View From The Top

This was the scene in the early part of the performance from the top.
These very active and enthusiastic visitors came closer and closer to get in the action.

You can see the 3 of us on Ukuleles and we had the company of another 3 impromptu singers and dancers with us.

It was truly wonderful to entertain such an enthusiastic bunch of almost fan-like followers!

In fact a few had asked, " what is the name of your Group ?"

I told them just call us for the time being...the elderly uncles!

A Truly Appreciative Crowd !

It was such a nice feeling to be able to play the Ukulele and entertain such fun-loving senior citizens from all walks of life at the Expo.

We were scheduled to perform for only half an hour in all. However, as no other groups were appearing after us and more importantly, we were attracting more visitors by our music and songs...the organisers encouraged us to play on.

It was non-stop music all the way for 2 solid hours from 2.30- 4.30 pm before we took a much needed break. In that time, we must have done between 60-80 songs!

We had so many impromptu "back-up singers" joining us at the Mic.

What an appreciative crowd this was!

My very old handwritten songbook is a valuable resource for not only songs of all types but with Ukulele and Guitar chords included as well.

The cowgirls and cowboys doing their "stuff" while we made the sweet sounds.

It's Cha Cha Cha Time!

The eager visitors wasted little time before getting into action.

As soon as we started with some of our local favourites....Gelang Si-Paku Gelang, Chan mali Chan, Dayung Sampan, Di Tanjong Katong, they moved onto the floor of the pavillion to "joget".

Then someone called out, " How about Cha-Cha? We love Cha-Cha!"

I went to the Mic and said, "You like Cha-Cha, so let's Cha-Cha !"

Turning to Richard C and Ronald L, I whispered to them to just follow even if they do not know the lyrics to the songs I was playing....starting with "Isle of Capri ". I always have a number or medley of songs ready in "my head" whenever folks request



for a certain type of music. It could be waltz, bossa-nova, rock, calypso, keroncong, country or whatever. It would not be smooth to play a piece and when it ends then start looking for another song from the file or book.

As I've said before that will break the momentum that is on-going.

So most performing groups would have prepared some of their own selections and rehearsed them well.

The advantage I think we had was my repertoire for song types is actually quite wide...and so could do almost any type of songs asked for.

These ladies and some men as well surely can dance and groove!


Many could not "tahan" and rush to the Mic to join in the singing of their old time favourites.

We were happy to let that happen!

But not many performers would allow such a thing, as quite often, some eager beavers may actually "kill the song" for you unintentionally.

Our 2nd Day Ukulele Performance, 50+ Expo

Our Ukulele performance and Singalong on the 2nd Day of the 50+ Expo started at 2.30 pm at the same venue and location as the day before...the Living Pavillion.

Knowing how well we had gone down with the crowd the previous day, with the songs and music we provided...made it even more exciting this time round.

Photo:
The emcee announcing us to the gathering crowd while we got ready.


Photo:
One section of the crowd waiting patiently for the swinging to begin.
Some members of the Elvis Fan Club were already there before us.



Photo:
A professional reporter cum videographer were among the those that I saw that day. She captured much of the action at our performance.
But till today, I have no clear idea what organisation she was from. I heard someone saying she was from the media or press.

Some kids were also present.



Photo:
I spoke to the crowd just before we began telling them we will be playing a selection and mixture of local songs, oldies, contemporary, folk, calypso, country and popular requests.





Photo:
I encourage them to re-live their early years by singing along with us if they know the lyrics of the song, or clap along, or hum along or just groove along.

They did more than that...as you shall soon see in more updated pics and posts!