Poparazzi

IT WAS brought to my attention this afternoon that the artiste line-up for next year’s Mosaic Music Festival is in. Well, kind of. They did say “more shows to be announced” at the end of the flyer, so I’m going with “at least 90 per cent of the shows are locked in”.

Addy Rasidi aka Addy Cradle, one of Singapore’s top guitarists, will feature on Roots Revival night

And this year’s line-up seems to be a great mix of who’s who and “sorry, who?” Seriously, from Christian McBride to Signal To Noise to Sheila de Niro (no relation to Robert… I think) to Kora. So many choices in one night, just who can you watch?

Personally, my faves to catch are The Go! Team, Dinosaur Jr and Kings Of Convenience from the international contingent, and The Karl Maka Project, Addy Rasidi and Fatskunks from Team Singapore.

But one show I think you all should catch is Andrew Chen’s first big gig back on these shores. I had the opportunity to perform with the bloke a couple of years ago as part of the band I was in called Melt. Back then, when I first met him I thought he was this young kid who just wanted to jam (well, he was just 17, you know what I mean?)

Andrew Chen (right) jamming with Melt and  some old fart in the background

Then I heard his music and realised what an old soul trapped in a young body he is. No, this is not some sci-fi story you’ll find in periodicals like Analog: Science Fiction And Fact, but this guy knows his stuff. Even more so than some of the more established musicians in this country.

He’s got a great groove, can play guitar better than I can, and heck, he even knows how to write those musical towgay notes. He’s currently studying in Australia, which is probably why he’s listed under the “Australia” contingent.

Anyway, he recently released his debut album, You Just Might, a DIY effort that’s a lot more palatable than some other debuts I’ve had the opportunity to review. And he’ll be here to showcase his material. Definitely someone to watch for (and I’m predicting bigger and better things once he graduates and gets into this full-time).

Check out his stuff on http://andrewchenmusic.com

The Mosaic Music Festival happens from Mar 12 to 21 at The Esplanade. Find out more at www.mosaicmusicfestival.com

Tags: Addy Cradle, addy rasidi, Analog: Science Fiction And Fact, Andrew Chen, Christian McBride, Dinosaur Jr, Fatskunks, Kings Of Convenience, Kora, Melt, Mosaic Music Festival, Sheila De Niro, Signal To Noise, The Esplanade, The Go! Team, The Karl Maka Project, You Just Might

Tags: addy rasidi, Cannes, Carrie Underwood, Chow Yun Fat, Coco Lee, CSI, Dragonball Evolution, Electrico, Fun Asia, Fun Taiwan, Ion Orchard, Janet Hsieh, Jeanette Aw, Jolin Tsai, Little Nyonya, Qi Yuwu, S.H.E., Singapore, The Who, Tom Cruise, William Peterson

My colleague the Resident Art Throb (or RAT, as we like to call him), was talking about this year’s winners of the Young Artist Award (or YAA) on his blog (see http://blogs.todayonline.com/forartssake.), when he asked, “Hey why are there no pop musicians winning these awards?”

Should Electrico get the Cultural Medallion or Young Artist Award?

I laughed. Of course I did! Pop musicians? Winning the YAA? Are you out of your mind? You might as well ask why Electrico hasn’t been given the Cultural Medallion, I guffawed.

“Don’t you think they can hack it?” he persisted.

Of course they can! There are some who are even better than all those classical and jazz musicians who keep winning those awards, I retorted.

“So what’s the problem?” he queried.

I was dumbfounded. Hmm. That was a truism if ever there was one. Why aren’t pop-slash-indie-slash-alternative musicians winning these awards?

Take the Cultural Medallion (or CM – we like acronyms), that’s meant to “give recognition to individuals who have attained artistic excellence and have made a distinction to our nation’s arts and culture”, so says the National Arts Council’s website.

Recipients of this award will get the medallion, a lapel pin and a certificate, but more importantly, they’ll also be eligible for the CM Grant to “undertake an arts project”.

