Ich bin ein Berliner

OK, so I'm not really from Berlin... nor am I really a jelly donut, the way JFK is reputedly to have proclaimed himself to be.  For years I have been cracking a stupid joke by telling people that this is the only complete sentence of German that I can speak... thanks to the attention and controversy about the grammatical accuracy of JFK's speech back in 1963.

Anyway.  I had a rare dose of culture tonight thanks to the parental units.  They had received tickets to a concert tonight by the Berliner Philharmoniker, and thought a little classical music would do me some good.  After my 6-hour ordeal earlier today, dad and I rushed over to the National Concert Hall and made it just in time for the event.

We had extremely good seats - front row center circle.  We had a bird's eye view of the stage, and there was nothing to complain about in terms of acoustics.  The concert was being simulcast to 2 other venues in Taiwan, and was also being recorded for a future DVD or as a concert in Digital Concert Hall - Berliner Philharmoniker's online concert library.

Kylie Aphrodite

I've been listening to the music of Kylie Minogue on and off for more than 20 years.  Ever since hearing her first single The Loco-Motion as a Freshman in college, to Especially For You - the duet with Jason Donovan... and the dark but intriguing duet Where the Wild Roses Grow with Nick Cave.  So after years of being somewhat of a fan, I finally got to see her in concert tonight.

Nelken

It was three years ago that I was first introduced to the works of Pina Bausch, the iconic Artistic Director of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.  I really enjoyed the performance of Vollmond at the 2008 Hong Kong Arts Festival, and I'd been looking forward to another chance to catch more of the same.

Kiss Them For Me

My iPhone was on shuffle mode today when it started playing Kiss Them For Me by Siouxsie and the Banshees.  For some reason this triggered a flood of memories from almost 20 years ago.

In the summer of 1991, my roommate Eric and I went to see the very first Lollapalooza on tour.  We were both into a good number of bands on the tour, such as Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction and of course Siouxsie.

I remember Siouxsie and the Banshees got on stage during late afternoon, after most of us have spent a good part of the day at the venue.  We've all spent a pretty penny or two on bottled water to rehydrate ourselves, and there were plenty of empty plastic bottles around.  For some reason, people near the front of the stage started throwing empty bottles up in the air as Siouxsie was singing this song.  There were literally hundreds of bottles flying around, with people catching them and tossing them back up.  From a distance it looked really interesting, like a swarm of insects buzzing around.  For some reason this image has been branded in my memory since then.



Remembrance of things past...

Chinese Ghost Story meets French pop music

Part of the goodies I brought back with me from France when I returned a week ago was a stack of DVDs I bought at the Virgin Megastore on Champs-Élysées.  It hasn't been easy to find music and concert videos of my favorite French pop singer - Mylène Farmer - outside of France.  I decided it was time for me to just go and grab everything I didn't already own...

Mid-way through the series of music videos I came across one that caught my attention.  L'Âme-stram-gram is a song I've listened to numerous times, and here I was watching the video for the first time, surprised by the image of Mylène dressing up in what looked like Chinese period costume, running around a set that resembled the great wall.  Later on in the video, Mylène's character and her twin were flying around and extending their long, snake-like (or lizard-like) tongues...

My first thought was that this was a reference to the Legend of the White Snake (白蛇傳), but once I watched the "making of" clip entitled "Les 5 Jours de Pekin" I realized how far off I was.  The music video was actually directed by Ching Siu Tong (程小東), the director behind A Chinese Ghost Story (倩女幽魂).  In the back of my mind, I had kinda known that the movie was somewhat popular in the West, but this was anecdotal evidence of how far the influence has reached.  To have a major French pop star seek out a Chinese director to work on her video... that doesn't happen every day.

By the way, I love Mylène... just in case it's not clear.  She's one of my favorite performers.

The culturally insensitive American and the new Middle East

I finally got around to watching Sex and the City 2 this past weekend.  I have no issues with admitting that for years, I was an ardent fan of the TV series.  I liked the fashion, although sometimes it got to be a little too much.  I thought it was great that women could get past 30, be single and independent. 

While I found the movie to be very entertaining, this time Samantha really got on my nerves.  For years I'd been a big supporter of this successful career woman who doesn't take no for an answer and flies in the face of convention.  Not this time.

Samantha was the stereotype of the culturally insensitive American.  Loud and brash, they walk around the world expecting everyone else to speak English, mainly because it's the only language that they themselves are able to speak.  They don't bother to study the local customs or language, and feel that they can do as they please anywhere.  While I haven't met many of these people in real life, especially in recent years as I tend not to move in those circles, anecdotal evidence suggests that they do exist.

