World Drums Festival 2008 is running from July 26 to August 2 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event was first held in December 2007, and it seems like the Malaysian organisers are keen to make it an annual show.
World Drums Festival showcases traditional (and fusion) drum-shows from around the world. The 2008 series features performers from Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Venezuela. Not really covering every part of the world yet, but it’s an international show nonetheless, and a pretty good one.
Went to a road show at Berjaya Times Square on Wednesday with KC and took some pics; photo quality rather poor due to dim lighting and my limited photography skills…
World Drums Festival (Festival Gendang Sedunia) 2008 at Berjaya Time Square
Canadian pop-rocker Avril Lavigne is coming to Kuala Lumpur for a live concert on August 29th at Merdeka Stadium as part of her Best Damn Tour.
Avril’s Malaysia concert promotional poster
I used to like Avril a lot; if she was to have a concert here a couple of years ago I won’t hesitate to get a VIP ticket for the show… but now, I am not sure. Hmmm got to think fast, considering her popularity here (and some neighbouring countries), the nice seats could be sold out pretty soon.
Avril’s world tour will kick start on August 1st in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; the KL concert will be her first stop in Asia. Other Asian countries that are part of the tour include Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China [check schedule]
There are 11 concerts in Japan, more than USA and Canada combined (10)… never knew that she is that popular in the land of the rising sun.
Faith Yang is a popular Taiwanese singer. She made her singing debut in 1996, released four albums to date, and was the winner of the Golden Melody Awards in 2000 for best female vocalist and best album.
Sharing here a few songs (titles are loose translations) that I like from Faith. Her songs are not really appealing when I first listened to it, but it has a certain something with her performance that hooked me up eventually.
I Gave My Love (我給的愛)… describes the broken heart of a lady who gave everything
in a relationship but still couldn’t keep the it intact
Brunei born Chinese star Wu Chun is in South Korea to promote TV drama “Romantic Princess” which is currently showing on KBS channel. Wu Chun attended series of events, including meeting his fans at Seoul’s Kwangwoon University on July 30…
Hoan Kiem Lake (Hồ Hoàn Kiếm), or Lake of Returned/Restored Sword, is located at the historical centre of Hanoi and is a popular hangout place for locals. The lake is not so much of a tourist spot itself, but there’s plenty of other sites around the area, thus making it an important landmark of the city.
A group of Korean animal rights activists held a demonstration at a large dog meat market in Seongnam-si (near Seoul) last weekend to protest against dog eating.
Koreans protest against dog eating (Image from Chosun)
Dog meat is a common food in Korea; Koreans have been eating dog meat for thousand of years. One of the popular dishes is Bosintang (literally ‘invigorating soup’), a traditional Korean soup with dog meat as its primary ingredient which is very popular during summer season.
It’s estimated that over a million of dogs are slaughtered every year in Korea to meet market demand. The younger Korean generations however are beginning to ditch this tradition.
Malaysian authorities have cancelled the concert-permit for Indonesian singer Inul Daratista following protests from some Islamic groups.
The concert was scheduled to be held last weekend in Kuala Lumpur before being cancelled at the very last minute. Some Islamic groups were protesting against the concert… the major reason was that the concert was ‘erotic’. Obviously they won.
Inul is controversial with her suggestive dance moves which she called it the ‘Goyang Inul’ or ‘Gerak Gerudi’ (literally ‘drilling moves’). I’ll leave it for your own interpretation of how erotic she is with the below video…
Some trace-back… Pussycat Dolls were fined around USD3000 when they held their concert in Malaysia last time, Gwen Stefani was told to cover up, Linkin Park were told not to ‘shout’… and Beyonce was smart enough to cancel her concert before the authorities could shut her door.
If this trend keeps going, lots of the foreign artists might not consider having a concert in Malaysia and favour neighbouring Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia instead.
