Back to work after such a long hoilday is kind of surreal. Meeting everyone in the office and perhaps it was the festival mood, people behave differently. Better mood or just changes due to … new year resolution? Or just too much party over the weekend?
Anyway, I was happily surprised with the Christmas gifts that my colleagues have placed on my table. Kind of bring a warm feeling to my heart. (see photo on left)
The problem is that I am never good at getting gifts for my friends. I guess I will have to think of something else.
Perhaps my new year resolution is to observe more on what may have been a perfect gift to my friends.
I was contemplating whether or not to record my new songs written while I was in Bandung or to record the song Jealousy that is long overdue. I have decided to finish off the instrumental tracks for Jealousy.
I am so looking forward to finish off the vocal piece. This song will be the classic piece for my band No Eye Candy.
I was in Bandung isolated from world news when my friends and family sent me text messages asking if I was affected by the earthquake in Sumatra. What earthquake, I asked my wife. And where is Sumatra? My wife told me that Sumatra is nearer to Singapore than Bandung and it was my turn to ask if my friends in Singapore was okay.
Looking forward, I believe that there is a silver-lining to all that happened.
Before the tsunami swept across southern Asia, Indonesia government was at war with the Aceh. The rebels in Aceh was fighting for independence. Indonesia government had 30,000 strong force deployed in Aceh.
Somewhere not too far away, Sri Lanka has issues with the rebel Tamil Tiger.
After the disaster struck, when 80 percent of the capital of Aceh was destroyed and when the Aceh government totally shut down – dead, missing, or busy looking for loved ones – Indonesia government steps in and helps. Call it political propaganda, I doubt if the Aceh conflict will renew itself in the short run.
And in Sri Lanka, both the government and the rebel recognised that something bigger than war has happened and hopefully, this will turn into something better in the future.
Something on the light side, when one of my friend sent me a sms telling me that Sri Lanka was hit the worst, I asked should it not be Sumatra that hit the worst? Apparently the statistics from Indonesia came late but I joked in return that there may be more animals died than human beings (I was not aware if there was any major civilisation in Sumatra).
It turns out the animals may have sixth sense on natural disasters. Reports have confirmed this interesting finding during this recent tsunami.
It has been a productive trip so far. I have taken some great photos and written 3 songs so far. My idea is that once I am back to Singapore, I will select some of my most beloved pictures and post them in my website and let people vote for the best photo.
Back to my songwriting activity, on the Christmas eve I was with Cynthia in a very porsh Japanese restaurant in Jakarta (S$60 per head). After 3 glasses of Martini, I started writing the lyrics onto the napkin. Ever since I named my upcoming album as Eternally Thankful, an idea came up. Why don’t I write a title song called Eternally Thankful? And so I did. The first verse goes something like this.
Old man knocked at my door, asked me what I adore
All that glitters aren’t that all, be careful what you wish for
And I managed to finish writing the song by Christmas day.
My brother-in-law, Eric, commented that most of my songs are in minor key, which is true. I then asked him how to write major key songs and he showed me a few chords. I said to myself, why not give it a try? I have fun with it. Eric jammed with me on his keyboard with just the first 3 lines of the song. Fun.
Writing a major key song is kind of tough because I am not that used to it. Although Eric and his fiance Julia commented that the song, titled Sunflower has a bit of a dark side here and there, I am indeed very much happy with the result. I am the dark man. What can I do? Extract of the lyrics below.
Sunflower that’s what you’ve become
Sunflower we’ve had so much fun
Sunflower you don’t have a face
Sunflower do you know my face?
Next day, Eric showed me some interesting chords progression with the verses in minor keys and the chorus switches to major keys. Woah, that blew my mind away! And within minutes, the structure of the song was out.
Perhaps it was under the high effect (had some wine and port) and most likely because of the regularity of the song, the end result to me sounds like a trance song with a lot of interesting repeating melody that kind of stick into your head if you know what I mean. Song title is The Words You Said and the bridge of the song as follows.
You are the charm of my life, honey in my cup of tea
I want to spend my life with the concept of you
You are not making easier for me, getting lovlier each day
And I run, I run, I fall into your embrace.
Eric asked me if I could send him a recorded version of the songs and he is keen to take it to his friends who are in the music industry. Hmmmm. That could be interesting.
It took me 1 hour and 15 mins to fly from Singapore to Jakarta. It took me 2 hours to travel from the airport to the hotel which is located at the Central Business District via taxi. It took me 6 and a half hours to travel from Jakarta to Bandang in my brother-in-law’s car.
