Concerts Amidst Embroidering

What is THIS ?!?!?

I find these very interesting.

It is actually part of an exhibition in the Esplanade right now, made up of plastic bags!

Here's another one.

2 weeks have passed in a flash! My life is pretty routine, especially weekdays - send the children to school in the morning, go off to work, knock off work, make sure the children finish their homework before they sleep. Saturdays are tutition and extra lessons for children, so it is sending them to their classes, plus running errands at the bank, supermarket, post office ... Sundays - visit my in-law with the whole family.

Occasionally, there is a break, like last Saturday at the Esplanade - it was Reunion No. 8, but the first that I went. Not school reunion, but a concert of Xin Yao, and what is that?

Xinyao (新谣) - Xin (新) which literally means new and Yao (谣) for song. The full "word" is actually "Xin jia po ge yao" (新加坡歌谣), which simply means Singapore songs. It is a genre of songs that is unique to Singapore, where the songs are composed and sung by Singaporeans and are usually about life in this small island country. In its 28th year, xinyao was very popular in Singapore in the 80’s. It's a long time I have not listened to xinyao. My boy is recently introduced to xinyao in his school and when he listens to some of the songs on YouTube, they reminded me of my JC days, strummingon the guitars singing xinyao.

So, I just had to get tickets for the Chong Feng 8 Yin Yao Concert, in fact, ticket sale was so good that the 3 shows were almost sold out! The producer 蔡忆仁, together with his group 跳动律小组, put up a superb performance among all the other groups. 玖健 sung《在沙漠的第七天》with such great feelings; 姜鄠 was still as charming as his voice and songs《不是不願意》 ; 洪邵轩 and 苏心荃 put up a great duet singing 2 songs alongside. It was a long time I didn't hear the song《某某人住在很那个的小镇》. 黎沸挥 was full of energy singing 《让全世界起舞》 and leading the sing-along segment. But the best must be 梁文福. His talent makes him an idol of everyone out there - most of the songs in the concert are composed by him; he's a writer, a musician, a composer, a singer! He stormed the crowd with his songs 《新加坡派》,《歲月列車》and more, singing《仿佛》 with 蔡礼莲, 《蓝与红》 with 邓淑娴 and 《另一首歌。另一个伤心的故事》 with 潘盈, while playing the piano. Just a little pity that 颜黎明 only sang in the 1st show, and didn't appear in the second which we attended. TCR A capella wrapped up the concert nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, which fondly brought back the warmth and joy of yesteryears.

I have put in a lot of links to the songs, if you want to hear them on YouTube.

Couldn't snap a good one with my handphone in such lighting and background, but 梁文福 is in the centre, in pink shirt and a scraf.

Next week, the ultimate Canto-pop duo will be performing in Singapore - "Alan Tam & Hacken Lee Live in Singapore” (左麟右李 新加坡演唱会 2010). Last year, they put up 12 sold-out shows at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Since their first collaboration in 2003, the hallmark of the Alan Tam and Hacken Lee brand took the world by storm - it's a concert I have been waiting for years!
So much for concerts. Here are some of the things I am doing at the moment - embroidery. These first 4 ATCS are done with bead embroidery.

Then, I tried to sew bullion roses, still a few more to come which I'm half-way through now.

I received a surprise email from a sweet lady, Christina, who offered me a good-sized box of Workbasket magezines. I gladly accepted them. See what came in the mail ...

This card done by my girl, Kristine, for her teacher, conveyed what I want to say, "Thank You, Christina!"