Auld Lang Syne 2010...Welcome 2011 !

As the night and the big Swing party wore on and with a sweltering crowd of more than 20,000 residents and friends of Kampong Serangoon eagerly awaiting the Countdown, the emcees invited the VIPs up to the main stage. It was probably about 11.50 pm when they were all gathered there.

In the background were the performers and entertainers and the dancers.

The Mic was handed to PM Lee who was in a joyous and infectious mood. He pronounced his Best Wishes for the people and for Singapore. Likewise the other 5 MPs bestowed their Good Wishes for the Best that 2011 will bring to one and all in Singapore and the world.

It was indeed heartwarming to hear each of them in such a short and sweet fashion rather than long parliamentary speeches.

[ Courtesy : Passion Photographers ]

[ Courtesy: Passion Photographers ]
The crowd just moments before the final countdown....

[ Courtesy: Passion Photographers ]

All eyes looking up at the night sky anticipating the fireworks...about to come.

[ Courtesy: Passion Photographers ]

The actual, precise moment when the New Year began just past midnight 1st January 2011.

With fireworks shooting up all around, PM Lee Hsien Loong turned to his right to warmly

congratulate Minister of Finance and MP Mrs Lim Hwee Hua. There were handshakes and hugs everywhere. Some loving couples kissed. Unk Dicko...? I was at the Command Center with uniformed police personnel and they warmly ...( no lah did not kiss me ! Luckily. Otherwise I would have fainted! ) shook my hands and we wished one another the very Best for the New Year.

There were several minutes of fireworks that lit up the dark sky overhead.

You could hear the oohs and the aarghs among the appreciative crowd of people.

These snapshots from my simple digital camera did not do justice to the actual scene

of exuberance, noise , glow and smoke resulting from all the explosions.

The crowd loved every bit of it.

Suddenly there was an extremely bright and sustained burst of exploding lights and sparks

and we knew from experience that was the final scene.

31 December 2010 will be a day and night all of us involved in the Serangoon SWING will long remember.

Will my Minstrels and myself be on the main stage again for the next Countdown in 10 years' time ( Year 2020 ) ?

By then some of us will be in our mid 70's and 80's !!!

No one can really say. I cannot predict the future so far ahead.

But ever the optimist that I am.... Unk Dicko says don't bet against it happening either !

Wishing everyone the Best for 2011 .

Serangoon Swing...part 9, The Countdown begins.

There were fans of various celebrities and MediaCorp artists. This group of exuberant and lively girls were obviously rooting for their # 1 star...Elvin who appeared with his arm in a cast owing to an injury.

Popular MP Zainal Abidin arriving with his wife.

PM Lee Hsien Loong arrived at 11 pm accompanied by his wife.

The excited crowd, many with cameras, waiting for him to pass by.



The VIP stand.

The residents of Kampong Serangoon gave him and the other MPs a very warm welcome and reception.
Acknowledging the crowd's welcome.

MP Cynthia Phua and her hubby.

D2 making the PM and his wife feel right at home in Kampong Serangoon.

Arrival of MP George Yeo. He was at another Countdown event and rushed over from there.

Serangoon Swing...Part 8, The PM arrives.

From about 10 pm onwards, more people came from out of nowhere strolling towards the main section of the crowd that encircled the stage. Perhaps they had known in advance that PM Lee Hsien Loong and his wife would be arriving at 11 pm for the Countdown proper.

The emcees and the entertainers had done their job well keeping the excited crowd on their toes...until the arrival of the Guest of Honour.




The Photos below are courtesy of Passion Photographers of SG. Thanks !

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua and her GRL team awaiting the PM's arrival.

Arrival of PM met by the Organising Chairman Tay Swee Yee and D2, CCC Chairperson.

PM greeting the hardworking members of the Organising Committee

for the night's event.

The covered stand for guests and VIPs.

All the MPs of Aljunied GRC were present to join in the Countdown.

Serangoon SWING...part 7, Minstrels made TV news!

Serangoon Countdown SWING on 31 December 2010 attracted a large crowd of more than 20 thousand people. Local TV stars and media celebrities were definite crowd-pullers. Some sang a song or two before going off elsewhere for other countdown engagements. Mark Lee and Henry Thia, that unlikely pair, made the crowd rock with much laughter with their mixture of eccentric Hokkien, Mandarin and even pasar Malay in their stand-up comical banter.
Besides the promise of fireworks to usher in the New Year, one of the certain attractions was to be the appearance by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself as Guest of Honour for this event.
That would take place close to 11 pm that night.

