Music to my ears

The event that took place last Friday evening at Sejahtera Hall, Royal Brunei Recreation Club

The performers and their mentors. Image courtesy of PTE Meragang Facebook Page.

What I am amazed are the talents we have in Brunei Darussalam. I can’t stress this enough. Maybe this should be even highlighted in the LegCo to see how far our talents can go. Earlier in the year, I attended a broadway play “Othello” performed by students from Pusat Tingkatan Enam (PTE) Meragang and I was quite impressed with their talents. Last Friday, I witnessed another aspect of their talent – music – and I was surely entertained from beginning to the end. My only minor issue were the noisy youths in front of us whom I wished could have respected the performers and audience alike.

The Performing Arts Club in PTE Meragang has active in showcasing their talents around for 5 years and hence it was fitting that for the club to organize the 5th Poetry and Music Recital entitled “Chances”.

PG Hjh Maimunah bte Pg Hj Osman, Principal of Meragang Sixth Form Centre, was very happy with the efforts put in by the students and teachers involved in the project. She believed that this project won’t be possible without everyone’s effort and it was definitely not an easy task. She also thanked the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports for their advice. The guest of honour was Yang Mulia Hj Abd Rahim bin Derus, Director-General of Education, Ministry of Education.

It wasn’t also a music showcase but also some poetries to the delight of the audience. Perhaps the students can also engage with @theartofwrite (IG) where they are looking for writers to share their loves for people, words, art and earth.

Kudos to the working committee, volunteers and most of all, the vocalists and the musicians. It was a well spent Friday evening. We need more avenues like this for Brunei. The event is supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

Gearing up for the opening session

The musical performers from the Performing Arts Club in PTE Meragang

Many shots were taken that night. Great memories indeed.

Great presence from the choir

It was full house event last Friday. Good to see the locals supporting such event.

Dk Aina Syasya Bte Pg Amiruddin has great vocal

One of the poetry readers

One of the scenes from the night

One of the audience being interviewed by RTB

Spotlight on the singers

Heal the World 😀

The finale – November Rain. Love it to the max.

The violinists added some great touch to the musical performances

 

 

The JIS choir prelude before the main event at the JIS Arts Centre at Jerudong International School

Shana Holmes and Yasmin Riches belting out “The Writing’s on the Wall” with Rafeeqa Teo and Eden Chiam

Tope Ayodele singing “If I Were a Boy”

Music to my ears. Yes, it was another musical moment for me as I experienced the wonderful talents from Jerudong International Students in last weekend’s JIS Showcase 2016 at the Art Centre of JIS. It’s been a tradition that I catch the JIS Showcase (musical performance) every year if I happen to be in the country. It’s not surprised that the standard of the performance is on par with other regional performances.

Every single detail and thought have been invested in the JIS Showcase 2016. What I truly admire is the high professionalism taken into the performance which made the overall performance seemed flawless. I also love the transitions between songs and performances as they didn’t waste any seconds to carry the momentum from start to finish. I could tell how important JIS values music and art in their school and last weekend’s performances were a great indicator for their progress for music excellence.

It’s great to see Barnaby Sandow, principal of JIS, to continue the mission in music and art excellence. It sets the benchmark in terms of music education and I myself feel proud of where JIS is right now – not just excelling in studies but also in arts and music. Sandow shared that the Showcase 2016 is a celebration of artistic creativity. It was a pleasure to have met you as well last weekend.

There were many favourites performers that caught my attention. Willam Brien’s “Born in the USA”, “Strong” by Eden Chiam, Evan Chiam, Krish Punjabi and Nayumi Reduan, “Rude” by Jay Baek and Christian Osharode, “Beautiful” by Aziz Harun, “Say Something” Shana Holmes and William Brien and “I Dreamed a Dream” by Yasmin Riches were just some of the performances that blew me away. I also want to commend on the orchestra, the dancers, the choir and the cute Jerudong singers to make the overall performance wholesome.

JIS have raised the bar each year on their Showcase and I look forward to future ones. Well done to all of you and good job on Paul Edgeler, the producer and music director of JIS Showcase 2016. You can follow @JISbrunei on IG for updates.

Evan Chiam one of the vocalists for “Love Runs Out”

Great performance by William Brien on “Born in the USA”

Shana Holmes wooing the audience, singing “Wings”

Shana Holmes, Eden Chiam and Katherine Wood during the “Wings” performance

Azemah Abd Rahman singing a duet with Aziz Harun on “Sempurna”

Some of the highlights from Aladdin

The cute choir group

The dancers for “He’s A Pirate”

In swashbuckling action during “He’s A Pirate” performance by the orchestra

Eden Chiam and Nayumi Reduan during the performance of “Strong”. I like this one.

Some of the artistic delivery during the performance of “Strong”. Quite creative.

Aaron Klein singing “Waiting for Love”

Yasmin Riches doing the vocals for “We Found Love Dance”

Awesome performance by both Jay Baek and Christian Osharode on “Rude”

The Jerudong Singers singing “Turn the World Around”

The combined choir for “Me and My Broken Heart”

Aziz Harun stealing the hearts of the audience with his original song “Beautiful”

Caught the JIS Showcase with Gary and Pranika. Both also enjoyed the performance.