I may not speak the language of every country I visit, but I take pride in the homework I do on the customs and culture of the people of those nations.  I dress modestly when I visit temples around the world.  I take care to point the soles of my feet away from people in Thailand, and I don't pat children on the head.  I don't extend my left hand to greet others while in Muslim countries, and PDA is the furthest on my mind.

I'm not sure what kind of message the writers were trying to send the audience.  For me, I always knew that while the Middle East has "modernized" over the last few years at a breakneck pace, it doesn't mean that the people have thrown away their culture or morals.  So while Samantha may scream "The new Middle East, my ass!" I would attribute her mistake as a combination of arrogance and naïveté.

One should always be aware of the legal and moral boundaries wherever one goes, and cross them at one's peril.  I have zero sympathy for people who cross the line, plead innocence, then decry the local laws as being "barbaric" and "outdated".  I always thought Michael Fay deserved the caning he got, and that Bill Clinton was wrong to plead for mercy.  Same with drug traffickers who got caught and were hung in Malaysia.

I hope that while the audience got a few good laughs at Samantha's antics, it also served to remind them how not to behave.  It really doesn't pay to act insensitively in foreign countries, as it could only ruin what would otherwise be a pleasant experience.  Next time you're in a country like France, instead of hollering in English, try a couple words of your broken French.  My guess is that you'll find a much warmer reception than you were expecting...

Mad World

The resident Froggie invited me to join her for a concert tonight.  Tears for Fears were in Hong Kong for the first time, and I thought it'd be good to listen to some of my old favorites live.

As I left the office this evening, I mentioned to my new colleague that I was going to see a concert.  I hesitated about telling her the name of the band, since she was born just a few months before "Shout" was released as a single... I was pretty damn sure that she'd never heard of these guys, and I was right!  Yes, I feel old...

After being on foot in the standing section in front of the stage for more than 45 minutes, the hall went dark and a choir recording of "Mad World" started playing.  When they turned on the lights, I could see Curt singing while Roland played the guitar.  The first thought that came to mind was how old these guys looked... I of course still remember how fresh these guys looked back in 1984, but that was more than 25 years ago... These guys are pushing 50, and then I remembered how old that made me...

The follow up was "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", which got the crowd going early.  They band mixed up the set and played some of the songs I didn't know so well, and the crowd calmed down a little.  A second, more "original" rendition of "Mad World" came and was an instant crowd-pleaser.  One of the surprises of the evening was a low-key cover of "Billie Jean", which we liked a lot.

The band left the stage at the end of the regular set, and the crowd started chanting the chorus to "Shout" as we waited for the encore.  I've never been to a concert where the crowd used lyrics from a particular song was the chant for the encore...  As the band returned to the stage a couple of minutes later, Roland stood in front of the mic and said "Enough!"  Was he cringing at the way we mangled their song, and just wanted us to stop?

I had long given up hope of hearing my favorite Tears for Fears song, which unlike many people isn't "Shout" but "Woman in Chains".  Oleta Adams wasn't here, and I didn't see any female backup singers on stage.  Michael Wainwright to the rescue... I didn't think much of his singing when he was on stage before the main show started, but for this song he sang in falsetto, and the result was pretty impressive.  If I closed my eyes I could almost believe a woman was singing...



The final song of the concert was, you guessed it..."Shout".  The guys almost didn't have to sing any of the chorus, since the whole crowd was chanting it.  It was a pretty good way to end the show, and for the first time during the concert I didn't mind having the crowd around me sing along with the song and drowning out the vocals of the band...

On Silver Wings

I love this song. I first heard it years ago while watching the Japanese drama Beautiful Life 〜ふたりでいた日々〜, where they used this during the opening credits. It's so pleasant and soothing - the female vocals are just soooo alluring... Like a siren song, or a lover beckoning you with the promise of a warm embrace, wrapping you up comfortably like a warm blanket.

I heard it over the radio a couple of days ago, and finally decided to look for it.  It's called On Silver Wings and is composed by Steve Spiro and Paul Wickens, and recorded on the CD Glorious World.

On Silver Wings (a)

MP3 search on RAPID4ME.com

A diva comes to town

I went to the Sarah Brightman concert tonight. She has an amazing voice and I finally had a chance to see her live, which was pretty exciting. There's a clear difference between the average age of this concert and that of, say, Hamasaki Ayumi. Lots of middle-aged people and old folks, and even our very own Bowtie Tsang was in attendance.

