5th KK Jazz Festival: Crescendo of Passion

OK, I know its been like weeks since the event was over, but let me take you back to that time again. Let me re-tell you the experience of being there, through my eyes and before my eyes itself, a Nikon D5000 DSLR camera… *click*

Reminisce the crowd…

Reminisce the lights…

Reminisce the sound… This is the 5th Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival (2011)

June 17, 2011

Before the event started, me and fellow blogger Charlotte (do visit her blog, charlottefong.blogspot.com) attended a press conference for the event in Sutera Harbor Marina Theater. We gone through the press conference with speeches and introduction of artistes who will be performing.

Credits to Charlotte for this photo

Here is a snippet of info about KK Jazz Festival

Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival is an annual fund raising jazz extravaganza jointly organized by the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu (RCKK)and the Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu Sabah (SPArKS). Staged in the picturesque Nature Resort City of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, the jazz festival brings together a musical melting pot of talents from around the world.

The festival was initiated in 2007 with the aim of promoting Kota Kinabalu in the international musical scene. Over the years, KKJF has grown from a 1 night concert into a 2-day event with a series of fringe stages, workshops and a talent search.

The KK Jazz Festival is now a signature event in the Sabah’s annual calendar of events, and is also a key component of the Kota Kinabalu Arts Festival.

Money raised from the Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival is used to fund deserving community projects by the Rotary Club Kota Kinabalu The Clean Water Projects. Some of the rural communities benefited from such initiative includes Kg Sonition, Kg Timbou & Kg Bimbolon, all in interior Sabah.

Two things that really caught my attention in the press conference, Serena C who was sitting at the row in front of us. And another one is this beautiful and cute voiced lady, Z Yan, my thoughts was filled with the word “cute” when she speaks.

So on the first night I was already late for like half an hour, I brought along with me my access pass and a DSLR camera which I borrowed from my uncle.

“jadi mana saja saya boleh pigi ni ambil gambar?” I asked one of the KKJF staff.

“Mana-mana saja pun bleh bah, jangan saja kacau tu tempat VIP” he answered, pointing his finger to this “stage” at the far side meant for all the VIPs.

I eventually met up with my friends from Impact Zone, and also Joanna Funk, the author of sabahsongs, a great blog about the music scene in Sabah.

At the main stage, the first band, Momain Blues were currently performing. I turned on the camera with no idea which friggin’ setting suits for the environment, nevertheless, go near the front stage and took photos like nobody’s business…

Our local blues band, they went on to give out their best. I enjoyed “buat apa kau di sini” song, a great mix of Sabahan and blues song style. I just stand there, waiting for a good moment to capture photos and tapping my feet in unison with the music. I was lucky enough to get their group photograph too. πŸ˜€

The audience focus then directed to the center stage, which is something new to me for such musical event. Elixir band performed on stage… it kinda slows down the fast tempo in my mind with some heart soothing songs sang by Gina. I love her voice, makes me feel at peace and forget that I was sweating like crazy

*wipes off sweat from forehead*

Meanwhile on the main stage, Agung Beat prepared their insturments and themselves because they are the next to perform.

Agung Beat, a local musical group consists of university students studying in music performance and led by of Roslee Haji Wahid, a lecturer in University Malaysia Sabah (UMS). Ladies with their nice costume, swayed to their beat of the instrument, its a mix of traditional and modern music instrument that make up a unique taste. I thought that was it, but then Dayang Noraini walked into the stage, dazzling audience with her voice. I feel the harmony between her voice and the musicians, they made a great combo there, this is the Asian flavoured jazz you see? πŸ˜€

And this is when I had a big fight with the camera, I always capture badly blurred pictures. The thing is, I prefer not to use the flash because I like the natural colour. The lighting of the stage was brilliant, it compliments the mood of the performers, so I don’t want to destroy the beauty with some white flash. Setting: no flash, ISO: set around 1600 – 3200, Hoping: a good shot with less blur, this IS a loan camera after all.

Emcee for the event, DJ Serena C from Mix.FM, she pops up from time to time to entertain the audience as well as “your car is blocking the way” announcement.

Juzzie Smith, the One Man Band from Australia practically stole the show that night. When Elixir performed, I didn’t go near the stage to take a shot. But this time, I go as near as possible without blocking the audiences view to take the greatest shot.

“Damn he’s good!”

