YeinJee's Asian Journal

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

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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.

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.

Official movie trailer of “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”, which will hit the cinema on August 1 in US…

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A Beijing Olympics commercial film from Astro, a subscription-based TV station which operates primarily in Malaysia. Pretty cool animation…

The 19th Golden Melody Awards, arguably the most prestigious recognition in Mandarin music industry, were presented in Taipei on July 5.

Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou was the biggest winner, bagging five awards, including song of the year and best composer awards.

Malaysian Gary Chau and Singaporean Tanya Chua claimed the best male/female Mandarin singers title respectively (pic); Tanya also bagged the best producer award.

Taiwanese band Sodagreen won the best group/band award; while Hong Kong star Karen Mok produced the biggest surprise of the night by winning album of the year award.

The awards presentation was shown live at my TV channel… but it was so so boring. The red carpet sucked, the hostesses sucked and the performers talked too much.

The funniest thing is seeing the celebrities pretending to be interested with what was happening on stage when most of them were probably bored to the max.

MTV Asia Awards (MAA) 2008 is coming to Malaysia.

MAA, one of the most popular pop events in Asia, is making its debut in Malaysia. The show will be held at the Arena of Stars in Genting City of Entertainment, Malaysia, on August 2, and will be hosted by Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars.

There will be nine regional favourite artist awards and seven international awards to be presented. Among the nominees are Avril Lavigne & Justin Timberlake & Leona Lewis (International), Chris Li (China), Andy Lau & Eason Chan & Joey Yung (Hong Kong), Big Bang & Suju & Wondergirls (Korea), Nic Teo & Siti Nurhaliza (Malaysia), Stefanie Sun (Singapore), Jolin Tsai & S.H.E (Taiwan) etc.

As far as I know, none of the celebrities have confirmed their attendance yet, but judging from the past experiences, most of the winners were pretty supportive of the show… it’s one of the largest of its kind in Asia after all.

It’s not easy to get a ticket though; it’s something that money can’t buy. The fans have to get the tickets via contests by voting for their favourite artists [details]… the fans need some luck obviously.

Karen Mok is going to co-host the event with Jared Leto. Electrico, Jabbawockeez, Leona Lewis, Li Yuchun, OneRepublic, Panic at the Disco, Pussycat Dolls, Super Junior, Stefanie Sun, The Click Five and The Script have confirmed their appearances.

Update – the winners.

Malay version for one of the Beijing Olympic theme songs, sang by mostly Malaysian artists and a few from Indonesia and Singapore. [Hat tip to Quachee]

Among the singers are Michael Wong, Daniel Lee, David Arumugam, Ning Baizura, Gary Chaw, Dayang Nurfaizah, Maya Karin, Penny Tai, Faizal Tahir and Jaclyn Victor etc.

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