The concert started with the band playing Lisa Gerrard's "Sanvean" - one of my all-time favorite songs. Sarah didn't perform vocals on this song, but simply made her entrance during the latter half. The band then launched into the energetic intro of "Fleurs du Mal", followed by a few more songs from the album "Symphony".

The first half of the concert closed out with "Attesa", my favorite song from the album "Symphony". An adaptation of the Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni's opera "Cavalleria rusticana", it's a piece I've always loved. Sarah performed the song while sitting on a swing in mid-air, while red confetti slowly fell from the ceiling. She also had a massive train to her skirt, one that hung all the way back down to the stage...

After a brief intermission, Sarah came out with "You Take My Breath Away" from the album "Harem", followed by a few other songs from the same album as well as "Luna". This half of the concert ended, of course, with "Time to Say Goodbye". Alessandro Safina toured with Sarah and sang the male vocals on a few of the songs, including the part of the Phantom. I was hoping that Christine wouldn't make an appearance, but Sarah was playing to the crowd and I'll bet that over half the people came to hear this particular number...

The encore started with "Deliver Me" and ended the way I thought it would. She is in Hong Kong and of course she would end with "You and Me", the theme song to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This won the approval of the crowd, and everyone was satisfied.

What impressed me most was the setup of the stage. Sarah's many costume changes were designed to work with the animation for each song, projected downward from the top and reflected onto giant glass panels angled at roughly 45 degrees. I thought the intermix of projection and live performers creating a complete picture together was really innovative.

I was really happy to have been able to see Sarah live for the first time, to hear her beautiful voice not through a recording but in a concert hall. I hope I'll get to see her again.

Memories of Central Asia

I woke up in the middle of the night today, having fallen asleep on my couch out of fatigue. As my eyes began to focus, the first images that I saw on the TV looked really familiar. Suddenly it hits me: it's one of the medressas in Bukhara!

A quick check tells me that the movie is The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam. So it's a movie about the famous Persian poet/mathematician/astronomer. I had come across Omar Khayyam while researching for my Central Asia trip earlier this year, but this was in his capacity as a poet and author of the Rubaiyat. Later while touring the Ulugbek Observatory in Samarkand, there were displays of Omar Khayyam's portraits as well as copies of his work in astronomy and mathematics.

 

The movie was obviously an embellished account of the life of Omar Khayyam as well as the popular story linking Omar Khayyam with Hassan-i-Sabah, the founder of the original band of assasins - the Hashshashin. The plot is moderately entertaining. But whatever the reality behind the story, it's a movie which talks about a few key figures during the Persian/Seljukid era. Morever it is shot mostly in Bukhara and Samarkand, two of the most beautiful cities in Uzbekistan.

Now that it's been 6 months since my trip, it's pretty exciting to see footage of the Registan Square - the Ulugbek Medressa and especially the glittering Tilla-Kari Medressa - as well as Bibi Khanym Mosque, Kalon Mosque and its minaret, the Ark in Bukhara...

So who cares if all of the backdrop was built some 4-5 centuries after the time of Omar Khayyam, and also some 1-2,000 km away from where he would have been? I suppose it would be much more difficult to film this in Esfahan in Iran, compared to the tourist-friendly Uzbekistan... For people who have never been to this part of the world, the movie gives a glimpse of the beautiful Islamic architecture - located in two cities which are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

As for me, all the images evoke wonderful memories from earlier in the year, and remind me that all the hardship endured on the trip were well worth it. I have seen these sites with my own eyes, and hopefully the memories will stay with me for a very long time.

Songs that keep running in my head

Over the last couple of days, several songs keep popping into my head from Imogen Heap, also known as the voice behind Frou Frou. The names may not sound familiar to you, but these songs have shown up in a few popular movies which you may have caught:

"Let Go" in Garden State
"Holding Out for a Hero" in Shrek 2
"Just for Now" in The Holiday - which is on "repeat" in my head so here's a video I found on YouTube - not the official video but made of footage from the movie.

 

 I also really like "Breathe In", but I'm unable to embed the video so here's the link to it on YouTube.

The scary future?

HBO was showing Gattaca, one of my favorite movies of all time. Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman co-starred in this movie, and would go on to marry each other afterwards. As I sat watching the start of the movie, I am reminded of two recent conversations with friends. Putting the two together gives a slightly scary picture for the future.

I was told by a friend that her son has survived his first school interviews, and has been accepted into two nurseries. The kid is 19 months old. Now what's wrong with this picture?