He greeted us with “The Harmonica Train”.. ALL ABOARD!! XD

Airplane passing above the area when he’s performing? no problem, he improvised!

Playing more than 5 instruments in succession? no problem, piece of cake!

Getting the crowd going and clapping their hands in exitement? He totally nailed it!

Yep, after he performed, I wasted no time to take a photo with him. Charlotte got to take her photo with Juzzie too, and I can tell you how exited she was.. it was like EEEEKKKKK!!!.

I thought it couldn’t get any better, because I was still buzzed with Juzzie’s performance… but then, WVC Trio + 1 did the magic.

These guys are cool, their songs are all enjoyable that I can feel through my veins, no kidding! If you want to feel, to really enjoy energetic jazz music, these guys have it all for you. I reminisce back in the old days where I always listen to WOW FM (87.7), they play great oldies music, that’s where I came to know and love jazz and some blues music.

Juzzie is back again on the center stage, and I’m back to take more cool photos of him performing. He just put “wow” in everyone’s face!

OK.. everyone looks exhausted from the sheer excitement and great music, wanna go home now? NO!

Even though they performed last that night, this singer from Indonesia, Lucky Octavian waste no effort to entertain the audience with his great voice. Backed by his band mates, Lucky delivers something to the audience, passion and freedom, I remember he spoke of this on the press conference earlier.

The audience loved it! some of them danced together to the music, as Lucky ran through the audience and bring them to sing together. Although there some missed note when the audience were singing, it was phenomenal, great job Lucky, you get the audience wanting for more! I looked highly to Lucky’s passion on delivering the best bit in his performance, truly an awesome singer to be reckoned with.

So… that wraps up the event for the first night, everyone was going home but surely enough want to come back for the second night.

 

 

 

 

 

I never thought that using that DSLR camera this time gave me new meaning to “capturing the moment”

You may also like...

12 Responses

  1. curious.charlottefong says:

    awww thanks Tom πŸ™‚ u were as excited as i was to take pic wif Juzzie! dun bluff! hahah!

  2. Kendra Bing says:

    Discover blogs,videos and pics you otherwise wouldn't have at http://kendrabing.com . Or submit your blog posts to be part of the whole big collection.

  3. de engineur says:

    very interesting coverage of the event. Thanks for sharing, wud love to be part of the audience but couldn't make it.

  4. Lindy says:

    Looks like an awesome festival to be. But Jazz is not my kind of music…HAHA πŸ™‚

  5. Rungitom says:

    @Charlotte: I'm still cool… ahahaha XD

    @de engineur:Thanks bro, hope you can attend for the 6th next year. πŸ™‚

    @Lindy: I think you should attend the event next year and feel it for yourself, you will have a change of heart after that. πŸ˜‰

  6. Andrik McVean says:

    hi there, i have just followed your blog..i hope you can follow me back..u have a nice blog here..
    i will be waiting for you on my blog…see u there..cheers

  7. Aemy Shamy says:

    Waa you met Serena C? I love her! ^^
    This is so cool..it's an awesome event, I wish I were there too. Nice shots! ^^

  8. Gunaqz says:

    I see you are enjoying yourself in the fest. Good writing, Rungitom. I love all the photos you've taken. You're good at it!

    Cheers!

  9. Rungitom says:

    @Aemy Shamy: Thanks, I hope you can attend for the 6th next year. ^_^

    @Gunaqz: Ahaha, did you see me dancing in front to the music from ASEANA Percussion Unit? All the pics I took was the work of me and Nikon D5000. πŸ˜€

  10. bebek says:

    very nice and entertaining show indeed… i saw it too but didnt take photos hehehe…. Good for Sabah and Malaysia and Borneo..

  11. Rungitom says:

    @bebek: Hi bebek, yeah its a great event so far in my opinion. Hope to see more great Borneo events. Anyway, more about KK Jazz Festival in this post,

    http://rungitom.blogspot.com/2011/07/5th-kk-jazz-festival-soiree-of-jazz.html

    http://rungitom.blogspot.com/2011/07/5th-kk-jazz-festival-image-of-ingenuous.html

  1. August 8, 2013

    […] music blogger, Joanna Funk, who was based on Sabah at that time. We met for the first time at the 5th KK Jazz Fest 2011 and shared our interest in music, it was great to meet and talking to her, she’s one of the […]

Leave a Reply to Aemy Shamy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Verified by MonsterInsights