The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
- Yuna set to release new EP in May
- Beyonce, Jay-Z Cuba visit was approved
- Korea's Lee Hyori confirms new Album in May
| Yuna set to release new EP in May Posted: 09 Apr 2013 01:07 AM PDT EARLIER this year, the local music industry was abuzz with the news of singer-songwriter Yuna, 26, signing on to Verve Music Group. Headed by legendary producer David Foster, the American jazz record label is also home to artistes like Andrea Bocelli, Carla Bruni and Diana Krall. Since then, fans have been waiting with bated breath to listen to Yuna's latest offering under her new label. Previously, she was signed to New York-based label Fader and had a track produced by Pharrell Williams called Live Your Life. Well, the wait is finally over. Come May 7, Yuna will be releasing a new digital EP titled Sixth Street which features the first single I Wanna Go. In a press release, Yuna explains how Sixth Street is like a "new chapter" in her illustrious music career. "All the song were written in my apartment where I'm most comfortable, and at that point I understood who I was and knew what I was feeling about life," the singer said. The release of her EP will be accompanied by an exclusive performance on virtual venue platform Stageit (www.stageit.com). On May 7 at 6pm PST ( 10am on May 8 in Malaysia), fans get to access a live feed where Yuna will perform songs from the EP as well as other favourites. Tickets to the live feed is priced at US$10 (RM30) each. Yuna has been keeping herself busy on the international and local front. Most recently, she was featured in a duet with Owl City for The Crood's theme song, Shine Your Way. In February, she released a single and music video titled Home which was inspired by the Samsung Galaxy Wonderland campaign. - Angelin Yeoh |
| Beyonce, Jay-Z Cuba visit was approved Posted: 08 Apr 2013 11:37 PM PDT MIAMI (Reuters) - A visit by American pop star Beyonce and rapper husband Jay-Z to Havana last week was a cultural trip that was fully licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department, a source familiar with the itinerary said on Monday. The longstanding U.S. trade embargo against Cuba prevents most Americans from traveling to the communist-led island without a license granted by the U.S. government. Three Cuban-American members of Congress, all Republicans from Miami and supporters of a firm stance on Cuba, have asked the Treasury Department for information about what type of license the couple obtained for their trip. Beyonce and Jay-Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in Havana and were greeted by big crowds as they strolled through the Cuban capital. The music industry power couple were instantly recognized as celebrities despite the past half-century of ideological conflict that separates the two countries. The source told Reuters that the trip included visits with Cuban artists and musicians, as well as several nightclubs where live music was performed, and some of the city's best privately run restaurants, known as "paladares." The visit was planned as a "people-to-people" cultural visit and involved no meetings with Cuban officials, or typical tourist activity such as trips to the beach, the source said. Even a walk around the Old City of Havana, mobbed by crowds of excited Cuban spectators, was led by Miguel Coyula, one of the city's leading architects. Publicists for the couple did not return emails or phone calls seeking comment. Beyonce and Jay-Z were the latest American stars, joining actors Bill Murray, Sean Penn and James Caan who have also visited the Caribbean island in the past few years. But the pair were the first to cause such a stir everywhere they went. The couple arrived in Havana unannounced for a four-day visit on Wednesday on a flight from Miami. But word of their presence spread like wildfire, by text messaging and word of mouth. Beyonce, who sang at President Barack Obama's inauguration for his second term in January, was instantly recognized when she and Jay-Z, and their mothers, dined at La Guarida, the city's top privately run restaurant, on their first night. The next day a crowd of several thousand people swarmed around them in Old Havana during a walk-about. They also visited a children's theater group and several clubs where they heard live music, and occasionally took to the dance floor. On Friday, they toured Cuba's top art school and met with some young artists. GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart questioned the couple's trip, saying it was being used for Cuban government propaganda. Ros-Lehtinen, long a fierce critic of the Cuban government, said it was "very disconcerting that these two mega stars would go down to Cuba and vacation as if they were in a tropical paradise and not say one word about the brutality their hosts display against all pro democracy activists." Florida Senator Marco Rubio said the Obama administration's cultural exchange programs "have been abused by tourists." If the Treasury Department had licensed the trip "the Obama Administration should explain exactly how trips like these comply with U.S. law and regulations governing travel to Cuba," Rubio said. The Cuban government was unaware of the participants on the trip until shortly before they departed for Cuba, the source told Reuters, adding that the Cuban media made no official mention of the pair while they were in Havana, at the request of the singers. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which handles licenses for travel to Cuba, said it does not comment on individual cases. OFAC provides licenses to visit Cuba on a case-by-case basis for educational exchanges, and for programs that promote "people-to-people contact" and "contribute to the development of civil society in Cuba," according to Treasury Department guidelines. Tourism is specifically prohibited by the guidelines, it states. "It's hard to imagine a more people-to-people contact visit than the scenes witnessed last week on the streets of Havana with two of the United States' biggest music stars wading through crowds of fans they never knew they had," said John McAuliff, executive director for the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, an organization working to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba. He described the couple's program as "characteristic of licensed trips undertaken by thousands of Americans every year." While it has kept the embargo in place, the Obama administration has eased restrictions on travel to Cuba for academic, religious or cultural programs. "People-to-people" visits, first promoted under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, but reined in under President George W. Bush, have been revived by the Obama administration to encourage more contact between Americans and Cubans, separated by just 90 miles of ocean, but over half a century of ideological differences. A number of U.S. firms are sponsoring Cuba trips, ranging from National Geographic to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the American Automobile Association, resulting in a steadily growing stream of Americans to the island. Only licensed travelers and Cuban-Americans visiting relatives on the island are allowed to board special charter planes from Miami for the 50-minute flight to Cuba. Some U.S. citizens dodge those requirements by traveling to Cuba via third countries. Cuba does not stamp the passports of Americans who visit Cuba, making it easy to avoid detection. Criminal penalties for violating OFAC regulations range up to 10 years in prison and US$250,000 in individual fines. |
| Korea's Lee Hyori confirms new Album in May Posted: 08 Apr 2013 11:28 PM PDT SOUTH KOREA (Reuters) -- Singer Lee Hyori, a definitive fashion icon of Korea, is revving up for her first record in three years. Marking her comeback to the music scene after her last album in April of 2010, the multi-entertainer is to release her fifth studio album in May, her agency B2M Entertainment said recently. The new album will include a dance music title track, as well as hip-hop based dance tunes as before, and another track featuring rapper Beenzino, a skilled Korean emcee who has collaborated with Epik High and Supreme Team. The 33-year-old artist disclosed the burden of the new album by writing on her fan café in February that, "it's such hard work to make a compact studio album. I thought about releasing a digital single or EP, but I wanted to persist in releasing only full-length albums as I've done until now." "I'm somewhat thirsty to make a well-woven record, so it takes a bit longer than before. I'll appreciate it if you don't get bored and listen to all the tracks," said the former member of Fin.K.L., one of the most popular K-pop girl groups in 90's. Lee has been one of the most widely recognized female celebrities in the Korean entertainment scene since her debut as a member of Fin.K.L. in 1998. After the group disbanded in 2002, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang singer has released four solo albums and hosted numerous entertainment shows including KBS talk show Happy Together, SBS real variety I Like Sundays and SBS music show Lee Hyori And Jung Jae-hyung`s You and I. |
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