Musical Interlude: Blockbusters from the Bee Gees

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I've always loved the music of the Gibb brothers, Barry, Robin and Maurice. Ever since the sixties, they had been releasing hit after hit after hit..

One of their earliest hits is "To Love Somebody" ...

Another early hit was "I Started a Joke" ...

"Words" was another great number ...

In the disco era of the mid 70's, came "Night Fever" ...

And of course their masterpiece (according to me at least)  "How Deep is Your Love" ...

Enjoy !

Asian Songbirds of the 1970s (Part 1)

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We grew up in an age of music records (or LPs as they are sometimes called) and later of cassette tapes. Not so easy to find them nowadays, although some of us still swear that the sound quality from LPs cannot be matched by most CDs. In fact just a few months ago, Pip and I went hunting for turntables in KL, in a sudden nostalgic desire to want to listen to some of our old record collections.

In today's post, I want to recall some of the popular Asian songbirds, i.e. female singers, whom we may have grown up with. In the 70s, they were young and attracted an impressive fan base. Today some of them are still performing, though they are no longer that young and their fan base may have dwindled somewhat. Others have taken up new careers and challenges.

Let me begin with my personal favourite, Agnes Chan Mei Ling from Hong Kong. She came onto the scene in the early 70s with her rendition of songs like "Circle Game", "Nobody's Child" and "Devoted to You". She also had a role in some Shaw Brothers' movies like "The Generation Gap". Later she became very popular in Japan and had a string of Japanese numbers.

Well, I hope the sweet voice of this sixteen year old will rekindle your musical memories ...

This lady was obviously an over-achiever. Not only was she a singer and television personality, she also went on to earn a PhD (in Education), became a professor at some Japanese universities, an essayist, a novelist, a wife, a mother of two boys, and ... since 1988, Agnes Chan was the UNICEF goodwill ambassador for Japan. Impressive, huh?

Here's another classic one from her ...

The next singer I'd like to feature is Frances Yip. Remember her? I still have her "Discovery" album, the one where she sings a selection of songs from different Asian countries.

Another musical talent from Hong Kong, Frances Yip was especially well known for singing this Cantonese theme song "Shanghai Beach" from a popular TVB series "The Bund". This was also the series that catapulted Chow Yun Fatt to fame. In a recent interview, Yip reckons she has sung this signature song more than 10,000 times. But she still brings down the house whenever she belts it out.

Frances Yip came into the music scene through winning a Hong Kong television singing contest in 1969 with her rendition of Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me". Her career has spanned 35 years and more than 80 albums.

Here's me and my albums ...

I think I'll stop here for this posting. However this is only the first part. In subsequent parts of this posting, we can have glimpses of your other favourite Asian songbirds. So do put in your comments and recommendations ...
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Musical Humorous Interlude

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I just came back from a hectic, stressful one-week business trip, and to relax, I felt that music alone won't do it. I felt in the mood for somewhat frivolous entertainment ... a little bit of sillyness ...

Back in the 70s and 80s, I loved the music of the group Queen (especially when Freddy Mercury was the lead singer). Some of Queen's classics include "We are the champions", "Crazy little thing called love", "We will rock you" and of course "Bohemian Rhapsody" (which in my view is probably the best rock/pop song of all time).

Back then, I also enjoyed various humorous shows on TV, like the Muppets (created by the late Jim Henson). Ok, ok ... I did enjoy a bit of "Sesame Street" when no one was watching too.

So for this post, I decided to combine the two genres and let you enjoy the following two videoclips. Do remember to turn up the speaker volume ...




Now wasn't that just brilliant?

What about this other number, which i'm sure you've also heard before?

Don't knock it. This went to number #1 on the UK Pop charts in 1977.

Ahhhhhh .... I feel much better now ....

Enjoy.
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On MOUs, Marble and Music

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The recent drought of postings was because I've been busy travelling. Back to Vietnam - two days in Hanoi, two days in Da Nang (where I am right now) and half a day stopover in HCMC.

Da Nang was the key focus of this trip. It's still one of my favourite cities in Vietnam and I've been engaging with various government agencies there for a number of years. The purpose of this trip was to oversee the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the People's Committee of Da Nang and Cisco. I had been working towards this for quite a while, and believed this to be a significant milestone in our partnership. More on this event can be read here and here and here and here.

