Simple is the Reason of My Heart

Don McLean - Vincent

A series of random chats with friends reminded me of this song. I was playing the song "Vincent" by Don McLean over and over again this evening. The song left a deep impression in my life with the beginning line "Starry Starry Night". Sometime in the distant past, when I was studying in a secondary school, a teacher came to class one afternoon, played this song and told us that someone she admired died. The song was written as a tribute to Vincent Van Gogh,  a Dutch post-impressionism artist and his turbulent life. The song often brought the tones of melancholy when I listen to it. In life, people sought for recognition and understanding of what they set out to do. Yet, often sometimes, we find ourselves disappointed at the outcome of certain issues. Whatever it is, when I think of disappointment, I recall a quote from Fred Hoyle, a famous cosmologist in his own autobiography, "After a lifetime of crabwise thinking,  I have gradually become aware of the towering  intellectual structure of  the world, One article of faith I have about it is that, whatever the end may be for each of us, it cannot be a bad one." Do enjoy the song which I have attached here for your listening.

SeaStars 2007: A New Media approach to New Age Music in Singapore

Oftentimes, I respect local artistes who take an entrepreneurial approach to use new technology to create media content. Of course, Ivan Chew, aka Rambling Librarian, needs no introduction, given his role as an advocate of new media and various local music events he organized locally. Together with Adrian Loo, they have created "SeaStars 2007", a music album with their guitars and macs. The joint effort of a teacher and a librarian have produced an interesting mix of new age music, which happens to be one of my favourite genres. Since it is a preview (or in web 2.0, we call it beta), the music reverberates around the theme of seas and stars. Of course, it induces the mystical feel at times and I often like to listen to this type of music if I am stargazing elsewhere in the world. I would say that most pieces have their own distinct feel. Still, I liked Stargazer and Dolphins Galaxia. Although the music gives a diverse variety, my sense is that it needs a central theme or main song to hold it together. Do check out their music in this URL and offer them our utmost support for their effort.

Anata ga Kagayaku Toki by Yukie Nishimura

I just received the CD today. Nowadays, I usually purchase my music online via iTunes (since I still have my UK account) and yes, I don't purchase a lot of CDs. Of course, every year, I often wait for the one and only album by my favourite Japanese pianist, Yukie Nishimura. I will purchase it with a click and get it delivered to me from CD Japan no matter where I am, be in UK or Singapore. Believe it or not, I have started listening to her albums since when I was a high school student. The first album made me search high and low across Singapore, because I was so in love with the piano piece of "Say Yes" by Chage and Aska - the theme song for the One hundred and One Romances, a TV show that took Japan and Singapore by storm - the story of a nice guy who found his true love after many failed romances and I still remember the ending. When I was 20, I saw her perform in Raffles Hotel ballroom on Valentine's Day. Her music seems to have followed me for the last sixteen years. If you do watch some Hong Kong drama serials, you will hear her music lurking in the background. Her latest album contains two CDs and she played one of my favourite songs "Moon River". It's like a dream come true in a way, because I often want to find an instrumental piece for the song. The first song for this album, "あなたが輝くとき" (translated as "When you shine") has already enchanted me before I start to listen to the rest.

Music of Regret

I was digging up my CD collection that I have collected over the past decade. Recently I was in a mood to check out some old songs. If you read Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity", one of the themes in the story is that you trace the story of your love life with the songs of that era. Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson, you find the present tense and the past perfect. 

The word "regret" has two different phrases in Chinese. For those who remember this song, I thought this is still one of the timeless piece of music that I have heard.

遺憾 - 許美靜
別再說是誰的錯　讓一切成灰
除非放下心中的負累　一切難以挽回
你總愛讓往事跟隨　怕過去白費
你總以為要體會人生　就要多愛幾回

與其讓你在我懷中哭萎　寧願你犯錯後悔
讓你飛向夢中的世界　留我獨自傷悲
與其讓你在我愛中憔悴　寧願你受傷流淚
莫非要你嘗盡了苦悲　才懂真情可貴