Merry Melodies

The Star - Weekender - Entertainment
Saturday November 28, 2009
Merry melodies

Fans of Chinese and Malay golden oldies will get the chance to take a walk down memory lane with local songstress Yudi who’ll perform evergreens like Dayung Sampan, Hitam Manis, Bengawan Solo and Nanhai Girl in a tribute concert.

Entitled Modern Nanyang, the concert pays homage to some of the greatest talents of yesteryear who recorded some of the most enduring songs between the 1930s and 60s.
Yudi will team up with other Malaysian talents including stage director Chin San Sooi, actress Pearlly Chua and music director Stefano Chen, a recording artiste and graduate of the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music and China National Opera House.

According to Chin, the repertoire will feature famous folksongs and vintage hit songs recorded in Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Malay. The concert will have a nostalgic Nanyang or South-East Asian theme.

“The songs include Bila Tuan Datang based on a famous tune recorded by the legendary singer Zhou Xuan of Shanghai in the 1930s,” said Chin.

“Other tunes of the same genre include hits by recording artistes such as Rebecca Pan’s Moonlight Bay, Fung Yin Fan’s Picturesque Penang and Wu Mei Ling’s Durian Passion. The concert will definitely have a local flavour with a couple of Malay medleys.

“One of the songs will be a Teresa Teng classic but it will be sung in Malay as Dayung Sampan.”

Chin explained that the “modern” element in the concert’s title refers to the performers who will be retro-styled by Victor Goh, with matching make-up by Stella-In.

The musicians include pianist and music arranger Yuan Leow Yunn, double bassist Vincent Ong, drummer Charles Wong and guitarist Chien Vun Chieh.

o The Modern Nanyang Concert will be from Dec 3-6 at the Precious Old China Restaurant in Central Market, Kuala Lumpur. For details, call 016-272 1968/016-353 3998.