Jointly reported by:
Tan Ginny Sr2A
Michael Ng Sr3A
On the 12th of June, Kuen Cheng Guitar Club hosted an online concert on Zoom video platform. They collaborated with some special guests to bring the performance to life, namely Kabataang Gitarista from the Philippines and the Guitar Club of Keat Hwa Private High School, Kedah.
The show kicked off a little off schedule due to technical problems, but it still carried on relatively smoothly. It started with some light banter between the hosts to lighten the mood, which transitioned to an introduction about their club.
The hosts then invited their Teacher-advisor and Coach, Ms Kira Yong King Lih, to briefly introduce the history of their Club and their transition from a quartet-style group to a classical ensemble group playing style. This style was put into motion in 2015, a few years after Ms Yong took over the club, and has then continued until today.
After that, there was a short introduction about the guest players. The first one introduced was the Keat Hwa High School Guitar Club (KH Guitar Club), which was originally an ukulele club. After the students brought in guitar, the club started playing guitar instead of ukulele more often with the guidance of their coach Mr Ng Zhen Han.
The show then continued with an introduction to the Kabataang Gitarista (KG) by their Program Director, Alyssa Mantan. The trio’s name means “Guitar from the Youth” in Filipino, and they are part of a bigger group of guitarists that were trained in classical guitar free of charge thanks to donors and sponsors.
With that, the concert took off with an ensemble song by Kuen Cheng Guitar Club, a familiar childhood lullaby named “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. The song jump started the vibes of the musical program, starting off light and continuing with the softness of the next performance, the theme song from a Studio Ghibli movie, “Ponyo”.
After that, several performances came in line, such as A Plazzolla’s “L’Evasion” performed by the Kabataang Gitarista Trio and “Coffee Rumba” performed by the Kuen Cheng Guitar Club. There was also a solo singing performance by a member of the Kuen Cheng Guitar Club, Ian Richard Siguty, of a song named “Till My Demon’s Gone”.
The songs that followed presented a range of different musical styles. The KH Guitar Club played classical numbers like “Capricho Arabe” and “Marzuka + Tango No 1”, while the Kabataang Gitarista Trio performed Filipino folk tunes like “Manang Biday”, which was about the marriage of a young girl. Kuen Cheng Guitar Club members complemented the culturally rich songs with some modern tracks like “Twilight” and Sungha Jung’s “Felicity”.
As the show went on, the songs performed went from atmospheric, relaxing tunes like “Andreina Venezuelan Waltz” and A Barrios Magnore’s “Vals, Op8 No 4” and progressed towards livelier, upbeat songs like “Felicity” and “Rosas Pandan”.
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Members from all three Guitar Clubs shining their talents, from left: Kuen Cheng Guitar Club, Kabataang Gitarista Trio, the KH Guitar Club
Two Teacher-advisors of Kuen Cheng Guitar Club brought to the audience the next song cover: Luka, a song dealing with child abuse. Ms Yong played the guitar while Ms Foong Keet Yee provided vocals. This was followed by the second ensemble performance by the Kuen Cheng Guitar Club: “Under The Sea” from “The Little Mermaid”.
The Kabataang Gitarista Trio then performed another upbeat folk song, “Limang Dipang Tao”. It told the story of a woman mistaking another man on a jeepney (a Filipino public transportation vehicle) for her husband.
Another three songs were performed by the Kuen Cheng Guitar Club: an ensemble cover of “Mission Impossible”, a solo cover of “Bells Harmonic”, and a teacher-student duet cover of “Tamacun” and “Hanuman”.
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“Luka” and “Mission Impossible”
Afterwards was the final performance of the day: a collaborative ensemble between all three guitar clubs involved covering the iconic song “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. Ms Yong conducted the guitarists as they played in a beautiful synchronous harmony. Towards the end, some non-performing members even sang along for the final chorus.
With that, the online concert came to an end. The recorded show was streamed live on YouTube at 8pm on the same day, where more spectators came to watch and provide support in the live chat. Those interested in watching the archived livestream can do so here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0vAOZXkIlA
Kuen Cheng Guitar Club has expressed interest in future collaborations with these two guitar clubs given the success of the event. For the concert tracklist, and for updates regarding the Guitar Club, be sure to follow them at @kuenchengguitar on Instagram!
Take Me Home, Country Roads!