charts. Two weeks after that, Davis was able to convince the New Seekers to find the time and record their version of I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony), effectively the new title for the song version of I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke. The record, which became a Top 10 hit, followed up with the Hillside Singers' version at No.13 on the pop charts. The song was recorded in a wide range of languages and sold more sheet music than any song in the previous 10 years. Getaran Jiwa There are many unforgettable P. Ramlee songs – Azizah, Engkau Laksana Bulan, Bunyi Gitar, and most Malaysians have a favourite or two. Getaran Jiwa, chosen for this musical, was written by the Malaysian icon in 1960 for the movie Antara Dua Darjat (lyrics were written by Indonesian actor/lyricist/ dancer/keroncong singer S. Sudarmadji). Tan Sri P. Ramlee, who passed away in 1973, was an award-winning filmmaker, actor (with 66 movies under his belt), singer and songwriter (more than 300 songs to his credit). He was also a multi instrumentalist who could play the ukelele, saxophone, trumpet and organ. He was well liked by all races in Malaysia. Interestingly, Getaran Jiwa was covered by Lobo in the 1990s (Whispers In The Wind), while local jazz queen Sheila Majid recorded a cover of Getaran Jiwa for her Lagenda (tribute album to P. Ramlee) in 1993. Pop/Rap group KRU also did a cover of GJ, which features footage/recordings of P. Ramlee. The Moon Speaks For My Heart This song was written by an anonymous composer and made famous by Teresa Teng in the 1970s. Teng was an influential Chinese pop singer from Taiwan who was very popular throughout East Asia. Her songs are enjoyed among Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Indonesian listeners. The singer who passed away in 1995 was known for her folk songs and romantic ballads. She recorded songs not only in her native Mandarin but also in Taiwanese, Cantonese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian and English. The Moon Speaks For My Heart, however, is often cited as one of her best-known or most popular pieces. Until the late 1970s, foreign music had not been allowed into mainland China for several decades. The Moon Speaks For My Heart became one of the first popular foreign songs (called "gangtai" songs, hailing from Hong Kong and Taiwan) in the country under the new Open Door Policy. Before Teng's music arrived, love songs were non-existent in China. It has been covered by several famous singers, including Faye Wong, David Tao, Andy Lau and Leslie Cheung, and is also a popular karaoke choice. According to The New York Times, it is one of the best-known Chinese pop songs of all time. Last year, Teng made it to CNN's list of top 20 global music icons last month, alongside Michael Jackson, Madonna and Leslie Cheung. Main Syaahar To Nahin This was a super Hindi hit from the Bollywood blockbuster, Bobby, in 1973, starring Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia and directed by the renowned Raj Kapoor. (It was the first leading role for Raj's son, Rishi.) The movie was a trendsetter, introducing in Bollywood the genre of teenage romance with a rich-vs-poor clash as backdrop. Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the Top 25 Must-See Bollywood Films. The movie had a hit soundtrack from which many tunes are memorable to this day: such as Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Ho and Mujhe Kuchh Kahna Hai, but it is Main Syaahar To Nahin that most Malaysians would remember best. Most of the songs on the soundtrack are performed by playback singers Lata Mangeshkar and Shailendra Singh (sometimes credited as Shailendar). Raj gave Shailendra a break when he signed him on for Bobby. The movie apart, the song Main Shayar To Nahin (which translates to "I Am Not A Poet") became a big hit. The success of Bobby made him the leading contender as Rishi 's "voice". However, the string of flops Rishi endured after Bobby did not help the new singer. By the time the actor came up with a few hits, Shailendra had slipped too badly to recover. – Ann Marie Chandy |
| Posted: 28 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT The pop jukebox of a musical that is In Perfect Harmony has given Dama Orchestra a contemporary challenge, but this show will still contain the orchestra's signature instrumentation and identity. SHOWBIZ is never without its unsung heroes. The biggest focus behind a musical production seems to always be centred on auditions, casting calls, costumes and the headlining names. The upcoming Dama Orchestra musical In Perfect Harmony: A Malaysian Musical Journey, which runs from Oct 6 to 23 at KLPac, has attracted attention with its much anticipated "pop-based" spectacle celebrating popular music spanning the last four decades and how it has been a part of Malaysian lives. The musical is being presented as part of The Star's 40th anniversary celebrations. As the project took shape and tunes were narrowed down by the producers in the last two months, somebody had to score the music and provide new orchestrations for the songs selected for the musical – all 50 tunes in 25 acts. Dama Orchestra's music arrangers Dr Loo Fung Ying, 32, who is deputy director of postgraduate and research, as well as senior lecturer at Cultural Centre, Universiti Malaya, and her sister Dr Loo Fung Chiat, 34, senior lecturer at department of music, Universiti Putra Malaysia, have been tasked with the job – to ensure the nuts and bolts of the musical are in place. Apart from their academic careers, both of them serve as researchers in music and perform simultaneously with Dama. In Perfect Harmony arrived as a major test in deconstructing the pop arrangements and refitting them with an orchestral framework. "The