It is amazing to learn that an average Indonesian spends so much time on the road. Take my brother-in-law as an example, every morning at 7, he drops off his girlfriend at her workplace. Then he took another one and a half hours to get to his workplace, which according to him is very near to hers. I really think that the Indonesia government should do something to stop wasting her citizens’ precious time.
Can you imagine how much an Indonesia can do with all these unnecessary travelling hours? He or she could learn something, enrich thyself, spend more time with friends and families, push the economy by spending more time and money in the mall … anything but getting frustrated in the car accepting such a horrible transport system. Cynthia told me that if by 2005 the government does not do much to overhaul the road system, the average speed in town will be 10 km per hour. Oh God.
Back to the 6 and a half hours roadtrip to Bandang, first I saw police car openning up the opposite lane so that my direction of traffic became a one-way dual lane road. Nice. But what happened to the traffic on the opposite lane? To my surprise, all the cars from the opposite lane were just waiting in front of a police blockage. I must have seen miles and miles of traffic all waiting for the police to re-open the lane. Does this really solve any problem at all?
And after some detours and some ferocious overtaking made by my brother-in-law, we were met with traffic at a crawling speed. In fact, I would say three quarter of the entire road journey was commutted at a crawling speed.
At the end of the jam, I have discovered that in this one lane that take us from Jakarta into Bandung was nothing but a T-junction (I was kind of thinking that it was a stupid traffic light that slows down the traffic). And in this T-junction, there was a big jam to the left and the road to the right was wide open (we headed right). Basically, cars that intended to turn left at the T-junction blocked all the traffics behind including those that wanted to turn right.
Kathleen Carey is the senior vice president of Song/ATV Music Publishing and in Roger Love’s Set Your Voice Free, her advice for aspiring musicians who would like to make it in the music business was:
“… Most important, stay true to yourself and in terms of expressing your own individual gift, and don’t water it down by listening to what’s on the radio and changing your sound, or tyring to make yourself commercial. Espeically now. A top band today may well be gone in months. So you need to hone your craft in any way you can – as a player, as a writer – and keep your focus on what you can do that is unique. The people who do that are the ones who win in the long run.”
After hearing a number of critism from the serious music listeners, I was much affected and influenced and somehow I could not write for a while. Lately, my songs are more commercially geared and are written well within my vocal range. Instead of letting the song goes freeform, I stick with the usual verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus pattern. Each song I consciously put in a hook that keep repeating throughout the song. I used to think that this pattern is boring is uninspiring but I kind of yield to the critism.
When I shared my recent change in songwriting style with Jeremy, my “band manager”, he said the similiar thing. He said that I should stay with my own style as he do like my freeform stuffs.
Well, actually I don’t know what good voices are made of. According to the book, there are different stages in singing technique breakthrough. Basically, one will encounter of cycles of improvement, setback, and breakthrough.
Yesterday was actually a setback. I hated my voice throughout the jamming session and I hated my vocal recording prior to the session itself. It was as though all the old habits just creeped out from nowhere.
Today, I tried to record my 2nd Christmas song, Don’t Give Up, and to my surprise I was able to record 3 takes in one go without doing any punch-in (i.e. minor correction). It was as though the confidence has come back to me. After Cynthia ok’ed the recording (3rd take to be precise), I was so much relieved that it is over.
I have broadcasted the 1st Christmas song last night and I have received feedback and encouragement from my friends in various forms (emails, online chat, and comments on the site). These messages touch my heart and that is exactly why I keep on moving forward.
Putting Don’t Give Up side by side with The Right To Live (Oh Holy Night) is a big risk. The last time I tried putting one song sang by Cynthia and one song sang by me, the contrast was so great that one song was deemed unacceptable to listen to. And you know which one I am talking about of course.
Nevertheless, I still wish to upload Don’t Give Up mainly because this song is entirely written by me and I would like to dedicate this song to my sister whom is in need of some cheering up right now. Hope she can find the strength she needs from the song.
Well, actually I don’t know what good voices are made of. According to the book, there are different stages in singing technique breakthrough. Basically, one will encounter of cycles of improvement, setback, and breakthrough.
Yesterday was actually a setback. I hated my voice throughout the jamming session and I hated my vocal recording prior to the session itself. It was as though all the old habits just creeped out from nowhere.
