Clouds & Imagination

I think I have a thing for clouds and their patterns.

I am always fascinated by the beautiful fluffy cotton that sets itself against the blue skies and it is really nice to see the mix of "species" of clouds even in one segment of the sky.
Then you can use your imagination to decipher the shapes of some, maybe a lamb one moment or an apple the next and it is so ever-changing as the cloud shifts.

One of my dreams is to lie on a green meadow hill with my beloved, just the 2 of us, looking up at the blue skies and white clouds and together make out the shapes. Such a simple pleasure.

P. Ramlee The Musical

I went to watch P. Ramlee yesterday night and it was a major production. The sets, costumes, etc. were very elaborate. It was not bad, although I couldn't really understand most of it as it was in Malay...but there were English subtitles. It's the first time I'm watching a Malay theatre production. A bit difficult for me to try to "toggle" between the scene on stage and the subtitling, but managed to get through it.

However, I am rather torn about the production, the main reason being that Dick Lee composed half the songs for the musical (the rest being Ramlee's songs). As 1 of the audience said "I don't want to hear Dick Lee in P. Ramlee." And indeed, when I listened and watched carefully, I could differentiate between to 2 styles; you could tell which parts were Dick Lee's and which parts were Ramlee's.

I sort of feel the same with that viewer. I came to watch about P. Ramlee and was really expecting more of his personality and music to shine forth. Instead, this mixture caused some of Ramlee's "flavour" to be lost. Not that Dick Lee is not a good composer, but maybe it felt a bit commercialised for being a biographical depiction of Ramlee's life.

Well, just some thoughts...

Where do I go from here?

It's coming to mid-year again and it's time to take some time to reflect...

Why did GOD place me in my current job? What's the purpose?

Things have been happening and I'm positive there is a purpose but it has yet to be fully revealed...

Some might know how I landed in my current job. It was an amazing journey as doors were opened for me, from entering my course to a job opening in my present organisation, and I give thanks for the favour that has been given me since I joined...and here I am. I know that God will not stop there....there must be a purpose that He's leading me to.

As I reflected, I discovered things that I would not have developed or done if I had not come into this job. It opened doors to freeing my creative side and also gave me opportunities to do work that I liked to do (arts/heritage-related). 

Firstly, I got to do the installation art piece which I believe I wouldn't have taken part if I wasn't in my current job (probably wouldn't have known about it). This made me more confident to explore the artistic side of me, amateur as it may be. Also, if I hadn't joined my organisation, I would probably not have gotten to know a colleague (who blogs) and thus led me to know about Songcraft which has fueled my songwriting stints and inspirations. Thus, I have written & shared my songs (some Christian), and gotten to know new friends and widened my social circle. I believe I will write more songs.

Besides this rather personal aspect, in terms of job scope, a direction is showing up in my focus area, and that is music. I have been selected to specialise in (Asian) music as a librarian (programme officially started in Feb 08) and slowly, a number of projects related to music has come my way since then. It is amazing, the timing, coz these projects don't come by easily, though it's scary and I'll probably be tired out. Not to say the least, I'm going to Naples for the IAML (International Association of Music Libraries - Archives and Documetation Centres) Annual Conference this coming July. (haha....)

Is this the line of focus that GOD is moving me towards - music? But to what purpose? 

I can't really say for now as I really don't know but I hope that whatever the purpose, it will be revealed to me and that I will "keep on track". 

Broadway Beng 3!

I caught Broadway Beng this afternoon...it was hilarious! Although I'm not that well versed in Hokkien, I still managed to catch the many references and jokes.

Basically, the set up was such that it was like a getai show with Sebastian Tan as Ah Beng. There were references to the Mas Selamat incident, the torch-bearing issues of the Olympics torch relay and Ah Beng versions of well known Broadway musicals like Sound of Music (that's why Broadway Beng mah).

On the whole, I felt the earlier portion was funnier. But I think it was a really good effort and very creative to come out with all the adapted content.

A Fearsome GOD versus A Loving GOD

Recently, the message of "a fearsome GOD" kept popping up to me. Amazingly, the past few weeks of sermons also emphasized on the fear of GOD. Is this just affirmation or I'm really getting attuned to the the dynamics of how GOD is working in the church? :P Anyway, the basic point is that GOD is a fearsome GOD.

Not that it is not a known fact. I guess as Christians, we all know in our minds that we are supposed to fear GOD. But do we take Him for granted? Do all of us fear Him in our hearts? It is true that in the current situation, we emphasize that GOD is a loving GOD and He loves us so much and is merciful (well, that's basically the good news of the gospel), and as preached, some people even say GOD of the New Testament is such and different from that of the terrifying GOD we know in the Old Testament. (Really, He was really terrifying then coz He is a holy GOD...if you know, people were struck dead coz He was just too awesome and holy that the people couldn't come face-to-face into His presence...and if you incur His wrath...)

However, we must remember that GOD is the same yesterday, today and forever and the GOD of the Old Testament is the same as the GOD of the New Testament...He is still a fearsome GOD. Only that He is slow to anger. And the difference now too is that we are under the covering of Jesus, that's why we can now come into His presence safely.

And indeed, I was struck with fear when I was reflecting about the fearsome GOD. If you read Psalm 106, look at what the people did and how GOD reacted. He tolerated them to a certain extent but they were faithless and got trapped once again in the sins of old life and forgot about GOD.
I was terrified of how mighty our GOD is...He is definitely not a weak GOD, it is only that He is loving at the same time (such that if you repent, He will soften His heart). We should really be fearful coz we jolly well know what He can do and should never, ever take Him for granted.
I fear too of the fateful day that I would have to meet Him face-to-face. Will I be cast out of His presence?