After the official work was over, I had a chance to pay a visit to Marble Mountain, one of a cluster of five marble/limestone mountains located a few km south of Da Nang, that stretch from the coast inwards (in a westerly direction). The mountains are named after the five elements; Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). There are many caves and tunnels in the mountains and I read that they were used quite a bit during the Vietnam (or American, depending on which side you are on) War. The area is now famous for stone sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts.

Here's a shot of the area where the Marble Mountains are located. You can see three out of the five mountains ...

And here are some shots taken at one of the many stone sculpture shops.

So remember guys, if you want to order some marble lions or dragons or deities or nude maidens or fountains for your grand mansions, you can place an order with me. Shipment to all corners of the world provided. I'll give you some good rates. LOL

Finally after dinner last night, we went to a music lounge to enjoy some traditional Vietnamese music and modern pop hits. I was impressed by the quality of the musicians (the white-haired violinist you see in the photo is particularly good!). And of course, there was a variety of singers doing everything from Vietnamese ballads to Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me". Alas, none attempted "Nobody".

All the lady singers I saw had extremely BIG ......... lungs (what were you thinking?). Powerful vocals indeed, as each lass belted out soulful numbers one after the other with ease.

After I post this, I'm heading straight to Da Nang Airport, bound for HCMC. Will post further if anything relevant catches my attention ... Ciao !
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Musical Interlude from the 70s

Turn up your speakers. Here's a popular song that we used to hear a lot back in the mid 70s. I think the St Mike jukebox also had this single by the Hollies.

It's called "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" and it certainly brings back memories for me.

Hope it does for you too. Enjoy ...

The Mother of All Reunions - Part 5 (Videoclips from the Party)

Here are a few videoclips that will give those who weren't there a sense of the mood on the night. And for those who were there, it will serve to augment your memories of our "The BIG 50" Reunion forever ...

Remember to turn up your PC volume to the max !!! LOL

In the first clip, you can see our St Joe musical talents Suhiri and Felix, with the Victoria Arms singers.

The second clip was taken right after the excellent Bollywood dance performance by Ms Sangeetha. Here we have her dancing with her parents and another Bollywood Wannabe (BW .. get it?) ... hehehe ...

In the next clip, you'll see some Josephians letting their hair down and dancing to the dulcet tones of Subra in his rendition of "Geylang Si-paku Geylang".

This one was actually taken before the dinner started, when our musicians were still practicing. Looked and sounded darn good tho'.

Enjoy ...

Historical Musical Diversion : Fair Land Sarawak

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Do you remember when we were small and the flag for Sarawak was still the above, the state anthem was named "Fair Land Sarawak" and we were all taught to sing it? Do you still remember its tune? The words?

Well, here it is to jog your memory ...

Fair land Sarawak we will never cease to honour thee

And with our Loyal Sons defend your Liberty

From your high forest hills down to the open sea

May freedom ever reign, men live in unity

Proudly our flag flies high above our Country strong and free

Long may our people live in peace and Harmony.


The lyrics was written by F.C. Ogden and the music revised and arranged by G.R.K. Freeth.

And on the Web, I also found an Iban translation by Umpang Ujai. The anthem was also sung in Chinese and Malay, but I can't seem to find those lyrics. Anyway this is for our Iban readers


Pemanah Sarawak kami selalu mri puji

Nyaga penglantang menoa, anak kami

Ari bukit,kampong ngagai tasik nyadi

Pemaik meruan, kami begempang ati

Tinggi menira bediri datas menoa kami

Gayu mensia diau ikun enggau rami


I wanted to find an MP3 version of the song and post it here, but couldn't find one. If any of you do, please share it with me. For what it's worth, I felt that "Fair Land Sarawak" had a nice tune and the words were pretty good too. I can still remember it after all these years - that in itself says something.
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"Fair Land Sarawak" was also the title of a book by a former British colonial officer named Alistair Morrison, that you may be able to find in a Malaysian library.