In a crowded city like Hong Kong (the same is true for New York), competition to get into the best schools is fierce, which produces schools that are really stuck-up and snobby. Apparently, my friend's son went through a grilling session, and was peppered with a series of questions. He's a 19-month old kid, for heaven's sake... He's barely started to talk, and he's already being interrogated?! I was joking with my friend that her son will have no problem getting jobs in the future, coz he's been interviewing since before he was 2!

As I discuss this issue with other friends whose kids are now of schooling age, we shake our heads in disbelief. Most of us did go to very good schools in our time, and for me this started early. I went to a prestigious kindergarten in Singapore, the best elementary school in Taipei, the best international school in Tokyo, and a top-20 US university. But I certainly don't remember having to interview for the kindergarten and elementary schools, never mind the thought of being grilled before age 2...

Is getting into the right nursery or kindergarten that important? Are the futures of kids today determined as early as during their nursery years?

Gattaca offers one version of the future, where one can genetically engineer children so give them the best possible future. Those who are not engineered are born with "faults" and are deemed less desirable by society, and are relegated to menial jobs such as janitors. Society practices genetic discrimination and is divided into two classes, where the "Invalid" class becomes like the Dalits or "untouchables" in India's caste system.

As competition becomes fierce in the future, I can easily imagine a day when would-be parents resort to genetically engineering their children to ensure that they get into the best schools, are offered the best jobs...etc. What a sad society that would be, where nothing is left to chance and everything is pre-determined.

I hope I don't live to see that day.

Misia Live

Tonight I went to see the first concert in Hong Kong by Misia - the Japanese artist, not the Portuguese Fado singer. One of my friends couldn't go and I ended up with his tickets, sitting in the center section, 6th row. Pretty good seats...

I've always liked Misia, and I was always impressed with her voice and vocal range. I haven't followed her career lately, so it was interesting to see if her style has changed over time.

I think Misia generally has three types of songs in her repertoire - the slow love ballads, which is her trademark and loved by her fans; then there are songs with slightly faster beat, making them a little easier to dance to; finally there are the energetic, pure discotheque songs.

Since the tour is called "Discotheque Asia", she started with some of those energetic numbers, and made good use of pyrotechnics. Towards the end of the show, lasers were used to get the crowd going.

However, I must say that these aren't the best songs for a live show. The loud, kicking bass do a good job of drowning out Misia's voice, which is a real shame.

I do love Misia's love ballads, especially "Everything", one of the early songs that made her famous. I'm really happy that she performed a great rendition tonight.

Overall, it was a pretty good show that lasted 2 hours. I'm hoping that Misia will return to Hong Kong soon.

Ayu live in Hong Kong

I went to see Hamasaki Ayumi (浜崎あゆみ) live in concert today. 2008 marks the 10th year of her career, and rumor had it that she would put on a really good show. I, for one, did not come away disappointed. To use the cliche that she is the "Asian Madonna" is really not far from the truth.

I had gotten my act together rather late, so had to pay "secondary market" pricing for good seats, which were on the floor, reasonably close to the stage and alongside the extended catwalk. This would prove to be strategically advantageous during the show, as Ayu would perform near our seats from time to time. 

She started things with a bang, with stage pyrotechnics during the first song. There were many, many costume changes - about once every two songs - and every costume screamed bling. Silver knee-high boots, gold over-the-knee boots, red-and-black sequined corset, ball gown studded with crystals... so many I lost count. Then there was the Swarovski crystal-studded microphone.

The stage set was equally stunning. The long catwalk extending from the stage enabled her to better reach the audience for more interaction. The ability to drop down below the stage and come back up near the end of the catwalk also created sensational effect.  For the performance of "Marionette", a carousel rose from the end of the catwalk and spun around while Ayu and the dancers stood in the middle. During the performance of the last song prior to the encore, Captain Ayu stood in the crow's nest of her flying galleon riding atop the clouds (yes, I know it was only dry ice...) Clearly no expense was spared in this department.

It was a real entertaining show. With each costume change, we were treated to a video telling us a story. The story onscreen would be interrupted when Ayu and the dancers - in the same costumes as shown in the video - appear on stage for the performance of the song. This would have the end result of lengthening the show time and keeping the audience's attention while custome changes were made. There was even some element from Cirque du Soleil incorporated into the performance of one song, with three costumed acrobats climbing up and spinning down on long, sweeping ribbon-like cloth.

The regular show took about an hour and a half. Ayu and the team changed into T-shirt and jeans, came out on stage and we were treated to an encore of "Dearest" and "Voyage", which she said were two of her favorites. I thought that would be it, but what followed turned out to be really entertaining and cool. 

