Eddy (third from left) belting out his
gritty rock composition entitled Free
Guest performer, Simon Lee at the piano
Kuala Lumpur, 21 January 2010
- UCSI University students attending song writing classes
from the School of Music recently held a concert of
their own on campus, performing 10 of their own compositions
from various genres. Aptly named Song Writers’ Night,
the concert kicked off with a love ballad written by
Catherine Januarius, entitled I Gave My Heart Away.
This was followed by a techno number from Lim Shunmin
entitled Dirty Beat and another two ballads entitled,
It’s Gone and Falling in Love, composed by Vivian Chan
Pui Ching and Ben Ng Eng Ping respectively. Eddy Lim
You Cheng wrote and sang the gritty rock number, Free.
The only Chinese number for the night, Happy was composed
and sung by Low Sim Ni and Chan Shally, showed that
girls too, can rap!
No Longer, a bossa nova number written by Karen Lui
Kai Wen, was sung by Sara Ngooi, the lecturer herself.
This was followed by another slow rock number entitled
Holding You, composed by Tong Sin Ee and Ong Chong Han.
Most anticipated were the last two songs entitled Love
Game and Nak Tak Nak. Angela Ong Chin Yin and Dennis
Law Chu Sing composed and presented the former while
Dennis improvised beautifully on the final song of the
night which speaks of indecisiveness in love.
Sara Ngooi said, “The main purpose of this concert is
to provide a platform for the students to perform their
compositions and also to attract Malaysian artists and
producers to come for this annual concert to search
for potential songs for their albums. It also creates
an opportunity for the students to meet and make contacts
with professionals in the music industry, as each time
a concert such as this is held, we will feature special
guests to perform, and share their experiences with
the students, as well as to encourage them.”
The guest performer this round was Simon Lee, a composer,
musician and alumnus of the Berklee College of Music,
Boston, United States of America, who improvised an
original composition of his entitled This is How I Feel.
He was very enthusiastic about the whole concert and
said, "I am personally very happy to be able to witness
and perform at the concert. It is a great step for the
music community to give birth to more original artists
by learning from what is already out there and to incorporate
them into their own musical writings. Another thing
that awed me was the diversity of music in terms of
styles that were performed; definitely needed as music
has diversified tremendously in tandem with human development.
The ability for the students to express themselves comfortably
in a genre that is familiar is a great leap ahead!”
Also present at the concert was UCSI University alumni,
Lenny Lysandra who is now a singer song writer in the
Malaysian Malay indie music scene. She said, “It was
an awesome and exhilarating experience for me because
it's always a joy to listen to "new" and fresh music
from budding, young talents. As a vocalist cum recording
artiste, I'm always on the lookout for great songs and
tonight, I have discovered many songs that have the
potential to become hits, both in the local and international
music scene.
“I have also finally found the next song to be featured
in my upcoming EP, which is Dennis Law's original composition,
Nak Tak Nak! I was particularly impressed with his song
because it was very unique and suited my pop/jazz genre.
The way he blended simple lyrics with the not-so-simple
instrumentation made the song very well-balanced and
rather outstanding,” she said.
Thirty-five students had gone through the song writing
courses conducted by Sara at UCSI University starting
from the January 2009 semester before this concert.
Each composer had classmates from the class play the
instruments or provide vocals for the compositions.
Sara promised that the event will be expanded and become
a prominent feature not only on the School of Music’s
event calendar but also UCSI University in the coming
years.
"Without
prejudice to the rights of UCSI the information herein
is correct at the time of printing and UCSI reserves
the right to make amendments without prior notice."
Last Updated:
28 January 2010
Latest News: UCSI University Sponsors 1Malaysia Essay-Writing Contest