Also, when you lose the fear of the LORD, other fears will enter your life and then you'll be in darkness.

To end off, this might sound like an oxymoron, but one should fear the LORD and you will have no fear of the LORD. Which is true. If you fear the LORD, you will obey the laws, and thus you will have no fear of the LORD. You should fear that you don't fear the the LORD.

Do we have "Singapore Music"?

Following from a lecture a few weeks ago, where half of it was supposed to be on Singapore music, the lecturer turned around to ask us Singaporeans (he's German) if we knew what Singapore music is/was. Is there really an identity to our music, or for that matter, for any art form?

Honestly, I feel that we don't really have that much of a national identity/character in our music. As pointed out, our music is basically broken up into the 4 main cultural groups - Chinese, Malay, Indian, Western. Even if we did a fusion of these 4 types, it is still distinctly drawing from these 4 cultural groups. The lecturer also pointed out that for fusion, what we do here is on a superficial level, i.e. fusing famous music and/or instruments, and thus, in a sense, not exactly original. It is unlike other parts of Southeast Asia or Asia, e.g. Javanese gamelan & Thai music, that has some distinctive characteristic in the melodies & instruments. Thus, the search for a Singapore identity in music (or any art form for that matter) is still ongoing.

However, one might argue that that is what Singapore music is about - adaptations. We adapt all the different influences we have to blend in with our culture & society (racial harmony?). And it shows our character as a nation; that we can (creatively) adapt to situations, and don't necessary follow a pattern...we are dynamic. As also emphasized (in class) before, this exemplifies the fact that music is social, i.e. music happens in a social setting. Maybe we don't have "traditional" music like other regions, but Singapore pop music scene? I like to feel proud that our Singapore songwriters have made a mark and influenced the Chinese pop music scene and their music is exported.

However, we do have some distinct genres to speak of, although they are not widespread/cross-cultural (in a sense). An example is 新谣 (xin yao). It basically translate as Singapore folk songs which was popular in the 1980s. (some info) We have well-known songwriters (& singers) like 许环良、梁文福、黎沸挥，李伟菘、偲菘兄弟 & 巫启贤 born of that era. There is a certain flavour to the songs that is different from what we know as pop music today.
And who can dismiss the distinct character of our National Day songs? Although we see our songs evolving to be very "pop" these days, the older songs, once heard would inadvertently give us the notion "this is definitely a National Day song", even if it were heard for the first time.

A further analysis into the arts:
Do we use art to express what we "can't" normally do in regular life, like satires? Just like our theatre...in fact, if you noticed, our theatrical arts has a very unique flavour especially our satires, and you must be living in Singapore to fully appreciate the references. I would say we focus on what's in the content, the witticism in the words used.

To donate or not to donate?

Just now, on my way home, I was waylaid at Raffles City by a guy who purported to be authorised to collect donations for an orphanage by NCSS (he displayed a paper certificate & his IC). He was rather aggressive and I declined.

Not that I'm unkind or anything, but I'm usually quite suspicious of these street collectors and if they're for real. I think I used to be a bit too gullible and I believe I must have been bluffed a few times (considering the news articles that says some are frauds). After all, paper certs can be forged...well then that's another legal matter altogether. So now, my policy is to donate only in 2 situations - either direct to the organisation or those school flag-day event. I think that's safer (despite of the NKF incident). Don't want to benefit those syndicates you know in case it is really fraudulent.

Anyway, coming back to the guy, he actually tried to convince me again, but I declined yet again. Maybe I had looked like I was softening up and probably like those that can easily be persuaded, so he tried again. After that, he was very frustrated.

As I was walking away, in a way intimidated by this person, I'm not sure if I heard wrongly or he was saying something else to his counterpart not far away (probably I heard wrongly), I thought he said "sadist". I was a bit shocked & as I looked at him, he said it again, though he wasn't exactly looking at me. So I was quite upset after that, although I might have heard wrongly, coz the word doesn't really fit into the context (not donating to the orphanage = sadism???).

In the 1st place, I don't think they're allowed to collect monies like this in the shopping centre. Secondly, if people don't want to donate, should they behave this way (if I did hear correctly) or try to force you to donate?

Anyway, should we donate or not? There's always this conflict of whether it's for real and the feeling of guilt if it is for real and you didn't donate.

猜字谜

几天前， 我在电视上看了一部综艺节目。节目里出了几道字谜题让参赛者猜。 我就在这儿举出我所记得的两项题目：

1）重逢
2）喜上眉头

（答案在"comments"里）

主的救泉

I finally did a recording of my new song. I presented this song at the latest Songcraft session, which was also our 1st anniversary. The uploaded quality doesn't seem so good compared to hearing from my laptop, so you might need to turn up your speakers. But at least you can get a taste of it.


powered by ODEO

I feel this is 1 of my better songs coz the tune is nice and easier to follow. The lyrics & background of the song were given in an earlier post. Here's the English translation of the lyrics.

The Lord's Redeeming Spring
You are my life's clear spring
Cleansing me of my sins
You are the blameless Lamb
Whose blood was spilled at the cross

My Lord, I have gained eternal life because of your love.
Jesus, my Saviour, only you can shelter me.

Feel free to give comments.

An Inconvenient Truth

I went for a screening of this today at the National Library. The show was surprisingly very interesting and in a way compelling to a certain extent. It's a documentary about global warming and was presented by Al Gore as he spoke about the impact and a call for action of mankind to play a part in resolving this. Really, it was him speaking all the way, but somehow, it was quite well put together such that it wasn't boring. I was quite moved at certain parts. 1 of the quotations he gave that really stuck in my mind was 1 of Churchill's:

"The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences."

It is like we are reaping what we had sown. What would become of this earth? Another great flood?

It was a pity he didn't win the elections back then.