musical surprised us in terms of the huge number of songs, ranging from not only different periods – the 1970s to the 2000s – but also the different styles, approaches, sounds, the diversity of popular songs from all around the world (including the West and East) that we will perform using the existing structure in Dama Orchestra," says Fung Chiat. Despite the jumble of genres, there is an underlying chemistry between the Dama musicians and arrangers that cuts through. "For musicians, the interesting part is, we speak different languages in music ... where the Chinese instrumentalists are using cipher notation (numbers), we are reading Western (staves) because of our background as classically trained pianists. "Music director (Khor) Seng Chew is the one who is in the middle, 'translating' our Western notation to cipher notation. Ultimately, we have developed a kind of chemistry and we understand each other well," adds Fung Ying. A modern blend Moving with the modern is also on Dama's agenda. Last October, Dama, which is mostly associated with classical music/Chinese oldies since the orchestra emerged in 1994, tackled silver screen gems from the Shaw Brothers/Cathay movies in the Glitz & Glamour production. "The past big challenge was to give a whole new sonic experience to Shaw Brothers' huangmei diao (huangmei ditties), and this time the challenge is our ensemble, which comprises Chinese instruments (like erhu and dizi) playing music from Bee Gees to (Justin) Bieber!" says Fung Ying, who reveals that versatility has been key in seeing Dama Orchestra evolving in artistic range since 2002. In Perfect Harmony might have landed on Dama Orchestra's front door, but this show will still contain the orchestra's signature instrumentation and identity – with a modern twist. "Dama's sonic identity will be highlighted, for example, you can always hear the erhu solos in the folk songs, Chinese Golden Oldies of the gramophone era to contemporary music of the East and West. "Another highlight is that Dama musicians are versatile and always ready to face whatever music that we have arranged or composed. Most of the musicians are able to play more than one instrument" says Fung Chiat. The multi-racial cast for In Perfect Harmony is also another big leap for Dama Orchestra, which is moving in a more vibrant and colourful direction with this musical project. One of the show's lead singers, Tria Aziz, will sing a Cantonese song. Where the set list is concerned, not only did it raise their eyebrows when the initial brief included orchestration for Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Madonna tracks, but also the job of pulling together tunes from John Lennon, Queen, ABBA, Sam Hui, Teresa Teng, Zainal Abidin, Alleycats, P. Ramlee, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and many more. Just how did the music arrangers break the set list down with their approach? "The production is given approximately two-and-a-half hours to accommodate all the selected songs (by the producers) and therefore, Seng Chew, asked us to arrange some selected songs as medleys," reveals Fung Chiat. True in spirit In terms of providing fresh orchestration, Fung Ying notes that the musical styles from the 2000s came with its fair share of headaches while bridging different pieces together was tricky in this musical, which is divided into four segments (decades). Fung Chiat adds that they tried as much as possible to keep close to the original versions. "Yes, the challenging tracks would be those from Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga, due to the more synthesised and electronic style," she adds. In a standard Dama ensemble and musical setting, Chinese traditional instruments such as the erhu, dizi, pipa and sheng drive the show. The erhu, played by Dama's concert master Gan Boon We, is the key instrument in the ensemble. "Due to our changing repertoire for In Perfect Harmony, the ensemble has also extended to Western instruments such as drum kit, double bass, keyboard, flute, saxophone, etc. In this production, what is challenging is that you will experience the erhu and dizi buzzing along with the electronic accompaniment of some disco beats," says Fung Ying. Texture is also crucial in getting the most from these new arrangements. "We're also adding more keyboards to generate the various sound effects, but without sacrificing Dama's identity. Our acoustic Chinese instruments still play important roles in Bee Gees numbers, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Zainal Abidin's Hijau or Datuk David Arumugam's Sampaikan Salam Cintaku, Michael Jackson's medley, and so forth," assures Fung Chiat. In the end, the sisters agree that outside the music arrangements, the storylines and news backdrops behind the songs will also give the audience a whole new sonic and visual experience while the stage design is a sight to behold. As for musical surprises, they prefer to remain tight-lipped. Not even one hint, then? "Merging I Like To Teach The World To Sing from New Seekers with Imagine from John Lennon, this should remain a surprise, we shouldn't give out too many details here and you must come and watch this opening piece!" relents Fung Ying as she concludes the conversation. In Perfect Harmony – A Malaysian Musical Journey is a Dama musical production presented by The Star with SP Setia Bhd Group as the gold sponsor and UOB as the official bank. It will run from Oct 6 to 23 at Pentas 1, KLPac, Sentul Park in KL. Contact the KLPac box office (03-4047 9000) for tickets. The 10% discount on tickets for UOB cardholders has been extended until Sept 30. For bulk or corporate bookings, call 03-7967 1388 ext 1432/1240. Visit thestar-inperfectharmony.com for details. |
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