Today, I tried to record my 2nd Christmas song, Don’t Give Up, and to my surprise I was able to record 3 takes in one go without doing any punch-in (i.e. minor correction). It was as though the confidence has come back to me. After Cynthia ok’ed the recording (3rd take to be precise), I was so much relieved that it is over.
I have broadcasted the 1st Christmas song last night and I have received feedback and encouragement from my friends in various forms (emails, online chat, and comments on the site). These messages touch my heart and that is exactly why I keep on moving forward.
Putting Don’t Give Up side by side with The Right To Live (Oh Holy Night) is a big risk. The last time I tried putting one song sang by Cynthia and one song sang by me, the contrast was so great that one song was deemed unacceptable to listen to. And you know which one I am talking about of course.
Nevertheless, I still wish to upload Don’t Give Up mainly because this song is entirely written by me and I would like to dedicate this song to my sister whom is in need of some cheering up right now. Hope she can find the strength she needs from the song.
This is so cool! Google rocks! I haven’t even submited my website to Google (and I did submit to Yahoo! and still waited for it to crawl to my website).
I am a happy man …
This is so cool! Google rocks! I haven’t even submited my website to Google (and I did submit to Yahoo! and still waited for it to crawl to my website).
Finally, I have collected 24 Heineken Beer Caps that are qualified to exchange for a set of small glasses. Considering that out of 6 bottles of Heineken beer I bought each time, I have an average of 4.5 qualifying caps, I must have drank 32 bottles of Heineken beer. That, is a whole lot of beer for 2 to 3 weeks.
It is Christmas time (and see how happy my wife Cynthia was to receive a gift from a party)! Here is something for you all – two songs that I have recorded just for this festival. I hope that these songs can touch your hearts and to be reminded what Christmas is all about besides all the shopping and partying. The title of the 1st song is The Right To Live (Oh Holy Night) and as for the 2nd song, it is Don’t Give Up.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Right To Live – Written by Wilfrid Wong
Oh Holy Night – Tradition
Vocals: Cynthia, Wilfrid Wong
12-String Guitar, Classical Guitar, and Bass Guitar: Wilfrid Wong
There are wars that break out everyday
People dying everyday
If we strip away our faith and race
Don’t we all see a common face?
No matter if you’re a believer or not
No matter which religion you come from
We all wish this world a better place
We all love one another like brothers and sisters
We all love one another like brothers and sisters
There are sorrows that plague the world today
Children crying everyday
If we stop to hurt and start to think
Tell me where do these ever make sense?
Let’s give each other peace and love
Let’s give each other the right to live
The right to smile, the right to laugh
The right to share the joys in life
There are many songs that sing this hope
There are many songs that sing this love
Let’s start with a song that I know
Let’s start with a song that I know
O’ Holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world
In sin and error pining
‘Til He appeared and the soul felt His worth
The thrill of hope,
The weary world rejoices
For yonder brings a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees
Oh, hear the angel’s voices
O’ night divine
O’ night when Christ was born
O’ night divine
O’ night, O’ night divine
In this night when hope was born
This is when we started to see
This light that warms our heart
That is when our souls felt its worth
The thrill of hope,
The weary world rejoices
For yonder brings a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees
Oh, hear the angel’s voices
O’ night divine
O’ night when Christ was born
O’ night divine
O’ night, O’ night divine
Don’t Give Up – Written by Wilfrid Wong
Vocal, 12-String Guitar, Classical Guitar, and Bass Guitar: Wilfrid Wong
Don’t give up. Have faith in what you do
Trust in God our Lord who will leave you peace and shelter you
Through the darkest hours of yours
Don’t give up. Have faith in who you are
Trust in God our Lord who will lift you up when you’re down
Time and time again, and again
And when you’re weak, He sends His spirit to dwell within you
Making you stronger each moment you pray with Him
His love for you is overwhelming and so it is this perfect love …
That casts away all your fears
Don’t give up. All you need to do is to
Say His name and he will be there for you
Everything is gonna be fine like before
Don’t give up. Leave it all to Him and you know
In your heart He will carry you once again
So long as you let Him to
And when you’re weak, He sends His spirit to dwell within you
Making you stronger each moment you pray with Him
His love for you is overwhelming and so it is this perfect love …
That casts away all your fears
And this Christmas marks a new beginning
For the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ
And His love has inspired us for thousands of eyars
May you find your strength in His name
May you find your strength in His name
And this Christmas marks a new beginning
For the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ
And His love has inspired us for thousands of eyars
May you find your strength in His name
May you find your strength in His name