The Sarawak anthem that was used from 1973-1988 can be played in this following video. I also vaguely remember singing it in schooldays ...

A 1970s Musical Playlist (Part 2)

A number of you have suggested other songs in response to the first "A 1970s Musical Playlist" posted. So here comes another set of songs that will hopefully transport you mentally back to the 70s ...

We begin with Terry Jacks with his eternal words from "Seasons in the Sun". I like the fact that the videoclip depicts an older Jacks singing and playing the guitar, against the backdrop of a screen showing him in 1973 when the song was first released. Nice to know we're not the only ones getting on in years.

Some of us suspect that this next song was actually sung at one of the concert performances put up by the Form 5 classes of 1976. Perhaps it was done by the Form 5Sc choir, whose photo you saw in a previous post. The performers are Roger Whittaker and Chet Atkins, and the song is "The Last Farewell". Enjoy ...

For many of the martial arts crazy guys of 1976, this has to be a memorable song. One could say at the time it was almost the anthem of Chinese martial arts. I particularly enjoy this video too ...

Undoubtedly one of my all time favourite songs ...

Well, that's it for another edition of a 1970's Musical Playlist. Hope you enjoyed it ...
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Singing in Harmony?

Here's another photo contribution from Kevin Chin, now based down under. It features a certain choir with quite a number of members from Form 5 Sc (1976).



The original photo isn't very clear, which is probably just fine for some who wish to keep their "vocal capabilities" under wraps. Still, I'm sure those in the picture will recognise themselves.

I 'm not sure the zoomed-in sections will help much, but here goes anyway ...

So boys & girls, if you find yourself squinting and your lens degrees go up by 200, don't blame me. It's all Kevin's fault. Ha ha ha ...

For 10 bonus points, can anyone remember what were some songs you guys sang on that occasion?
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Movie Memories - "Melody"

Our old friend John Lee in the UK writes ...

"Hi......All

Let's see if anyone of you remember this one:

back in 1971/72, (we were either in primary 6 or form 1) we were taken to see a film called MELODY, featuring Mark Lester and Tracey Hyde with songs from the Bee Gees (First of May, Melody Fair).

see - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkEG5zOLw3A

[ try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r3CcgcXkig
if the above doesn't work - website jaga ]

Remember????

Haha

John"

Yeah, John .... I'm sure most of us have sweet memories of that tucked away somewhere in our subconscious. Indeed, I recall that Mark Lester / Jack Wild / Tracy Hyde movie launched quite a craze among the pubescent boys and girls of the 70's. But for the audience of this blog, I guess the focus is squarely on the cute Tracy Hyde. Mark and Jack who?

For the benefit of those whose memories have gone foggy, "Melody" (or the alternative title "S.W.A.L.K." that it was also released as) was the 1971 movie about two youngsters who declare to their parents that they want to get married. Not sometime in the future but as soon as possible. The story is told from the children's point of view.

A bit of trivia - like us, Tracy Hyde was also born in 1959! (16 May 1959 to be exact - for those of you who want to send a card to this childhood idol of yours, now .. in the words of Sinos .. probably a nenek!)

Still, just to fuel those old hormones, here's a picture of Tracy back in 1971 ...

Caution: If you want to keep your childhood memories of Tracy Hyde intact, do NOT read any further !!! :-)

Tracy Hyde never made it much bigger as an actress after "Melody". A couple of other films and TV shows which didn't have too much impact. She had however quite a fan base in Japan, and according to Wikipedia, in 1994, a Japanese TV station sought out Tracy and sent one of their reporters to go to UK to find her. Mark Lester was contacted and when it was found that Tracy had moved to France, Mark and the reporter both went over there to look for her. She had moved there with her husband and her three sons. In 1999, Mark and Tracy were reunited again in another Japanese TV special. Tracy has since re-married and has returned home to London where she now manages the family business, a kennel boarding service.

(Normally I would quip that Tracy Hyde has gone to the dogs, but that would be unkind :-)

Music of 1976

Shakespeare once wrote, "If music be the food of life, play on". For many of us, teenagers in 1976, music was an important part of our lives - consciously and unconsciously. What song or piece of music, when you hear it today, still reminds you of the year 1976 ?