The NTU Cultural Activities Club held two music sharing sessions by local musicians recently under the ARTSpeak series, and Radio Fusion was there to cover them. Join Jin ( 晓宇 from musicaviators 音乐宇航员 ) and Kyle (from The Discovery).

黎沸挥音乐房 “ 十分音乐 ” 讲座兼表演会
Roy Li Fei Hui – Focus Music

Ever gone to karaoke joints and wondered why the people singing next door sounds horrible? Widely acclaimed local musician Roy Li Fei Hui told us why – “the bass in the karaoke system has been set to max – so you don't sound so bad inside the room…”

The 20-year industry veteran was here at NTU with his students from Focus Music on 7 March. While his students performed and livened up the atmosphere, he gave the audience a witty and entertaining talk on the development of local music throughout the years.

It had been a tough journey, he said, as support from local music was initially slow and only gradually picked up when they were matched with popular TV series, and singers like Eric Moo ( 巫启贤 ) ventured into Taiwan.

Li also had to learn all the music theories without help, so he set up Focus Music a few years ago to help aspiring students “take a shorter learning curve”.

For his students, it was a fresh experience performing not on a stage but in an LT! Still, they are not restricted by the setting and gave their best. Project Superstar II finalists Jeremy Kwan and Nat Tan (also Business Year 1 student), both Li's students, belted out hits such as 翅膀 from JJ Lin and 背叛 from Gary Cao Ge.

(click to download bigger versions)

- Jin （晓宇 from musicaviators 音乐宇航员 ）

“ 爱雨的我 · 都说了 ” 碧燕南苑唱谈会
Kathryn Wong

Kathryn Wong's name may not be familiar to some, but Andy Lau's 1995 hit 你说他是你想嫁的人 should ring a bell. Yup, that's her composition which still rakes in royalties today.

Wong released a self-made album “Chiselled” in November 2007, a music documentary of her life before and after she suffered from clinical depression from 2000 to 2005. She was in NTU to share her music on a cold rainy March 12 evening. Coincidentally, the first song from her album (which she also performed) was titled “ 爱雨的我 ” (The Rain's Mine).

During the one-hour event, she performed seven songs, which included songs from her album, never-released-before songs such as “That Certain Cat”, and her favourite songs such as ABBA's “I Have a Dream”. She also led an impromptu choir from the audience by getting them to sing along to the chorus of “ 我存在 ”.

Ivan, a newcomer from her record label, Keyin Records, performed a cover version of the Andy Lau hit, and gave the audience a sneak preview of his song 多了 . You've never thought that this song was inspired by a bowl of kway chap!

Local songwriter and radio DJ Connie Woo (better known as 胡珂宁 ) was also there, performing a song from her EP titled “ 明天我会在哪里 ” and joining Kathryn in a mini-sharing session on the local indie music scene in Singapore. While it is tough to get money and promotions to produce a single/EP/album here, many persevered. “Good songs get popular through the “Pass-it-on” effect, where the word is spread by word-of-mouth,” Connie said.

(click to download bigger versions)

- Kyle (The Discovery)