SoundBase Festival 2010 – Acoustic Band Competition
(FINAL) - Event Review
After an outstanding audition at Tom Lee Academy Hall in early October, contestants in the SoundBase Festival 2010 were whittled down to final 18. Year on year, now in its 11th, SoundBase Festival attracted talented amateur musicians to join this annual feast of organic music. This year, the final round took place on November 18 at the Theatre, Sheung Wan Civic Centre.
Gold Prize: Matchbox
Gold prize was awarded to Matchbox, which beat strong competition and earned themselves a trophy with a heart-warming ballad.
Matchbox is particularly skilled at rearranging tunes from the 60’s and 70’s. They represent a style best described as simple, mature and graceful. Brand New Day is a brilliantly sung conversation dedicated to the newly weds. The song, which was completed a couple of years ago, overflows with spirituality, love and joy. Voices of Rachel Lui and guitarist Anthony Choi are a good match; the harmonies are perfect, echoing the theme of love and promises. What is better than something simple, cuddly and reassuringly warm?
The self-deprecating duo had never ever expected to win, as they had doubts whether they could make an impression with their minimalistic line-up. “Initially we thought, no matter what, we’ll never sound as fat as the rest of the finalists because there’re only two of us” reveals Anthony.
“We struggled, because we were considering to add some extra element to touch up our song. Now with the judges’ support, we have realized and are certain that it is the best to leave it as it is”, adds Anthony. Walking away with a trophy and a decent guitar and some cash coupons, they would like to thank their fellow band mates for their continuous support and assistance on the arrangement of the tune.
Silver Prize: 9 Maps and Jus’ Groovin’
Dual winners of the silver prize are 9 Maps and Jus’ Groovin’.
9 Maps, who also came second in last year’s competition, wowed the audience again with their mysterious, folksy yet contemplative tune titled 4 Walls. Providing a stark contrast to syrupy mainstream love songs, their work is highly introspective, describing the times when they are trapped by certain emotions. 9 Maps were playing with our expectations: just when you thought a repetition is coming up, they steered the musical material to another direction, unleashing decent little surprises one by one. Their economic use of riffs and clever decision to stray away from the “AB ABA” form established a strong and unique music identity.
Best Individual Performance Award went to Jason Kui, guitarist of Jus’ Groovin’, a small scratch band worked up for the occasion. They uplifted the audience’s spirit with bluesy riffs and smooth vocals that reminds you of John Legend, John Mayer and Al Jarreau. Although Jason and his drummer have only worked together for less than 180 days, there is a strong, sonic chemistry between the two, empowering them to give an impassioned performance enhanced with confidence and technical perfection. When asked to share some of their favorite band rehearsal moments, Jason said, “We had never, ever managed to run through the whole song without mistakes. So we are absolutely thrilled and chuffed with our performance tonight!” Despite of the pre-show (and post-show) adrenaline rush, this whimsical group found comfort on stage that proved they belong to the final three.
Bronze Prize: The3Think
If you enjoy pure, unadulterated a cappella sound and instantly accessible melodies, try catching future performances of bronze prizewinner The3Think. The septet shone on stage with their amazing a cappella-infused Canto-pop tune, in which the arrangement is as meticulous as Japanese a cappella/pop group Godspellers’ studio works. In sum, they had great energy and made a real effort to display their best. Their mid-tempo work delivers a positive philosophy lesson. The song reaps the benefits from the elaborative, improvisatory solo passage by one of their members, who mimicked the timbre of a trumpet with his voice. While so many songs are about trying to destroy relationships or your life, their song sends out positive messages and could be used much like a self-help book.
CASH - Best Original Song Award: TickTock Museum
TickTock Museum shared their reflection of life through music. Their award-winning song (城市人的生活方式) is a delightful, melodious and folk-oriented. Their vocalist is armed with a pure, innocent, young-sounding voice that is similar to Taiwanese singer-songwriter Cheer Chan’s. What’s more, despite of their compact line-up, they are skillful at spreading the workload evenly among the members, and demonstrated the conceptual process of combining individual components to complete a musically sound arrangement.
Other groups who made it through the audition displayed an encouraging level of virtuosity in their instruments and good judgment. Jasian, a folk duo formed by two 13-year-olds is worth mentioning, not because of their tender age but their fluency in musical language, positive attitude towards music plus ability to move people. 臨記addressed their ever-reliable metronome with a well-deserved salutation: Mr. Metronome. Their wit and sense of humor served as a kind reminder to us that, at times, while it could be quite exasperating to practice the same song over and over again, we should keep in mind that it is essential to have fun while making music.
Members of guest performer EVER were invited to comment on this year’s event. “Compared to last year’s festival, we felt that this year’s contestants have certainly raised the bar. It is always good to know that people are blending more musical styles into their songs.”
So songwriters, singers and fellow guitar players, keep on playing and do not abandon your creativity. SoundBase Festival’s annual search for talented musicians always welcomes your input and participation, and is open to any group of any style, as long as one of your members plays an acoustic guitar. Stay tuned to get details for how to enter next year.
- Francis Fu |
