Thursday, November 22, 2007
Jakartaftermath
Warning: Not exactly in chronological order.
Whoo! Slightly over a week has passed since I returned from the trip for the 1st Asian Choir Games in Jakarta. To summarise the sojourn in Indonesia, I would say that it was extremely fun, eye-opening, and completely worth the money I paid (actually, my parents paid on an extended loan basis, for me to repay at an undisclosed point in the future) for the trip. Yeah, choral singing is what we call a passion; we pay to represent the country and perform. If I were to prepare a cashflow account for my choral activities, I'd find the numbers to run into the four-digit negatives. Heck, even if we win anything at all at the competition, there isn't any cash prize to meet us at the winner's podium.
But I digress.
Participant Tag
Anyway, the twenty-strong Young KL Singers Jakarta team comprised of those of us who had the time (and money) to spare for this experience of a lifetime. Adding to the experience tremendously was the fact that "happy thing number three" (as referenced in a previous post) was also part of the team.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet happy thing number three Carrie
The flight was at 7am, so most of us (especially those who stayed over at Carrie's place) were already awake at ungodly hours; personally, I only slept from 3.30 to 4.00am that day. We arrived safely at Indonesia by 8.30am Jakarta time (GMT +7), but for some reason, the flight made me edgy; for the first time in my life, I actually felt a little afraid of flying.
We stayed at Sheraton Media and Towers Jakarta; before the lot of you utter disbelief ("Wah, spend so much money ar?!"), let me add that the hotel was assigned to us by the organisers (Interkultur Foundation), and that we were really thankful for the assignment because the other Malaysian choirs who went elsewhere told us horror stories (B-grade ones, though) about their hotels.
Sheraton lobby
We didn't spend too much time in the hotels, though, as there's always a lot going on in the expo centre where the event was held. Even on the first day, we'd enter the expo halls and catch other choirs competing in their respective categories, ranging from exotic folklore song and dance (in four parts to boot!) to the (usually) soothing tones of Musica Sacra i.e. sacred music, the likes of which include the multitude of Glorias and Daemon Irrepit Calliduses (Callidi?). Have you ever paid like RM40 to catch a choir concert? Imagine going for concerts for six days in a row... And the amount of talent I've seen in there was ginormous. It was plainly obvious that Malaysia was rather outclassed in terms of choral music development as compared to the other Asian countries. Even Indonesia's more liberal than us; have you ever seen girls in headscarves singing "Amen", all in the name of the art? Over here, those girls would have been thrown away for being apostates or something.
But yet again, I digress. Back to the competition.
Outside one of the competition halls. The girl in the middle with the finger on her face was our Liaison Officer, Ravy. She was very helpful, as well as very fun to tease.
The Dudes
The Dudettes
Waiting for our turn to perform
Random Indonesian choir with uber-cool costumes.
Our category (Asian Open - Popular Music) was only on the third day of our trip, so we spent a lot of our free time on the first two days rehearsing. I had a rap solo in one of the songs, and in another, making triangle-like (the musical instrument) sound effects (also solo). These solo parts, although interesting, added to the stress of performing. Thankfully, we managed to pull it off rather well.
"Official" Photograph
For our efforts, we received a silver medal award:
To put it simply, if the judges gave your choir an average of 9 points and below out of a maximum of 30 (at least for our category), you get a bronze. 10~19 get you a silver and 20 above, a gold. We were aiming for a silver; suffice to say, we left Jakarta rather contented.
The Dithyrambic Singers (to which the YKLS are rather acquainted with), another choir from KL, did much better, though.
They were champions for one of the two categories they joined. To be champions, you must have a gold medal and score the highest in your category.
Thus, on the results announcement ceremony the Negaraku was played and the Malaysian flag was raised... We were so proud of them, I led a Malaysia Boleh chant, screaming. Needless to say, I lost my voice after that.
The day after our competition, we were slated to perform at a theme park named Dunia Fantasi. It was hucking fot that day! Nevertheless, sweating like pigs did not stop many of us from enjoying some of the rides in the park.
Where's Waldo Zhen?
Despite staying for so long in Jakarta, we didn't have much of a chance to savour the local cuisine. In fact, I only ate real Indonesian food once, at a masakan padang shop just down the road from the hotel. Getting there required us to brave the hazardous and carbon-monoxidous Jakarta traffic, but thankfully, we made it in one piece. The beef rendang was to die for!
Another type of Indonesian delicacy: J.Co donuts
And because it's tough (or maybe we were just too lazy) to go out at night and savour local food, some of us would meet up in a room and order room service. With prices comparable to most Malaysian restaurants, the food was actually good!
Oh, just to add a small note: I bought two pairs of Levi's jeans, six T-shirts and a button while I was down there. Am currently very happy with the jeans and T-shirts, thank you very much.
In any case, this post is unfortunately only a gross summary of my week-long trip down under. I did and experienced so much in Jakarta that merely attempting to condense everything into a single entry does the affair a great injustice. However, let me end this by simply stating that if I had the chance to do the whole thing all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
Maybe the World Choir Games, someday? I'll remain hopeful until that day comes.
Closing concert
Pointless Fact of the Day:
In Malay, kakak refers to elder sister. In Indonesian, kakak refers to elder brother. Which makes more sense? Indonesian, apparently, because kakanda is old Malay (what the language was called before the Malay Archipelago started getting colonised) for elder brother. I am of the opinion that Indonesian is a cooler language than Malay; when they speak the language, they can sometimes sound like they're singing, seriously. Plus they don't have (as far as I know) Dewan Bahasa dan Pustakabutchering standardising the language.