When my Minstrels and I were entertaining on stage we had absolutely no idea whether we were captured "live'' by any media or Tv crew. It was only much later when Hoe Yeen Nie, Senior Reporter for MediaCorp News Hub, was referred to me to interview me about the Minstrels and my background...that I realised they had some filming done.
I had no prior idea when or even whether the footage will be aired. Subsequently, some of my Minstrels and friends told me that we were featured prominently in the Primetime news and on Razor TV...as shown below.

[ Hoe Yeen Nie from MediaCorp reporting the event"Live" ]

Serangoon Swing ...Part 6, More memories !

We had opened up with our first 2 English songs which settled in nicely. For our 3rd song, I had chosen that rousing and thumping old English sea shanty ' Drunken Sailor' played and sung in Dm intro key. It was a very good choice!
For as soon as we started out there was much clapping and thumping out there.

This particular song allows for different variation in harmony and if done well can achieve a spectacular effect. I tried some of that during the chorus part...I always do so for this song, including stamping the floorboard.

The crowd response was getting better by the minute.

Soon after all that stomping we changed tack to entertain with local favourites.

We did Gelang Si Paku Gelang and Di Tanjong Katong as a medley. This was where our percussion members really got into the act full blast with their maraccas and tambourines.

Many of our senior babas and bibiks out there would have loved these kind of songs.

Younger people know these songs by now.

Since 1988 schools have been further involved in the 'Sing Singapore' element where local songs were popularised.

So many were singing happily along with us !

Our next song was the ever popular "Rasa Sayang Eh " which is always a crowd favourite.

Then we followed that up with " Burong Kaka Tua " , another well-loved song that requires no introduction.

Everyone was enjoying themselves...the Minstrels as well as the large crowd.

Finally, I went to the Mic and told them, "we'll be doing our last number and for this, let's sing out even louder than before! "
The crowd got ready and once we started they went, " Chan Mali Chan ...hoi, hoi!, Chan Mali Chan...hoi, hoi !" pumping their fists into the air.

At the end of our gig I thanked the crowd on behalf of my Minstrels for having the honour and privilege of entertaining them in this unforgettable Countdown SWING party...which happens only once in a decade.

Serangoon SWING...part 5, The Minstrels wow the crowd!

The 7 photos for this particular blogpost are from Passion Photographers @ Serangoon.
My thanks to them!

My group - The Garden Minstrels was slated to begin our gig after Matthew and his Mandarins. We had prepared for an approximate 20 minute entertaining slot with 8 songs. During our private rehearsals we had timed ourselves carefully and found that our song selection was most suitable in terms of content, liveliness and duration.

I had two main objectives in my selection:- to recapture some of the nostalgic mood of the past "Sing S'pore 1988 success " and to entertain with some favourite oldies of the 60's. Quite a large number of Serangoon Garden residents are older, senior folks. They belong to the generation that we knew would appreciate most the kind of songs and music we were doing. This is not to say the younger people did not enjoy the music we did... ( Many were clapping and singing along with us ! ). It is just that the older folks can identify better with it.

The 2 emcees were Justin Mission and Moses Lim. They introduced our group to the crowd.

Here they were simply having an improptu chat with our newest member Mona who caught their eyes!

This light-hearted banter easily got the crowd eager and dying to listen to us.
When all was ready...I made the proper introduction of our Group and encouraged the crowd to join in by singing, jumping or clapping or whatever as we entertained them.

Our 1st song was that lively number... Corrina, Corrina.

I would lead the intro to the song and the rest would blend in smoothly. All was well or so it seemed. I was acutely aware midway through this first song that not much volume output came from the sound sysytem for my lead Ukulele.
As soon as the song ended, I signalled for the technical soundman who appeared...telling him the problem.

It appeared that he had forgotten to switch on the control converter box!

See my previous post about his promise, " I'll take care of it later".

So much for pre-checking and pre-testing of the music set-up.

I hope the Event Manager Steven, if he reads this, will see to it that such a thing should never happen again in a "Live" event.

It does not speak well for the reliability and dependability of these people who are paid to do a good job. It does not speak too well of the company involved.
If I had not been sharply alert no one would have been any wiser. But the performance quality would have been adversely and seriously affected.

Nevertheless, even during the 1st song, realising this shortcoming, I repositioned myself closer to the standing mic for better sound pick-up.... thus preventing a mini disaster.

I looked at the crowd and assessed that we were with them and they were just warming up to us after our first song.

It is not difficult to engage or stimulate a crowd who is there to enjoy music and being entertained.

Our second song was that popular calypso number " Marriane".

The response of the crowd was now clearly visible and audible.

Our members were very confident in their percussion and singing!

This big screen was situated at the rear of the stage where earlier on many fringe activities took place.

Captured on the screen were Edmond Tan on guitar and myself on ukulele.