At the start of what would be a very interactive session, the guitarist asked Ayu to sing a song "unplugged" - without any music. He chose "Who..." because Ayu has only sung it once during the last few months of touring, and he wanted to hear it. Next Ayu picked out Jin from among the dancers, and he proceeded to teach the audience part of the dance routine from one of the songs. The interesting part, of course, was that Jin instructed the audience in Mandarin. He obviously put a lot of practice into his Mandarin, because it was actually pretty good. When they thought the audience had got the routine down, Ayu and the team performed the final song of the evening, and the audience was able to follow the team through the dance moves. That was pretty cool.

The show had gone past two hours by the time we were done, and I must say that it was a spectacular show. I had no regrets overpaying for the seats. The only regret is that I wasn't table to get my camera into the show - there was a strict bag check, and even people trying to take pictures with their mobile phones were reprimanded. But no matter. I think I would be able to remember this show for some time...

Directionless Nomad

My recent trip to Central Asia has piqued my interest in the history and culture of the region, given its historical significance as the crossroads between East and West. While reading a copy of the Tengri, Air Astana's inflight magazine, I came upon an article on the pretty Kazakh singer Dilnaz Akhmadiyeva. Intrigued, I bought two of her CDs in Almaty before I left. The same article also mentioned that Dilnaz had a small part in the movie Nomad.  I vaguely remember reading about this movie, so I went to Amazon and, after reading the reviews telling me that it's worth a try, spent $10.99 plus shipping for the movie.

I finally sat down today and watched the movie. While the cinematography was stunning for the most part, and the musical score just as nice, the movie as a whole was a real dud. Nevermind that the movie was funded by the Kazakh government as an expensive PR movie ...or that the first director walked out and the film had to be finished by a second director ...or that the movie was filmed in both English and Kazakh, but neither in its entirety so that no matter which version you watched, parts of it were poorly dubbed ...or that the three main characters were portrayed by a German-looking Mexican (Kuno Becker), a Mexican-American (Jay Hernandez), and a Hawaiian/Chinese-American (Jason Scott Lee), with only the latter possessing Kazakh-looking features. I was turned off within the first 60 seconds of the movie, during the first narrative by Oraz (Jason Scott Lee's character). Oraz tells the story of the Kazakh people - who are descendents of Genghis Khan - who have seen their land invaded by foreign tribes such as the Jungars. Whoa! Stop right there! Say that again?!

First of all the Kazakh people, who are really a breakaway branch of the Uzbeks, are descendents of Turkic tribes from the region as well as the descendents of Genghis Khan's invading Mongol army, who swept into Central Asia and basically sacked every major city. While it is true that the later Kazakh and Uzbek khans could claim lineage back to Genghis Khan and his second son Chaghatai, I'm not sure that we can say the same about the majority of Kazakhs.

What of the invading Jungar bad guys? Guess what? They are otherwise known as the Oyrats, another Mongol clan. So this whole thing is about one Mongol clan invading another, as they share the same tribal ancestors. The only difference I can see is that the Kazakhs and Uzbeks converted to Islam while the Jungars adopted Tibetan Buddhism, and the war may be more along religious lines than ethnic.

Towards the end of the movie, the protagonist led the brave Kazakh people - guarding the fortress of Turkistan with traditional weapons - against the evil Jungars who had enlisted the help of their Russian buddies and their canons. Wrong again! History tells us that it was the Kazakhs who accepted Russian protection against the Jungars, before the Jungars were defeated by Qing Dynasty China.

I realize that the movie is adapted from Ilyas Ysenberlin's celebrated novel Nomads, and that it's only a fictional account of the life of Abylay Khan. But the inaccurate historical references, coming on top of bad acting, bad directing, bad dubbing...etc was just too much for me. It's no wonder that the movie got 14 rotten out of 15 at Rotten Tomatoes.

I guess the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev really wanted to polish up the country's image after all the hubbub stirred up by Borat...

Silk Road III Day 11: Charyn Canyon

Another early morning. Today's destination is Charyn Canyon, east of Almaty and about 3-4 hours by car. Having showered the night before, I get up to wash my hair. No hot water. @#$%&*!! This is a hotel that charges USD 200 a night, and NO HOT WATER?! The last time I stayed in a hotel without hot water, I was on a remote island in Indonesia and I paid USD 20! It's a good thing we argued with the travel agent, and made him swallow the USD 140 difference he wanted to charge us for booking the stupid Hotel Eurasia (instead of Kazzhol Hotel as we originally wanted).

