Sounds Easy carols at Heartland Mall

Dates of performances: 18th and 19th December 2009 (Saturday and Sunday).

Sounds Easy was invited by Heartland Mall to add to the Christmas festive cheer with our easy sounds. If you have followed our blog, you probably know that we took a break from caroling in 2007 to focus on building a suite of carols and Christmas favorites, a la Sounds Easy style. Hence, we are very excited to present our music to the public once again.

Our 45 minute Christmas musical menu included medleys of pairs of Christmas carols and evergreens- "Mary's Boy Child" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" ; "Angels we have Heard on High" and "Hard the Herald Angel Sing"; "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "What Child is This?"; "Winter Wonderland" and "Sleigh ride"; "Silver Bells" and "White Christmas"; and "Deck the Hall" and "Feliz Navidad". Of course our programme also comprised arrangements of Yuletide favourites such as "Jingle Bells", "Silent Night", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", and "All I want for Christmas is You". All in all, we wanted to pack as many carols as possible so that there is a Christmas song for everyone in Heartland Mall.

As it was a week before Christmas, we could see many people doing their Christmas shopping. Despite being busy with their errands, numerous people popped by and stayed to listen to our music. We could tell that they were attracted to the lush harmonies and the unique rhythmic alterations that we made to the carols that they were so familiar with. Given that, we are indeed heartened by the support they have given to us, even though they probably do not know who we were and where we came from.

We thank Heartland Mall for giving us this wonderful performance opportunity. We also thank our friends and colleagues who have also came by to watch us perform. Sounds Easy would also like to take this opportunity to wish one and all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010 ahead! :)

Sounds Easy celebrates the golden years at Zirca

Date of Performance : 27th June 2009 (Saturday)

Sounds Easy was invited by the Ulu Pandan Community Club Youth Executive Committee (UPCC YEC) to sing for the community event called My Youthful Golden Years. This event is in conjunction with the YEC's efforts to celebrate the contributions of the older Singaporeans, and its highlight is a beauty paegent for five pairs of golden-aged couples. The other interesting thing is that this event is held at the very happening Zirca Mega Club, again attesting to the YEC's efforts to help bridge the old and young generations. Given this unique opportunity, Sounds Easy was very happy to take up the offer.

It was not easy preparing for this event, as our repertoire was mainly songs that were from our generation. We were told that the group is mainly Chinese speaking, so we can explore old Chinese songs. We researched a little, and came up with arrangements of the following :

(1) A medley of "Got My Mind Set On You" (George Harrison) and "Stand By Me" (Ben E. King) . Both are upbeat numbers that were made famous in the 70s and 80s. These songs should appeal to our golden agers, given that they should be in their 30s during this period.

(2) An arrangement of Kit Chan's " 喜欢你" ( Xi Huan Ni, Chinese for "Loving You'), a soothing ballad that was made famous in the 90s. Audience who enjoy Chinese songs should enjoy this. Our arrangment of this piece has a touch of bossa nova, so that even people who do not understand this piece will also enjoy the soothing harmonies.

(3) A rendition of "家后" (pronounced "Geh Au"; literally meaning "behind the house", but figuratively referring to one's lifelong partner), a popular Hokkien song that was featured in a local film “Money no Enough”. The song sings the love of a wife to her spouse, and we thought this touching piece will definitely strike a chord among the older folks.

(4) A medley of "Heaven is a Place on Earth" (Berlinda Carlisle) and "I think we're alone now" (Tifanny). These two energetic pieces, though written in the 80s, are still familiar favourites today, since they are still being played in clubs. We believe this medley should appeal to both the old and young.

The event was a bustling affair, as apart from supporting their friends in the pageant,the audience was treated to a magic show and was entitled to a lucky draw. Our performance was very well received as well, and we could tell that they enjoyed both the Chinese and Hokkien songs. Overall, we enjoyed every moment of presenting our unique brand of a cappella music in one of the hippest clubs in towns. Thank you UPCC (especially Denny who provided a lot of support for us), friends (Darren, Jane and Kee Leong), family, and the wonderful audience who were there for us that evening. We hope to have more of such opportunities to present our unique brand of music.