Rachma Lim: From "Yogaing" to "You're going?" in one breath

I bumped into Rachma Lim on North Bridge road that week. She just came form yoga she told me, and in the same breath asked me “are you coming to my show on Sunday”. The only thing I could say was that I had already planned to, which I believe was close enough to the truth.

The band:

Alvin Wong on electric guitar

Amos Tadete on acoustic guitar and voice

Eugene Ang on keyboard

Joe Jayaveeran on percussions

Rachma Lim Piano and voice

I know Rachma for almost as long as I am in Singapore. I met her like many people I know from that music family, at one of the gigs maybe even one of the groove-works sessions or at the old Bar Stop, (I miss that place). This could have been as long ago as 7-8 years, which means Rachma was practically a “girl” back then. Those days are over. Rachma grew up to be a creative cookie with confidence! And that is what I noticed first that Sunday afternoon at the Esplanade concourse. 

It is one thing to sit in front of an audience hiding behind your trusted piano and play your well-practiced tunes.
But talking about your work, providing the little details about the tune, why you chose it, where it is from and presenting that with confidence is something else. 

 I think those little talks are very important. They are the marketing for your music and your personal professionalism. In live music the trick is to capture and keep the audiences full attention. For that how you talk the pieces of your show together, can be equally important to the music itself. In those couple of minutes you convince your audience that it is worth their time to listen, and make them curious enough to stay. Every open moment in your song-list is an opportunity for an elevator pitch. 

 

Rachma developed quite a bit of curiosity! Apart from the seating, that was fully occupied, there was a good crowd standing and listening to the great music selection Rachma and the band put together and, I later heard, had crunched and sweated over to get arranged. What was most appealing to me about the song list was that there were strong regional influences. Tunes, according to Rachma’s narrations often inspired by or rearranged from Indonesian music. Most of the band members picked that up by wearing batik shirts, to get the visuals in style.

 Rachma and her band were another one of those nice offerings the Esplanade presents and the concourse and it's thrilling to see young enthusiasm develop and mature into artists with potential!