A total of 918 saxophone players performed simultaneously at the Taichung City Plaza in the city of Taichung, Taiwan, on October 18 in a bid to break the world record for the largest saxophone ensemble.
The attempt was held in conjunction with the 6th annual Taichung Jazz Festival. The oldest saxophonists involved was 72 of age, while the youngest just three; Taichung deputy mayor Hsiao Jia Qi also took part in the event.
The current world record for the largest saxophone ensemble was set by Toronto in 2004 with 900 players.
Korean actress Lee Hana performed a few songs at the Grand Mint Festival 2008 on October 18 at Seoul Olympic Park in what should be her first stage performance since making her professional acting debut [via K-popped]
The 26-year-old actress is known for her musical capability. Her farther is a composer, and she studied music in university. She once said in an interview that she thought she would become a singer, but somehow started off as an actress (which she is doing pretty well anyway).
Lee Hana did show her singing talent on a few occasions in variety shows and in TV dramas, but this is probably the first time she sang in a public event at such level. I guess she was covering some songs from other artists because she has not released an album yet.
Sharing a couple of videos below… the first one is said to be Hana’s performance at her graduation ceremony, covering “Be Be Your Love” by Rachael Yamagata; while the second a short snippet of her singing in Korean drama “When Spring Comes”…
A star-studded K-pop concert will be held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on November 4 as part of the Korea Festival 2008 (Nov 1-18) organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.
The concert will feature some of the hottest K-pop stars, including the Wonder Girls, Shinhwa’s Andy & Junjin, Jewelry, Chae Yeon, and V.O.S etc.
The concert tickets will not be sold through the usual outlets, but will be given away over the next few weeks through the key sponsors [more on Coolsmurf]
Other events during the festival are food fiesta, traditional dance performances, taekwondo demonstrations, film festival and contemporary art exhibition etc. Check out the event website for details and updates.
Sounds like a fun event; too bad that the concert tickets are not for sale.
Extra note - for those who are buying/selling tickets via the comment section; kindly trade at your own risk.
It’s official, the concert is on. The Malaysian authority have changed their mind with the earlier decision to bar Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne to perform on August 29 in Kuala Lumpur.
Avril told MTV on Thursday that the concert will go ahead as planned; and there were other sources indicating that Galaxy Group, the concert promoter, has successfully appeal to the initial ban. It has been officially confirmed on Friday evening that the show will go on.
Canadian singer Avril Lavigne
Earlier this week, Malaysian authority had made the call to bar Avril from performing at the scheduled KL concert, stating that the concert is unsuitable for Malaysian culture, particularly not when the country is celebrating independence day on August 31.
The decision echoed the call from an Islamic opposition party for the show to be scrapped, that the show is considered too sexy for Malaysians and would promote the wrong values as Malaysia’s independence day is looming near.
The spokesman for the Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry Ministry said that the concert promoter can request a new date for the concert… but it is becoming apparent that Galaxy has managed to appeal to hold the concert as scheduled instead.
It’s deja vu for Malaysians… the authority had barred Indonesian singer Inul Daratista from performing in late July 2008 following similar protest that her performance was ‘too erotic’.
Do mind that Malaysians in general are not that conservative; in fact lots of the Muslims are quite liberal in these kind of matters. Unfortunately the men that make the initial decision were not quite as open minded… glad that the final decision makers are showing more sense.
Taiwanese boyband F4’s Japan Tour 2008 concert tickets are selling like hot cakes at the moment. The group was planning to have three concerts in October initially, but added to seven following popular demand from fans around the world.
So, what do you think about the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on Friday night? It’s a decent show for me; not great, but nice.
The ceremony started off well. The fou (the drum like instrument) performance managed to draw the crowds’ attention, the giant footsteps’ fireworks were cool, and the countdown managed to boost the mood very well.
Then came the splendid fireworks, followed by the formalities of flag raising and national anthem singing.
The masterpiece of the show was revealed after that… the giant paper scroll, which was quite captivating at first. The initial performances still managed to keep me in front on the TV, but things started to turn boring for a few reasons…
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