Events on Labour Day (part 2) - 7th Chinese Orchestra Concert in UPM

In Jit Sin High School we have a renowned Chinese Orchestra Association which will hold concerts annually in Penang Chinese Town Hall (I am not sure whether they are still having it there). I feel regretted for not being adventurous enough to take the chance while I was serving as prefect in high school to attend the concert with free admission and free transportation (boohoo...) because my home is kinda far away from my school and travelling can be hectic especially late at night. So after entering the university I came across this event which was held on Labour's Day, too in Banquet Hall, UPM.

I have been wanting to attend a formal orchestra concert where girls will wear dress and guys will have a bow tie on (bwahahahahahahaha). But for this one I just wore a Tshirt with jeans (feeling so sorry for myself) as majority audiences are wearing very very casual. The theme for this concert was 'Music Travel' where the presented songs selected included the old ones and the modern ones. Most of the audiences were Chinese but I saw some non-Chinese too (yeah I am talking about you, Habib, hahaha). Music is really an open and non-bias thing that everyone can enjoy it!

The quality of music was expected. I am not that pro in music (my tempo sucks) but I like it VERY much especially orchestra where all the musical instruments overlap one another without dominating the whole situation. The harmonious circumstance is just so soothing that I can't help swaying with the music. Ahem, back to reality. So this was a Chinese orchestra concert where you could hear something more compared to Western orchestra concert. It is not easy to play one. I tried flute before and I could not even produce a sound (ugh...)! The concert amazed me with the beauty of Chinese traditional music. It was simply beautiful! I am kinda lost of words to describe my feeling when I heard the music (sorry, so bear with me and feel regretted for not attending it yourself! Hahaha).

I liked most of the songs such as 'Joyful Songs from the Water Village' and 'TaiwanCapriccio' which are old songs and 'Rhythm of the Rain', 'Moonlight in the City', 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence' and'One Night in Beijing' which are the more modern ones. There was one Pipa (a string instrument with lots of frets, LOTS of them) solo played by a guy with the song named 'Happy Days'. It was amazing watching his fingers running through the string freely like every finger knew where they should go to get the correct notes. And he was a guy! Usually people will see guys who join Chinese orchestra as 'girly' but I am sure that this guy captured the heart of many girls, hahaha. Besides, there was a song called 'Moonlight' composed by a UPM student named Ziyu describing the feeling of missing the home town. The music was wonderful, the lyrics were awesome and the voice of the singer was fascinating! Overall, I love the performance of the whole orchestra team on stage (Erika and Wenly were up there too!) after months of hardwork. They are all students like me, but they devoted their time for musics, for us, the audiences.

However, there was one thing which was annoying to me. For the introduction of each song, there will be some comedy sketches which were actually funny but kind of ruining my mood to truly enjoy the music. I wanted to appreciate the music but part of the concert turned out as an entertainment. Maybe the organizer worried that students today would feel bored about a formal concert. There were audiences clapping and cheering (obviously for their friends performing) in the middle of the songs which supposedly not happened during an orchestra concert. For the anchor songs, 'Frozen' was not as good as expected as they played the whole original video of the song at the screen before they actually performed it. But the last song, 'Truly Love You' was a perfect ending for this whole concert.

I would give this concert 8 out of 10 marks. And if there is any upcoming orchestra concert I will buy the ticket without hesitation! It really worths to spend RM 10 for one magical night with music! Well done!

Me, Habib, Wilson, Brandy and Nigel. (Habib stop being a photo bomber!!!)