Dick Lee: Possibly the only pop musician to receive the Cultural Medallion

Now, the $80,000 grant is awarded only once in an artist’s lifetime, but a funding of up to a maximum of $200,000 will be allocated for collaborative projects involving two or more Cultural Medallion recipients.

Of course, there are criteria: The Candidate should be recognised for his/her artistic work and contribution to the artistic development of Singapore; Candidate should have attained artistic excellence; yadda yadda yadda. (You can read more at http://www.nac.gov.sg/awa/cm_nom_guidelines.asp.)

Or is the CM too much of a stretch? So far, the only “pop” muso to win the CM has been Dick Lee, and he only got that in 2005, after decades of writing songs about our culture, with many having the word “Singapore” in them.

So perhaps, we should look at the YAA then, which is awarded to those who have shown promise of artistic excellence and potential to make a distinction in our nation’s arts and culture. The recipient gets a trophy and a grant of up to $10,000 to undertake arts projects or studies. The criteria is pretty much the same.

Since she’s now an “indie” artiste, should Stefanie Sun get the Young Artist Award?

But who should get it? Off the top of my head, I’m thinking Addy Rasidi, Rosli Mansor, Stefanie Sun and Electrico as potential nominees. (I was going to say Taufik Batisah, but his F1 gaff with the national anthem might go against him, and the Observatory just miss out on the age requirement.)

They’ve all put Singapore on the music map, all have done Singapore proud overseas. Both Addy and Rosli are excellent musicians; Stefanie has sung several NDP songs; whilst Electrico wrote and sang the last NDP song.

So what’s wrong with pop musicians? Don’t they want to win something like this?

I posted that question on a couple of forums and the responses ranged from the dismissive (“We don’t need awards to validate our existence.”) to the plain greedy (“aiyah, $10K only, so little”).

Simply Divine: Addy Rasidi’s (right) cross-cultural musical experience

Okay, awards don’t often equate to artistic merit, but they’re still good to have in your resume. Just ask Grammy Best New Artist winners Christina Aguilera, Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, John Legend, Maroon 5 and Carrie Underwood.

But then again, maybe it’s just that local pop musicians, like many Singaporeans, are afraid to get nominated just in case they lose face when they don’t win. Mr Kiasu, anyone?

What do you think? Leave your comments on the blog and let me know who you think should get the Young Artist Award next year. I’m off to see if I can get some nomination forms.

This is your Abang, signing off!

Tags: Abang of the Airwaves, addy rasidi, Christopher Toh, Cultural Medallion, Dick Lee, Electrico, Mayo Martin, Resident Art Throb, rosli mansor, Stefanie Sun, Taufik Batisah, Young Artist Award

BAYBEATS kicked off on Friday night, but I missed about half of it because I found myself at the Esplanade’s Recital Studio to watch Divine by Addy Cradle, featuring Addy Rasidi on guitar performing tracks from his debut solo album, also called Divine.

And what a divine performance it was. To say that it was great is an understatement. It was an epiphany, really.

His backing band included three of Singapore’s best rock musicians, a slew traditional percussionists, as well as someone on ud (the predecessor to the lute) and violin.

Paul Danial and Anis of Ministry of Rock flank Addy.

To complement the show’s East-meets-West theme, his featured guests included a performance by the Tenko Japanese Drum Troupe. And with renowned producer Shah Tahir mixing the sound, you know you’re in for a real treat.

For my money, Addy is one of the best rock guitarists – along with others like Rosli Mansor – of this generation.  Those who see him regularly at Pump Room jamming with Jive Talking know what I’m talking about. 

He can play. His fingers move so fast if you took a video of them and put it on “pause”, they’d still be too fast. And hey, he didn’t get to be an endorsee for Ibanez guitars by being a slacker, you know what I mean?

 But what made the night so special was the vibe of the room. His nervousness not withstanding, there was a certain presence that I hadn’t felt at a concert in a long time. It descended upon us and turned the show into a magical moment.  

The view from Shah Tahir’s mixing desk.

So thanks, Addy. It was night well remembered.

Tags: addy rasidi, Baybeats, Divine, esplanade, rock music, rosli mansor, shah tahir, traditional