We set off on the road. Almaty is actually quite a beautiful city. As we first leave the city limits, the view back towards the city was pretty stunning. You have green fields (or yellow wheat fields) in the foreground, and luscious, rolling green hills beyond, and finally you see tall, snow-capped jagged peaks in the background. With the Alatau Mountains - part of the Central Tian Shan Mountains - south of the city, you can see snow on some of the peaks even in the summer.

After about 3 hours, we reach the access checkpoint. The driver gets out and greets the guard, who sits inside a standard cargo container that is now his post. From here on it's gravelly terrain, and we crawl at the pace of 20km/h for another half-hour. We finally reach the edge of the canyon.

It's a very pretty sight. No, it does not compare to the Grand Canyon. But it doesn't matter, it's still pretty enough. After snapping a few shots on the edges, we carefully descend down to the canyon floor, and begin our long walk northeast. In this direction, we are actually descending in terms of altitude, and this makes the walk a bit easier.

I constantly pause and snap pictures in all directions, loving the bright, royal blue sky that contrasts so well with the red rocks. For the most part, the sky was pure blue - no clouds at all in the sky. This section is aptly named the Valley of Castles, as there are indeed a number of formations which resemble remnants of castles built on ledges.

After a while we reached the end of our trek and come to the present Charyn River. Since I was wearing my swimming trunks, I was determined to dip into the river for a bit of refreshment. As I was just getting my feet wet, I realized that the water of the river was actually freezing cold! I couldn't stand having my toes in the water for more than 30 seconds, and quickly step back out onto the banks. After a bit more thought, I decided to step back into the river, eventually wading so that the water was halfway up my thigh and just getting the bottom of my trunks wet. I discovered that I could dig my toes into the warm sand at the bottom of the river. This was actually very nice, and I was able to treat my feet (and toes) to a nice sauna session. The water was flowing along the river at a very fast pace, and judging by the temperature, this must be the melted snow that has come down from the peaks of the Alatau Mountains.

Now for the tough task of walking back (and climbing up)! We actually trek back past our original point of descent, so that we reach a path up the cliff with railings that we can grab onto while climbing. By the time we reached our van - and totally out of breath at this point - we had ascended around 250m in altitude starting from the banks of the Charyn River.

We stop at the Chilik village for lunch. We down bottles of Russian and Kazakh beer for refreshment, and chow on laghman that is Uygur-style and very similar to the ones I have had in Xinjiang. Keeping in mind that the Charyn Canyon is less than 100km from the border with China, this would seem to make sense. The noodles here are handmade (拉麵) and chewy, while chilli powder has been added to the topping to make it spicy. We also enjoy mutton and onion served on a hot plate, again with chilli powder sprinkled on top.

We return to the hotel late in the afternoon. After a brief rest, we decide to venture out and see the city. At the suggestion of Lonely Planet as well as the Air Astana inflight magazine, we head to Coffeedelia on Qabanbay Batyr (intersection with Furmanov). This is clearly THE place to come for coffee in Almaty - a trendy setting with a large outdoor section where youngsters come to see and be seen. We found a staff who spoke pretty good English and helped us with our order, and the desserts here are definitely delish. I had an excellent key lime pie. However, we never hooked up to the free WiFi connection that was mentioned in guidebooks.

Enough of looking at cute girls and passersby. It was time for dinner. We head to Zheti Qazyna, another venue mentioned in LP. This was a very impressive establishment. In fact it is three separate restaurants - with a European fine dining section (plush velvet chairs and all), a Chinese-Japanese section in an open courtyard, and a section for Central Asian cuisine. You can order items from all three parts and mix it up.

Determined to give wine another try, I order another bottle of Georgian red. This time I asked the waiter to show me a bottle that is fermented dry, and we chose a bottle of 2004 Teliani Valley Teliani. This is actually 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, and even though the wine is a bit on the young side, it was a reasonable bottle of wine that was accepted by international palates like ours. And the price of USD 70 seemed a bit more reasonable.

Speaking of wine, the restaurant actually had a pretty impressive wine list. Aside from the usual suspects of Champagne, Bordeaux, Opus One...etc, I saw several vintages of Sassicaia as well as some Brunellos and Barolos. The two most expensive listings were the 1988 Petrus and the 1994 Petrus, with the latter going for USD 6,000. Given the London bonded broking price of GBP 650 per bottle, I thought that the restaurant price was quite reasonable given its rather remote location. The price of the '88 was an even more reasonable USD 4,000 or so, given that it costs GBP 700+ lying in bond.