Whoo! Slightly over a week has passed since I returned from the trip for the 1st Asian Choir Games in Jakarta. To summarise the sojourn in Indonesia, I would say that it was extremely fun, eye-opening, and completely worth the money I paid (actually, my parents paid on an extended loan basis, for me to repay at an undisclosed point in the future) for the trip. Yeah, choral singing is what we call a passion; we pay to represent the country and perform. If I were to prepare a cashflow account for my choral activities, I'd find the numbers to run into the four-digit negatives. Heck, even if we win anything at all at the competition, there isn't any cash prize to meet us at the winner's podium.
But I digress.
Participant TagAnyway, the twenty-strong Young KL Singers Jakarta team comprised of those of us who had the time (and money) to spare for this experience of a lifetime. Adding to the experience tremendously was the fact that "happy thing number three" (as referenced in a previous post) was also part of the team.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet The flight was at 7am, so most of us (especially those who stayed over at Carrie's place) were already awake at ungodly hours; personally, I only slept from 3.30 to 4.00am that day. We arrived safely at Indonesia by 8.30am Jakarta time (GMT +7), but for some reason, the flight made me edgy; for the first time in my life, I actually felt a little afraid of flying.
We stayed at Sheraton Media and Towers Jakarta; before the lot of you utter disbelief ("Wah, spend so much money ar?!"), let me add that the hotel was assigned to us by the organisers (Interkultur Foundation), and that we were really thankful for the assignment because the other Malaysian choirs who went elsewhere told us horror stories (B-grade ones, though) about their hotels.
Sheraton lobbyWe didn't spend too much time in the hotels, though, as there's always a lot going on in the expo centre where the event was held. Even on the first day, we'd enter the expo halls and catch other choirs competing in their respective categories, ranging from exotic folklore song and dance (in four parts to boot!) to the (usually) soothing tones of Musica Sacra i.e. sacred music, the likes of which include the multitude of Glorias and Daemon Irrepit Calliduses (Callidi?). Have you ever paid like RM40 to catch a choir concert? Imagine going for concerts for six days in a row... And the amount of talent I've seen in there was ginormous. It was plainly obvious that Malaysia was rather outclassed in terms of choral music development as compared to the other Asian countries. Even Indonesia's more liberal than us; have you ever seen girls in headscarves singing "Amen", all in the name of the art? Over here, those girls would have been thrown away for being apostates or something.
But yet again, I digress. Back to the competition.
Outside one of the competition halls. The girl in the middle with the finger on her face was our Liaison Officer, Ravy. She was very helpful, as well as very fun to tease.
The Dudes
The Dudettes
Waiting for our turn to perform
Random Indonesian choir with uber-cool costumes.Our category (Asian Open - Popular Music) was only on the third day of our trip, so we spent a lot of our free time on the first two days rehearsing. I had a rap solo in one of the songs, and in another, making triangle-like (the musical instrument) sound effects (also solo). These solo parts, although interesting, added to the stress of performing. Thankfully, we managed to pull it off rather well.
"Official" PhotographFor our efforts, we received a silver medal award:
To put it simply, if the judges gave your choir an average of 9 points and below out of a maximum of 30 (at least for our category), you get a bronze. 10~19 get you a silver and 20 above, a gold. We were aiming for a silver; suffice to say, we left Jakarta rather contented.
The Dithyrambic Singers (to which the YKLS are rather acquainted with), another choir from KL, did much better, though.
The Dithyrambic Singers
They were champions for one of the two categories they joined. To be champions, you must have a gold medal and score the highest in your category.
Thus, on the results announcement ceremony the Negaraku was played and the Malaysian flag was raised... We were so proud of them, I led a Malaysia Boleh chant, screaming. Needless to say, I lost my voice after that.
The day after our competition, we were slated to perform at a theme park named Dunia Fantasi. It was hucking fot that day! Nevertheless, sweating like pigs did not stop many of us from enjoying some of the rides in the park.
Where's Despite staying for so long in Jakarta, we didn't have much of a chance to savour the local cuisine. In fact, I only ate real Indonesian food once, at a masakan padang shop just down the road from the hotel. Getting there required us to brave the hazardous and carbon-monoxidous Jakarta traffic, but thankfully, we made it in one piece. The beef rendang was to die for!
Another type of Indonesian delicacy: J.Co donutsAnd because it's tough (or maybe we were just too lazy) to go out at night and savour local food, some of us would meet up in a room and order room service. With prices comparable to most Malaysian restaurants, the food was actually good!
Oh, just to add a small note: I bought two pairs of Levi's jeans, six T-shirts and a button while I was down there. Am currently very happy with the jeans and T-shirts, thank you very much.
In any case, this post is unfortunately only a gross summary of my week-long trip down under. I did and experienced so much in Jakarta that merely attempting to condense everything into a single entry does the affair a great injustice. However, let me end this by simply stating that if I had the chance to do the whole thing all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
Maybe the World Choir Games, someday? I'll remain hopeful until that day comes.
Closing concertPointless Fact of the Day:
In Malay, kakak refers to elder sister. In Indonesian, kakak refers to elder brother. Which makes more sense? Indonesian, apparently, because kakanda is old Malay (what the language was called before the Malay Archipelago started getting colonised) for elder brother. I am of the opinion that Indonesian is a cooler language than Malay; when they speak the language, they can sometimes sound like they're singing, seriously. Plus they don't have (as far as I know) Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka
