Lacking anything better to do, or indeed anything to do, on Wednesday night, I took up Geraldine's offer to watch the Day II of the SYF Choral Festival, held at the Singapore Conference Hall (It seems the youth are deserting VCH, forsaking it for other venues! Aww).

Unfortunately, because the arms weren't cleared until 6:45 or so (so much for "CDO to clear arms by 1730"), I arrived at about 8:30 and missed the whole of the first half of the very short concert - it started at 7:30 and ended by 9:00. And so I paid $12 (which is already quite outrageous for such a short concert) for about half an hour of music.

And Screwed Up Girl told me my seat was at B4, but B4 was occupied, probably by gatecrashers. So I ended sitting on the not uncomfortable floor at the top of the hall.

At least I got to see Ms Chiang! Her hair's grown back - somebody'd told me she'd cut it again. And I saw some of my juniors presently in Sec 4, though I didn't get to go and say hello.

All of the conductors look weird in the program. Must be a makeover given to all of them.

The second half started off with the "Girls' Choir". They were all attired in T-shirts (most not tucked in) and pants, and seemingly had no conductor. The reason for their slackness became apparent when they started singing "Joyful, joyful" from Sister Act 2 - in true Sister Act style, starting off sort of traditionally and then becoming very sleazy and incorporating lots of choreography, body movement and stunts (2 girls did a split near the start of the song, so). And one of them really really looked like a boy. Or maybe it was - token representation from the other gender. Anyhow, the filler item finally ended and the real choir, the JC choir, came onstage, each chorister in their own performance attire.

And boy was there a great variety of performance attire. Including the Secondary Schools, the gamut of colours and designs (many bad) was visually entertaining. There were the usual waiters (Victoria School being the most waiterish of the lot), gowns in an ugly shade of cyan and the two sister schools (MGS and RGS, differing only by the fact that the former's gowns have a white band at the waist, something which caused a great deal of discomfort in TJC's 1998 Christmas Concert, when both choirs were invited to perform). There was also something new - CHIJ St Nicholas had this ugly Chinese inspired costume, with black leggings inside (Unfair! They don't have to wear skirts or dressses, with all the attendant implications), and a red surcoat on top, with a black line with patterns on it running down the central axis of the body. Perhaps the most interesting costume was this gown which had a colour gradient - black at the neckline, fading to medium gray at the hemline above the ankle. All I can say is - "De gustibus non est disputandum".

Looking at the extreme left of the top row of the JC choir, standing with all the girls, I saw Kelvin Chan. So he's stll singing Sop! Yeh.

Nelson really looks very different from the last time I saw him. He wasn't wearing his beloved Kashmiri Wool jacket anymore as he can't fit into it - it's too big!

I was rather amused by Nelson's conducting of the JC choir in "Yun Fei Tian Bu Dong", by Ju Xi Xian (so now we know who composed it!). While the JC choir sang it, I was making reference to TPJC's version, also conducted by Nelson, which I have on my computer, and which you can get at TPJC Choir's MP3.com site. (NB: This was one of the first MP3s I got. Recommended by Tim, naturally, for the sample of bad english - Nelson introducing the song, naturally! "Our first song...s (s sound added after a pause), yun2 fei1 tian1 bu2 dong4, Moving Cloud In A Still sky, is a Chinese art song which describes people's feelings ['feelings' said in a Hong Kong accent]. Though lovers [r in 'lovers' is rolled] are apart, but the *passion*, never dies ['never dies' said sleazily]. Like the boat that sails [said loftily] upon the shimmering water, it carries the love for the dear ones, far away. [polite claps from audience after prolonged pause]")

Surprisingly, Nelson managed to make the JC choir sing "Yun Fei Tian Bu Dong" even more sleazily than TPJC. I didn't really think sleazy singing was appropriate for the song, but we know his tendencies, so. :)

Again, a lot of people were afflicted by Parkinson's Disease. When the lively song, "Mein Kleiner Gruner Kaktus" (My little green cactus) by the Comedian Harmonists, was being performed, a good portion of the JC hoir started jerking uncontrollably, like they were afflicted by fits or something. I do hope they get treatment soon, before the fits spread throughout their whole body.