We order up a storm here. A plate of mixed meats serves us beef, horse meat, horse meat sausage and mutton. Bowls of beef brisket in clear broth with noodles - Chinese 清湯牛腩麵 with dill sprinkled on top? Pretty yummy. A bowl of beef ravioli/dumplings in tomato-based soup was also popular. Then we had the most delicious besbarmak, and two orders of very, very yummy lamb chops grilled with spices and garlic. Wow!

I was determined to buy some CDs of local musicians on our last night in Almaty, so we walk through the Zhibek Zholy pedestrian street and find ourselves in Meloman - a bookstore/cafe/CD/movies/electronics boutique. I found a couple of CDs from Dilnaz Akhmadiyeva, a pretty and famous female singer profiled in the Air Astana inflight magazine. I also pick up a couple of other gems, and I am satisfied.

We hop into a taxi and head back to the hotel to crash. Still having problems with hot water. And the bathroom stinks of you-know-what. Four-star hotel my ass...

Andrea Bocelli in Taichung

Yesterday I travelled to Taichung to attend Andrea Bocelli Live in Taichung. This was one of three stops on the tenor’s Asian tour, and the only one in the Greater China region. After a negotiation process reported to have been as long as two years, Bocelli finally agreed to make his first trip to Taiwan. Kudos to Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) for the achievement.

It was a star-studded evening of sorts, where lots of local celebrities and politicos made the pilgrimage to the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium. President-elect Ying-jeou Ma and wife entered the stadium to a round of applause, accompanied by Jason Hu and other KMT heavyweights.

I was lucky to have secured seats on the floor, 4 rows behind the VIP section and directly behind the sound engineers. In terms of acoustics I don’t think I could have done better. However we did sit behind a couple of camera scaffolds, so we didn’t have a good view of Bocelli and the conductor. But never mind, in a venue like this there is no choice but to look at the screens – you are just too far away from the performers.

The night was perfect for an outdoor concert, although the acoustics of an open-air stadium left a bit too much echo for my liking. The conductor, Marcello Rota, took his position and started the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra on the first piece. The first few notes sounded, and it was…the National Anthem...?! This took us by surprise and we slowly rose to our feet. It has been 8 years since the National Anthem was heard at events like this, and it was an emotional moment for KMT supporters inside the stadium. My parents and uncle were certainly ecstatic, as this was but another reminder that the days of DPP running the country were coming to an end.

The first half of the program focused on Italian opera, with solos and duets in turn by Bocelli, soprano Maria Luigia Borsi and baritone Gianfranco Montresor as well as performance by the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus. Quite frankly I was a bit disappointed in this part of the performance. Borsi gave a terrible performance of O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi, and I felt Bocelli’s performance during Brindisi from La Traviata was a little off in terms of tempo. His rendition of E lucevan le stelle from Tosca was interesting, showing the softer side of the character rather than continuing to hit the high notes with full force like Pavarotti. Or did he simply not have what it took to hit those notes with power?

The second half of the program was a bit more modern, including Italian classics such as O sole mio, which Bocelli sung with Borsi. I always felt that the real magic of Andrea Bocelli was his delivery of modern classics, and not his operatic work. The highlight came during the last song of the regular program, when Heather Headley sang a duet of Canto della terra. This was a great show of Bocelli’s powerful vocals at its best, coupled with the angelic voice of Headley. She was way, way better than Borsi in my opinion. The song itself, composed by the same team behind Con te partiro, is another masterpiece.

There were five encore performances, including The Prayer, another duet with the wonderful Heather Headley. I just couldn't get enough of Heather, and I wished she had a bigger role in the concert. The third encore was his international hit Con Te Partiro, which, fittingly, is usually his last encore song to close out the concerts. Here he invited Borsi on stage, but she only played backup and did not have a duet role like the original version with Sarah Brightman.



Bocelli finally closed the event with Nessun Dorma from Turandot. Now, EVERYONE knows this song, so this brought the crowd to their feet. Everyone left the concert with a feeling of elation after these two crowd favorites.

I was still a little disappointed, as I had hoped the concert would be more contemporary. But Bocelli's voice has no doubt wowed everyone, and I'm happy I was here.

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music was on one of the movie channels today, and watching it brought back many, many memories. It is clear why this has been so many people's favorite movie - all the melodies are amazing. I was especially moved by the scene where the Von Trapp children sang to welcome Baroness Schraeder, as the sound of music melted the heart of Captain Von Trapp which has been frozen ever since his late wife's passing.

Vollmond

Today I finally attended the highly anticipated performance of Vollmond, the production from Tanztheater Wuppertal choreographed by Pina Bausch. The production is part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival and tickets were extremely hard to come by (I have a few very jealous colleagues...), so I am especially glad that Quintessentially came through for me.

