Thursday, October 14, 2010

An Evening with Zainal Abidin

Date : 13th Oct 2010

We have always passed by the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas at KLCC without bothering to find out what they are playing. The thought of going for a concert has actually NEVER occurs to us (and we were paying USD just to watch Broadway shows in New York!).

Then a good friend bought us a ticket last Sunday for the afternoon show. The classic Psycho movie accompanied life by Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). We went with much anticipation because going to an orchestra performance is like so...emmm...formal and cultured...hahaha... We were worried whether we were dressed right etc etc etc.

Well...I have seen the show a dozen times before ..but...to literally see, listen and feel the drama, suspense and passion from a life orchestra right before your eyes is another experience all together ....Needless to say, both of us were hooked and we booked ourselves the next show ...a night with one of my favourite local singer..Zainal Abidin ...


It started with a sand art presentation by one of our local sand artist, Loong Bee. It was quite an experience seeing him creating beautiful displays by simply using sand and a pair of very skillful hands.

We got ourselves a box seat nearest to the stage. And the moment finally arrived, he walked in in all his charisma...the man himself ...Zainal Abidin.... He went straight into belting out a medley of old malay folk songs accompanied by the MPO led by conductor Kevin Field. Songs like Chan Mali Chan, Burung Kakak Tua, Enjit Enjit Semut and Kenek Kenek Lah Udang never sounded so beautiful, sung with vocals so strong and powerful, backed by instruments so majestic ...

It was just 30 minutes with the man ...and...when he sang Ikhlas Tapi Jauh, he brought the house down! (The tune is still playing in my head ...). His parting song, Hijau was one of my all time favourite, singing out the need for us to go green and the preserve our mother nature was just simply breath taking ...


We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And for the very first time in our lives, we actually queued to get the souvenir program booklet autographed by him ...and to grab a quick picture of course ...(it was an anxious moment though, cause my DSLR was giving me a memory card error the moment I switched it on!!!)

It was a wonderful night, all the more so because I have my wonderful half with me to share it. To cap it all, we went for a nice Japanese dinner at Zipangu Shangrila. (And all this time, where was Ryan you might ask ....at home with our maid while daddy and mommy are enjoying themselves ...hahaha..)
And you know what, we have booked the next show tomorrow night. Another favourite of mine, a hands percussion presentation by MPO.....Just can't Wait !!!

10 comments:

Health Freak Mommy said...

Good that you have a trustworthy maid whom you can leave your boy with while u & your hubby phak thor :)

Unknown said...

I like Zainal Abidin, i still like that album of his,,,"Hijau".

you know funnily, last time my malay friends used to tell me i resemble Zainal,, hahahahah, may be that's why i like him ,,,,,Headwind bagus,,,

LittleLamb said...

are you getting any discount with the tix? let me go home n check. i may be able to get some discount for u if u r keen to make this regular.

MeRy said...

Enjoy and have fun..

Mummy Gwen said...

Zainal Abidin still looks as handsome as ever. And your lovely wife is pretty too. :)

Vickylow said...

Meeting a star. He still look great and smart.

Adrine said...

It's been ages since I last heard "Hijau". After reading your post, I searched Utube for the video. Found it (ha ha... a much, much younger version of Zainal Abidin) and fell in love with the song all over again. So beautiful and meaningful.

Leona said...

Enjoy MPO and its concerts...gives u a high just being there...

Next perhaps can bring Ryan there for their children's programmes??? But i think 4 and above only...

Unknown said...

Wah you so lucky! Can leave Ryan with the maid. I wanted to bring my gal to go for the Sleeping Beauty presented by Carl Davis. Unfortunately only for age 8 above.

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