Musicity artist to perform at Substation

Mercury Prize nominee, Jon Hopkins, will grace the stage at The Substation this Saturday in conjunction with the British Council's ongoing city-by-city initiative, Musicity.

As well as Jon Hopkins, Syndicate Subsessions Meets Musicity will feature Max Lane, MC Masterpiece and Brandon Tay.

Known for his productions and studio contributions to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay and David Holmes, Jon Hopkins started his career playing keyboards for Imogen Heap. After releasing his seminal third album, Insides, in 2009, Hopkins developed an intense live show to support the release, resulting in club and festival performances across Europe and the United States. He is one of nine recording artists (seven from Singapore and two from the UK) who will compose original music inspired by seven iconic Singapore locations for Musicity Singapore.

Meanwhile, Syndicate's own Max Lane has been busy working in the studio for this Subsessions installment. Moving away from his signature beat-bouncing and semi-club-friendly sounds, Max Lane will explore the minimal side of things and has been writing narratives to be delivered and sung by MC Masterpiece.

Presenting the visual journeys for both performances will be Syndicate's resident visualist, Brandon Tay.

2012 FOBISSEA Music Teachers' Conference takes place in Bangkok

The 2012 FOBISSEA (Federation of British International Schools in South East Asia) Music Teachers' Conference ran from 17-19 May at St Stephen's International School in Bangkok. 

As well as curriculum discussions, resource-sharing and a music ICT focus, Chatchai Srisamut (Khun Jog), an expert in Thai classical music from Mahidol University, held performances and carried out workshops while Anthony Giles, Director of Choirs at the International School Bangkok, ran workshops on 'Vocal music within the classroom and in school choirs'.  

Lady Gaga manager addresses Music Matters

Lady Gaga's manager, Troy Carter, gave the opening keynote interview at last week's Music Matters conference at Singapore's Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Troy Carter

The founder of artist management company, Atom Factory, is a master at leveraging on all things related to digital media and has been instrumental in deploying radical new marketing techniques to grow the Gaga machine into a global media and entertainment powerhouse, accumulating 50 million Facebook fans and over 23 million Twitter followers.

Addressing controversy over Lady Gaga's now-cancelled concert in Jakarta, Indonesia, which drew protests from Islamic groups within the nation, Troy Carter said she would not bow to pressure and perform a censored version of the show, The Born This Way Ball.

'We play the show as it is, it's a very specific show to a very specific audience.'

The Born This Way Ball took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 28 and 29 May. An extra show is scheduled for 31 May. 

Other top speakers at Music Matters included:

• Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd) 
• Michael Paull (Executive Vice President, Global Digital Business, Sony Music Entertainment)
• Shridhar Subramaniaum (President, Sony Music India and Middle East)
• Stephen Bryan (Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy and Business Development, Recorded Music, Warner Music Group)

A pioneer industry event in the Asia-Pacific region, Music Matters is an annual gathering of key players in the global music industry. With a focus on key Asian music markets such as Japan, China, Korea and India, the conference shines a spotlight on issues such as consumption of digital music, what it takes to launch digital services in Asia, issues in music publishing and key factors to successful music festivals.

Together with Digital Matters and Gaming Matters, this year's conference attracted over 1,200 participants from 30 countries. There were 40 panels including 17 keynote presentations and interviews, 6 round tables and workshops and 5 mentor/masterclass sessions.

Forum at ArtScience Museum kicks off Musicity Singapore

A forum discussing the concepts behind British Council-sponsored, Singapore-wide project, Musicity, took place at the ArtScience Museum on Saturday 26 May.

Created by UK DJ and broadcaster, Nick Luscombe, Musicity is an ongoing, city-by-city programme of curated music that sits at the intersection of sound, architecture and experience. For Musicity Singapore, seven local recording artists and two UK-based recording artists will compose original music inspired by seven locations in the city.

The seven locations and related artists are:

• ArtScience Museum / Jon Hopkins + Jason Tan (Octover)
• School of the Arts (SOTA) / Koflow
• Esplanade / MUON
• Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM) / I Am David Sparkle
• Singapore Art Museum (SAM) / Cosa Nostra
• Hong San see / The Analog Girl
• Gardens by the Bay / Mara Carlyle + sonicbrat

As a preview of what's to come, the Musicity Singapore Forum presented a discussion on ways in which music and artistic expression can be used to bring a new dimension to how we experience architectural spaces and cities.

The Musicity Singapore Forum panellists were:

• Nick Luscombe (DJ and Director of Musicity) 
• Dean Chew (Cosa Nostra, Musicity Recording Artist)
• Philip Heselton (Theatre Consultant, Arup) 
• Colin Seah (Founder-Director, Ministry of Design) 
• Phillip Tan (Creative Director and Music Composer, Gardens By The Bay) 

Mara CarlyleFollowing the discussion, Mara Carlyle (Accidental Records/Ancient & Modern), performed a mixture of covers and original songs accompanied on piano, ukulele and musical saw.

The singer-songwriter, whose latest album, Floreat, was self-released in August 2011 to critical acclaim, also performed at Singapore Arts Festival 2012.

Musicity was first launched in London, followed by Tokyo and Singapore.

World-class Asian artists to perform at UK's BT River of Music

A mix of world-class Asian legends and artists making their first UK appearance will take to the BT River of Music Asia stage this July as part of the London 2012 Festival.

Highlights include the following:

• Legendary Indian tabla player, Zakir Hussain, revisits The Pulse of the World, a collaboration that brings together the sounds of South Indian and Scottish/Irish musical traditions
• Pakistan's qawwali maestro, Asif Ali Khan, teams up with London-based Bangladeshi singer, Sanchita Farruque, for a night of Sufi soul
• Oud player, Khyam Allami, fronts a visionary ensemble drawn from across the Middle East 
• Emmy Award-winning Vietnamese composer/zither player, Vanessa Vân-Ánh Võ, mixes the musical traditions of her birth place with refreshingly sublime compositions
• Singing sensation, Gong Linna, showcases the new Chinese art music that is wowing her native homeland
• Transglobal Underground's British Council-funded collaboration, In Transit, features musicians from across the Gulf states

Also performing will be Youth Music Voices, a national youth choir which provides some of the UK's most talented young vocalists with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join in and celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.