“Playing with the wonderfully talented and adventurous Aya Sekine
at Blujaz Cafe (12 Bali Ln, Singapore 189848) at 9:30pm tonight. This is our
first time musicating with each other and I expect joyful sparks to fly! We
will also have the beautiful and soulful Uruguayan vocalist Elisa
Garcia as special guest in the house. Holding it down will be Felix Phang
and RidUan Zalani on bass and drums. I don't expect a bad night:)”
Ayaschool on Saturday 11 May 2013 was made up off
Aya Sekine on Keys
Kailin Yong Violin
Felix Phang Bass
RidUan Zalani Percussion
I have known Aya for a long
time and am well aware that she is capable of making a night fun and colorful,
but it was more the combination of the other names and instruments that made me
specifically curious. I had seen Kailin a couple of times at jams and I believe
once at B28. I figured he could make things interesting, and I also knew
that RidUan on drums was a bit of an understatement. The intensity with which RidUan plays even the
smallest of percussion tools, is so much fun to observe. His facial expressions
and body language are almost like that of a mime artist. I really think he can fill an
evenings’ performance on his own.
So after a brief discussion,
the plans were changed, reservation for Cuban was canceled and we were set for Ayaschool. Dinner before music was, unrelated to our plans to go see Aya, Japanese.
The Okinawan diner Nirai-Kanai is always a fun place to have a good bite to eat
and a couple of nice drinks. Once you are inside the quaintly, maybe
authentically, decorated place you feel like you did take that flight to that
beautiful Japanese island. It contributed to us arriving at Blu jaz in a good
mood and ready to be extensively entertained.
As often, when without a
singer and without any lyrics to be followed, Ayaschool became all about
improvisation and there has never been anything wrong with that.
Sometimes the musicians were obviously searching for each other,
but much more often they were able to connect into cool grooves. As if it was
the theme for the night, after we joine at the table of our friend Kato, and
several of his friends had joined, we were surrounded by Japanese music lovers.
They were big fans of Aya of course, but I think more than anything they simply
had a great appreciation for music in general and they were visibly enjoying the night.
On occasion, in my opinion not often
enough, Elisa joined in for some vocal input, giving even more color to the
improvisation. With a nice voice and a good presence, I think she will be a
very nice supplement to the Singapore music scene.
Yesterday, the Tuesday after,
when I started thinking about things to do during the rest of the week, I
realized that this coming Saturday we have a dinner date in Sembawang. That
also means, that for us, last Saturday was the end of an era. After many many
years, regretfully, the upcoming Ayaschool will be the last of the weekly sessions. In my blog on Helen Sung, I mentioned Helen commenting of the sense of community among musicians here in Singapore, I believe Ayaschool, that brought so many musicians of different genres together, has a lot to do with it. But...
AyaSchool’s out for summer
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
…already.
Pinggggg!
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