Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Music and Friendship

I just got back from Dewangga Sakti's gig in Singapore held on June 7th-8th. It was Dewangga Sakti's first cameo in the city state. The band also did their soft launching of the EP Mabok Kepayang in Singapore. As a musician in Dewangga Sakti I am happy and proud to see the first fruit of our labour is now riped and ready to be enjoyed by listeners out there. But what is most important to me, this trip to Singapore has left something meaningful to me as a musician in the band.

I have been active with music band for more than 10 years now, first with Cryptic Malediction and then Dewangga Sakti. The love and passion for a particular music has drawn me and other bandmates together to form our bands. But I can say music alone does not sustain a band. It is the bond and friendship created whilst making the music that hold us together as a band. My equation to this formula is music + friendship = great survival band.

Without friendship I don't think my bands can achieve what they have got now. Sure you may ask why friendship is so important? The answer depends on how far you want to drive your band. I can simply put advertisement for a guitarist, drummer and vocalist and quickly form a band for a project either to perform or produce an album. I can do it with a complete stranger. But I dont think I can do it for more than 3 years if I don't perceive other bandmates as friends as oppose to mere bandmates.

I say like this because there are a lot of ups and downs in moving together as a music band. I am not talking about a band who just gather for a jam during the weekend and collect music materials together. This is about managing a group of peoples towards serious goals and maintaining consistency and improvement at it. The process of achieving those goals require a lot of sacrifices, commitment and hard work. Along the way, you could see peoples' attitudes, obstacles, excuses, laziness, ego, anger and frustration. What better way to understand and overcome all these problems? To me the answer is friendship.

Some may say it should be professionalism. But professionalism alone is not enough and in fact you could only behave in a professional manner if you think it is your profession. To me being a bandmate is not a profession, it is a passion.

My bandmates and I in Dewangga Sakti faced many obstacles in producing our first EP Mabok Kepayang. It may sounds simple to produce 5 songs and print it on CD but behind the scene it deals a lot more with cooperation, voluntariness, understanding, love and respect to each other. The works for the EP have made us closer to each other and reinforced our brotherhood in music. Moving forward I pray that we would be able to understand and cooperate with each other more and avoid past mistakes and loopholes.

Coming back to my Singapore trip, apart from the traveling fatigue and lack of sleep I had so much fun and laughter with my bandmates. I laughed so hard that I trapped air in my lungs and ripped my abdominal muscles (my theory only !). It is very rewarding to have a really good time after hard days work. The Singapore trip was special to me because it was the first time Dewangga Sakti got to travel outside Malaysia in full board. In our previous trips only some of us were able to travel and perform overseas due to the client's requirements.

In Singapore Dewangga Sakti have embraced En Wah Yun Kua as a new member. He plays percussion and is very good at it. He is my bandmate now and definitely a friend. I hope he can bring a lot of improvement to the band and vice-versa. I look forward to create more beautiful musics with him and bring benefit to other peoples out there.


"In the rhythm of Life, we sometime find ourselves out of tune, But as long as there are friends to provide the melody, The music plays on."

L-R Standing = Mohsen, Syamsulfaiz, Wahyun, Zulkifli
L-R Sitting = Irwan, Norman, Azman, Raof

Scandalous !

Couldn't hold it anymore !

Dear Honey, How are you? I am currently at ...


Still scandalous !



Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Dream...dream ..dream

We are in mid-year already. How fast time is passing by me and I wonder what have I achieved so far in 2008. So I started listing out all my plans in January up to May. There are small and big plans. Lets not talk about the small plans as they are really trivial. People say one must desire something to be alive. So here are my big desires sparked in this year:-

Desire # 1

In January I started a plan to further my study for Phd. It sounds grand and ambitious. I planned for this year I must come up with a proposal and submit it to a suitable university. But the moment I started to think of a topic, I got stuck...until now. Not that I could not come with a single topic but when I thought of a topic I followed up with its literature review, to see how many books can be referred to, what have been written on the topic and what is the development of that particular area of research. I know now that finding a suitable Phd topic is a very difficult, challenging and daunting process. And this is just a beginning to a more painful process of writing and completing a Phd research. No wonder not many people go for Phd. I have my personal reason to aspire this difficult desire. I am still struggling to find a topic and am not going to give up yet. Wish me luck !


Desire # 2

This desire no. 2 has been well kept in my head since a child. I dont know why lately I keep dreaming about it more often. I have been dreaming to own a Harley-Davidson motorbike since I was in primary school. But growing up in this country I learned that a Harley-Davidson is a luxury good and to own one I need to be at a level where I can afford a luxury. Honestly I am not at that level yet. But recently I caught up with an old friend who owned a Harley and knows a lot of our friends who also owned Harleys and he told me that with correct strategy and right peoples I can own a Harley at a price of a Kancil. Now that is not a luxury anymore, is it. But practically I dont think I can buy anything big until I settled down with my new house. So wish me luck for this one too !...eerrr maybe 2-3 years to come.

XL 883 Sportster Low

In conclusion, we are in mid year already and none of my big plans has been achieved yet. I need to work harder and smarter....Music please !


"What if nothing exist and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?
Woody Allen
American Author

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