one month late

justin lo
Originally uploaded by cliff_au_yong.

sorry bjorn, i've been putting this on hold for so long haha! anyway, i think i'm beginning to idolise his qualities!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Lo

he's professional singer, composer, producer and graphic designer! (plus, he's bilingual!) and he was 29 when he launched his professional singing career (2005)... i didn't think that older singers would be as well-received as younger ones who just emerged from the teeny-bopper stage haha... i think he's proof to me that i can pursue what i intend to do: get a design-related degree and moonlight as some sort of musician. woots!

back to the music! being somewhat partial to RnB/pop(ular) music, i quite like his song arrangements. like "erica" where he integrated a cappella elements into the song, now that appeals to my choral background! basically good mainstream music, style-wise very typical of mandopop.

hacken lee's music gives a nice twist to the kind of music i usually hear. got influences from all over the place, like classical Western and Oriental music... and i like the elegant saxophone introductions to some of his songs, makes me think of classy restaurants... i'm beginning to form this conclusion that cantopop is mainly ballads, or at least the cantonese i know (bjorn, my cousins) like to listen to ballads haha!

thanks bjorn for lending me your CDs in your efforts to educate me in cantonese lol! i'll review the other artistes soon :) like vincy and edmond leung (interesting airy tone). i think my only exposure to the dialect is when i go back to malaysia, which happens only about twice a year (and due to NS i can't find time to go back. shit.)

somehow i find the inflections of the dialect so befitting of pop melodies, better than mandarin, hmm...

meanwhile, my dear classical-only friend is going to explore new genres of music, going over to his place to exchange my CDs for his WTC (well tempered clavier) by JS Bach :) i remember being spellbound by a recording of prelude no.12 in F minor book I (played that for DipABRSM) by... err Argerich i think, eh no, aiyah can't recall already, i don't even have that recording :(

still haven't found the perfect songs to lend him. he likes relaxing/soothing music, and i'm supposed to find pop/RnB/rock music that's soothing?? i think he needs classical pop (crossover) music. i like hayley westenra and charlotte church and sarah brightmann and russell watson and josh groban and... although i must confess i don't listen to them much, an occasional hearing is always so pleasant.

currently listening to: shiina ringo/the cantopop CDs i got
soon listening to: rachael yamagata/hayley westenra (when i get hold of their albums)

*i realise i prefer listening to female voices. hm.*