Singapore Live Music

I was invited by a friend to attend a free live gig at the Esplanade outdoor open stage this evening. It was a metal gig, and though it is not one of my favourite popular music genres - I prefer alternative and rock - I thought I might give it a go. She was going because her cousin was a guest musician playing back-up guitar.

There are often complaints in Singapore about the lack of any kind of independent music scene here, complaints that I increasingly find are thoroughly unjustified. It is an undeniable fact that the live music you get in most commercial bars and pubs consists of nothing more than cover bands, but I am increasingly learning of what a vibrant original music scene Singapore actually possess. Beyond our ability to manufacture Taiwanese pop divas, we have interesting bands that play stuff on the edges (metal, grunge, rap) many of whom are more than decent.

I love the feel of live music, the evident passion of many of the fans. The concert was fairly dead though until to the amusement, surprise and general gawking disbelief of everyone, an old uncle, dressed in classic striped short sleeve shirt got up and started head bobbing, doing air guitar and generally just prancing around. Singapore never ceases to surprise. Seeing him along with some of his old uncle friends attending a metal gig was already cause for much surprise - seeing him mimic a riff on an imaginary guitar, that was just thrilling and completely out of the blue.

Siren Song

I was briefly browsing in HMV the other day, when I was struck by the CD they were playing in the store. The singer's voice was luminous and somehow familiar, singing Time After Time in a duet with Cyndi Lauper. It turned out the etheral voice was indeed hugely familiar to me - it was Sarah McLachlan and the album was a newly released second volume of Rarities, B-sides and other stuff.

McLachlan's earlier album Surfacing remains one of my most beloved CDs of all time and a prime candidate for any desert island poll that I take part in. She has a remarkably clear, emotive voice that is at once haunting and familiar. It is unsurprising that when I entered HMV that day, it stopped me in my tracks, as it has always done.

That is the remarkable thing about the great singers and the classic songs - they can communicate to you in an almost instantaneous way. They effortlessly compel and move you. They cannot be ignored. I remember another occasion when I had that reaction - I was watching TV when they advertised a debut album and played a short excerpt from one of the songs. I was immediately struck by the unique quality of the singing, and was determined there and then, after hearing just a 15 second excerpt, that I had to buy the album. It was Norah Jones singing Don't Know Why.

It was a wonderful feeling listening to this 'new' album which did contain some wonderful gems. I particularly loved When She Loved Me, which was used in the movie Toy Story 2, and had not been previously released on any of McLachlan's earlier albums. Other great tracks which showed off her versatility included covers of Blackbird, The Rainbow Connection and The Prayer of St Francis and also a wonderful live duet of the old classic Angel with Emmylou Harris.

But back to the main thrust of this post. That is the real power of beauty of music - something that you can return to again and again, for solace or comfort, in times of unadulterated happiness or unabashed angst. It is the joy of having that eureka moment in a record store when you stop, listen and feel a profound sense of wonderfulness.