The final song, Evenin' Time, a Jamaican Folksong, was by the Festival Choir, conducted by the person they'd shipped in from the USA - Professor Jing Ling-Tam (who looks rather like a bargirl in the program), and arranged by her too. At the start of the song, and during the musical interlude, she upstaged the drummer by going and banging the drums herself - how ignominous!

After the final item, all the conductors appeared. Uncharacteristically, Jennifer Tham was in a business pant suit.

After the conductors'd all run away, the Festival choir did an impromptu encore - of Ba Jun Zan, naturally, arranged by the Professor herself. I didn't really like the arrangement, and the performance was made worse by the fact that the choir and the audience was clapping along, their enthusiasm led them to sing somewhat haphazardly, sounding like madmen towards the end and I couldn't hear any solo - which made the song essentially a chorus of supporting parts. After they'd finished that song, they were still very happy and so started singing another number, even as everyone was leaving the hall for fear of being stuck listening to an over-enthusiastic choir singing over-enthusiastically without any conductor.

Overall, it was rather funkier than the last SYF Choral Festival I went to, in 1998 or 2000, in terms of the selection of songs and the mixing of choristers from the different schools and dividing them into the Festival, Mixed, Boys', Girls' and JC choirs. Looks like they're moving with the times.

As always, the MC thanked everyone for making the concert a huge success. But then, what are the criteria defining the success of an event such as this? The audience was mostly made up of choir people, so the number of filled seats wouldn't be a very good gauge of success.

After the concert, I went backstage to wreak some havoc. Kelvin Chan was happy to see me - till I messed up his hair, that is. I was actually not going to do that, even though gelled hair tempts me so, screaming out at me, "Touch me! Ruffle me! Disorder me!". However, I saw, to my horror, that he'd spiked his hair a la ACJC posers, so I took appropriate steps. Then he complained that I'd bullied him again. But he's a lot less touchy about his hair now - last time, when he had his perfect, neat and combed coiffure (which probably took half a tub of hair gel each time - though he told me, when I asked, that he spent only $2 or $3 per month on his hair gel), anyone who touched it was subject to his Yell of Death. I do wonder how much money he's saved since late 1998 or early 1999 when he proclaimed that he wouldn't style his hair unless a special occasion was coming up. I hope he hasn't reneged on his promise and spikes his hair in school now!

After some searching, I found Nelson, and as usual, there was a long line of vassals waiting to consult with their liege. I did manage to get in a word at the end, and he asked me to "keep the emails coming". How heart warming :) He's finally hired a maid, so "doing house chore" is no longer the best way to lose weight, and he's gaining too. He seemed quite happy that his lightest weight was lower than mine (my post-BMT one that is), but complained that he'd gained 4 kg to 88. Maybe he's going to catch up with me!

I also saw my choir seniors hanging around, the batch of 1996. Even now, they are a close knit lot, and I saw the usual faces - Chun Leck, Zisheng, Jiahao (not the fat one but the tall one), Junbin, who has now upped his funkiness quotient by growing even longer hair and colouring it mostly blonde, though on first glance, his chin stud is gone, and friends. Ugh, I can't remember some of their names! Sob.

Geraldine's swapped uniforms with Adela, so their sweat got to mingle and mix. I've never actually gotten the chance to swap uniforms actually. I wonder who has my size :) The former was also wearing purple hot socks! I'm utterly shocked, dismayed, disgusted, revulsed and revolted! Perhaps as retribution for that sin, she's now breaking out in pimples!

Going home, I put my beret on Yechao's head. He liked it so much, he refused to let go, so I was forced to activate my long disused, much dreaded OBEDIENCE COLLAR to get it back, together with some wrestling and drop kicks. Gah.


Tong tells me that she saw Mr Jamie Reeves at Rawa Island. Haha! Ah all these lucky girls get to travel before their Uni term starts.

I just think that "Contrapunto Bestiale Alla Mente" is such a cute song. And the one by Collegium Vocale Koln is especially cute.

And some digging reveals an excellent article:

Italian Renaissance Humour

Interestingly enough, it also touches on Matona Mia.

Ah, thank god for Wu Jie, introducing us to the world of classical choral music! With all the famous works, including opera choruses, pieces of sacred music and other works for which terms for don't readily come to mind at this hour, fatigued as I am by IPPT and UC.


Words of wisdom from Tong: "anyway, u shldn think so poorly of ur own company that u can't do stuff alone." Mmm.