Friday, March 4

Tsunami Concert

Hi! Have really been busy last week organising a Tsunami Charity Concert in collaboration with the Indonesian Students Society. That was fun, we raised £1300, got told off by the venue management that we had overcrowded the place, served some green and brown concoction we tried to pass off as Jal Jeera and "More". Truly atrocious organising but in true South East Asian form the event was a success!!! People went back happy having sampled some Indian and Indonesian culture.

But, before I begin bitching I am really happy someone other than Ms." Second para of song" and my mom read this blog! I got a comment from Dr."Maths is Horrible"!! Yay!

Ok, back to event details. Pictures shall be put up soon and the link sent to all concerned.
We started off with Gamelan which is a bronze percussion orchestra from Java. Played by some Indonesiophiles (I dont know the actual word for them) it was supposedly very nice. Others in event management shall commiserate with my situation. Organisers never get to watch the show!

Rumor and feedback has it that it was a good peformance and they loved the way "the music rained on them". Anyway, the gamelan were a nuisance to say the least. They wanted special Indonesian food(ridiculous) and some housewives in Reading were cajoled into making it for them. They wanted three car parking facilities despite being warned there are only two!
The natak these performers have!!

Next we had three (two gorgeous) girls doing an Indonesian dance with japanese fans..hmmm...
One of them reminded me of a friend of mine from school - Ms."Red Light bus" with Elvis Presley sideburns. Anyway, even if you concentrated on the two similing pleasant looking ones, it gets slightly tedious to watch three sarong wrapped women fanning themselves and doing the same dance moves for 15 minutes.
What I forgot to mention is that the sound system failed and like many school performances, we had to fast forward and rewind the tape for a long time.

Next was Ms. DC(Dark chocolate) who gave a magnificent performance. By far, the best of the evening. Technically perfect, nice music, it was a pleasure to listen to her play. 10/10. She made my day!!

Then a dance by Ms."Blue Sky". I thought it was good. She missed a couple of beats and steps, but otherwise flawless. However, I was told by higher authorities and professionals like Ms."Happiness" that it was not brilliant. She did not hold her torso up as firmly as she should and more importantly she wasn't feeling the dance! 8/10

We had a break where we proceeded to serve disastrous "traditional Indian drinks" (Yuck!). Next was Ms/Dr."Dancer" who in her first performance was terrible. Now, I dont know a lot about dance, but when someone seems to be losing balance while spinning, I suspect it isnt right. The worst bit was when she began spinning on her knees and almost banged into the wall. It was a difficult display to watch. Ungraceful and mechanical. She did another piece, Maiya Mori which was better and in my opinion saved her a few blushes. 7/10 extra marks for crowd involvment and presentation.

Then, we were treated to a childish, lost and pathetic Balinese dance performed by Ms."Red line bus with large sideburns". As my Indonesian friends told me, it was embarassing to watch. It turned out as a fusion between break dance and a stroll in theparks. My dear Balinese lady, this is no way to protest the bomb that went off in your country. Torturing innocent children and adults makes you as much of a criminal as the terrorists!

Last we had a martial arts display. fantastic stuff. graceful, strong,skillful it was a delight and the crowd favourite. 10/10

Ok, enough bitching for a day, now back to some experiments. Jabbing some stuff. Lets hope it gives some nice results.
Some idea of what I felt like on the day managing the ticketing :

Proportion ... You can’t help thinking about it during the concert, where it doesn’t exist.... It’s like listening to a symphony of cats to walk along them. Senseless discords and a horrible disorder all the way.... A concert of Brobdingnagian cats. Order has been turned into a disgusting chaos. We need no barbarians from outside; they’re on the premises, all the time

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