A Klang Musical Escapade

You know what? My acapella group was invited to sing in Klang’s Music Festival, and I marvel that the festival has gone on for the past 33 years! One thing struck me, is that they didn’t charge entry fees, and this is purely for the promotion of the arts.

One of the MCs said something which made an impression on me, although it was mostly in Chinese, but this was the few rare English phrases used “Good things not cheap. Cheap things not good”, and how they hope that this festival would prove that this statement was wrong.

And I agree.

They showcased a variety of performances, although I only attended the second day, and even that, the programme was so diversed that it was somehow interesting. For the second day, they had two different bands playing completely different styles of music, one classical soprano soloist, a local choir, a pianist, an Erhu player from China, a harmonica player, an acapella group (us’lah!), and even a local “stomp” kind of performance.

Each had their own musical personality and styles to showcase, and I was mightily surprised as to the well organized event (actually, considering that they have been doing it for the last 33 years… ).

As to the Klang crowd, they were supportive and reasonably enthusiastic. I admire their willingness to come and listen, and hopefully would have enjoyed the session right to the very end. More so, when we, as an acapella group was singing English songs, yet the crowd was predominantly Chinese. Nicked this photo from aariye's blog! Yep, we did try to incorporate some snazzy moves (hip thrusts, hip swinging, etc) into one or two of our latest song presentation. I noticed we managed to garner some new fans from Klang! :P

I was pleasantly surprised by the talent of the local folks, and going back to point, I agree with the MC, yes, although there was no entry fee charged, the standard of musical expertise was sufficiently high to justify an enjoyable evening. Just because it was free, didn’t mean that the concert was not good. Incidentally, the sound system and mics used were of high standards, with nary a cost passed on to the audience. Now this is what I call, promoting the arts!

Bravo to the organisers for a job well done!