I am a novice when it comes to dance or dance theater - I can count with one hand the performances I've seen. But I really liked what I saw today.

The running theme (no pun intended) throughout the performance was water. It was everywhere - raining down from the ceiling, being poured from bottles, spat from the dancers' mouths, gathered in the stream on stage, and being splashed about by the bucketful... It was like no other performance I have ever seen.

The whole piece talks about the relationship between the sexes. The title says "full moon", so what exactly happens during a full moon? A bit of madness perhaps? Things get out of control? There was certainly a bit of that on stage.

Something struck me about the different moves of the male and female dancers. For a large number of the male solos, the accompanying music was edgy, quick-paced, with lots of distortions. Corresponding to the music, the male dancers' movements seemed to consist of lots of frantic twitches (as if in epileptic fits), self-scratching, neurotic repetition...etc. Not exactly beautiful and elegant, or even dignified. The mood was one of confusion, frustration, angst...

For the women, most work through the production in beautiful evening dresses. Quite a few have long, flowing hair which add a lot to the movements. Naturally their movements are less frantic but much more elegant in their fluidity. The smooth, flowing movement of the hands of some of the dancers were quite pleasing. And the long hair...ah! the hair! How the hair swings through the air with a sharp flick of the neck! And in the latter part of the production, when one of the dancers purposely dips her long, flowing locks into the stream, and flips them about, what beautiful splashes are made when the water droplets sped away from her hair...

Of course, the women aren't without their neurotic moments: the girl who keeps planting kisses in quick succession on the lips of her male counterpart, driving him backwards across the stage; the woman bathing her arms and neck in lemon juice, holding a knife in her hand while recounting her agony in waiting for, and later crying about, her man...

And then there was the part when the dancers "swam" along the stream on stage. A female dancer is doing her solo, and out of the corner of our eyes, we notice that a male dancer, dressed in his dark costume, appears face down in the stream. We barely make out his silhouette in the dim rear portion of the stage. He slowly makes his move to the right end of the stage. Another male dancer appears, swimming behind the first one. And another, until we have four swimmers in the stream. Later it would be the female dancers' turn. But interestingly, the stage is well-lit by now, hence the women in the stream are clearly visible to the audience. Why the different treatment?

Clearly there are many elements in the production that are used to represent the agony and suffering we experience in a romantic relationship. At one point, a female dancer races quickly across the stage, only to be repeatedly dragged back by her male counterpart. She cannot seem to escape from him. Each time, just as she seems to have broken free and reached the edge of the stage, he gets the better of her. The process is repeated and ends in tragedy - eventually she is dragged into the water and pushed down, kickin and screaming as she splashes water about, helpless about the fact that she is going nowhere. Finally she gives up - all movements cease, and she lies, face down, silently in the stream. 

Am I painting too grim a picture of the production? There are light-hearted moments, for sure, and happy music to lift up the mood. But over all the tone is dark. And the finale is an orgy of frantic, erratic deterioration into a giant confusion - all 12 dancers are on stage, running around and splashing water about like a school of mental patients - while the music enhances the mood. Quite a scene to behold.

I must say that this production is very thought-provoking. I can see why Pina Bausch is seen as such a pioneer and visionary, and why people clamor for tickets whenever one of her production is staged. Time for me to do a bit more homework, and reflect on this performance...

An Introduction to Alvin Ailey

A couple of friends at work suggested that I check out the performances of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre while they were in town. It's been a while since I saw any dance performances, so I had Quintessentially pick up some tickets for me.

The cast was almost exclusively African American, with a few other minorities thrown in. I counted 2 female performers who were white.

The first part of the program, called the River, was interesting in that it was a fusion of classical ballet and modern dance. As with many fusion efforts, it didn't quite work for me, although there were highlights. Meander featured Alicia J. Graf with two male dancers, and she had the most beautiful form.

The second program was entitled the Golden Section, and featured dancers wearing bikini tops, shorts and sneakers all done in gold - very bling! This was very enjoyable as it was set to pop, energetic dance music.

 

 The last program was one of the troupe's best-known works, Revelations. It takes in elements of gospel music rooted deeply in the African American culture. The first part, I Been 'Buked, was exactly what I expected to see in this performance of modern dance. Wade in the Water was light and enjoyable, but the best segment was clearly Sinnerman, with the dancers displaying powerful moves. The final segment, Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham, is always a crowd favorite and draws calls of encore.

I really enjoyed the performance and will try to see more of these performances in the future.