Musicians prepare for Rock Festival next week |
by Sara Farr
“Here comes another head banging rock galore!” The slogan for this year's Hush Full Band Rock Festival organised by the Macau Cultural Centre, has already attracted a dozen local bands to perform for rock fans next weekend.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Cultural Centre has been promoting the event as a means of developing local music and bands' talent, “giving Macau rock fans a fresh experience.”
The 10-hour marathon concert will also feature bands from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei.
According to the program schedule, Hong Kong's WildChild will kick off the festival at 13:00 pm on Sunday, followed by compatriots JuicyNing and Paul Wong.
Korean punk rockers Crying Nut will also give Macau a taste of their own music, as will Kuala Lumpur's Pop Shuvit and Taipei's Won Fu. Beijing's New Pants and Shanghai's Sonnet are expected to offer an “edgier” sound to the festival, organisers said.
Although organisers had requested songs played be originals, as “a continual effort of giving incentive for original compositions,” local band Once Teens One said that so far they only have one demo.
The band, which has played at Hush since it first started in 2004, is composed mainly of family members. Apart from Nelso Leong, the lead guitarist, Fabio and Jools are brother and sister, while Shelley Calangi is their mother.
“It started as a family jam session, and we had been playing for about four years,” Fabio said. However, now that the band performs in Macau's annual “rock fest”, the family and friend now take their music more seriously.
Although the “family band” says they play eclectic music, there is more to their music than just instrument playing, according to Fabio.
“We base it on feeling...on how we feel,” he said.
Music:Boxx, on the other hand, play for a living, Darren Kopas said. The band's drummer also writes and produces his own songs and has a recording studio both in Macau and in Canada.
Being the first year his band has taken part in a local rock fest, Darren has put together a group of local and international musicians to perform next Sunday. He will team up with fellow musician Mann Rain, who plays bass and is the band's vocalist.
The band, which is mainly taking part in the rock fest for fun, will perform some original songs as well as some cover tunes.
For the band, the music scene in Macau has deteriorated, Darren said, adding that they are now trying to get involved in rehearsal and teaching as well as “lots of community and education stuff.”
Darren is a new Macau resident and has performed in Asia for many years.
While in Macau he is planing to put a band together, but at Hush, the team's main objective is to “have fun.”
Apart from next week's rock smash, Darren is planning on putting together a program for schools similar to what is done in Canada, his home country.
The school program involves gathering teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18, who have been playing music for around 18 months, Darren said, adding that these young musicians will then be put together with other young musicians who they have not met, to perform together.
For each band, there will be another band, but of instructors to correct and perfect the young musicians' talents and music, Darren said.
Some schools in Macau, according to Darren, have already contacted him and “hopefully in the new year [2009] we will have a program,” he added.
In addition, this year, organisers have come up with a new voting system by means of mobile text messages (SMS). |
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