Borneo Jazz First Night Performance Photographs - Fabian's Snapshot 2014

The sunset over the horizon marks the beginning of the performance at Borneo Jazz Festival 2014 stage. This blog post is only for the photographs taken throughout the event. So, enjoy!

MC for the night

Diana Liu takes the stage

Smoothing vocal

More and more crowd coming in to enjoy the music

Mario Canonge is up next

Awesome performance indeed 

JunkOFunk took the stage and set it on fire!

Vocal Sampling all the from Cuba

Hotel California lead guitar sound

Now, for those that was not there and wonder what was the crowd reaction. Here you go.

They scream, they shout and they dance! Awesome crowd, awesome time, awesome performance, awesome atmosphere! 

Borneo Jazz Festival 2014 - Performance Night 1

Beautiful isn't it? Another way to kick start the first performance night of Borneo Jazz Festival 2014!

For those who were there that night, you might know the sequent of the performance. Chung Hwa Secondary School Brass Band open up the show with their signature performance. It is also a great way to welcome the visitors of Borneo Jazz Festival 2014. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to capture any of their performance (so sorry guys!).

So, night falls at Parkcity Everly Hotel and the second performance was by Malaysia's own, Diana Liu. Her smoothing and unique voice really give you that relax mood. Overall, her performance was great! Some might feel that the first performance should be big and fill with explosive, but my honest opinion, she set the mood just nice to boost the energy for the next performance.

Up next would be Mr. Mario Canonge of Martinique!

Now, here is a pianist that has awesome talent. His piano skills was just phenomenal. For this performance,  you can really feel that Mario is bring up the energy to another level. Crowd start to cheer and dance along with his music. According to my fellow bloggers, this is the first time that they actually see the crowd getting highly involve with the performance. Obvious respond was dancing and cheering. A good sign indeed.

Next performance is from a band from Kuala Lumpur. Many asked, are they playing jazz or funk? My answer, who cares! Their music is fun to listen. Here is JunkOFunk!

Ok, most of their music was influenced by funk music instead of jazz. Even Russell's shirt asked "GOT FUNK?" But did the crowd enjoy their performance? From the looks of it, they did. This time, the hundreds of people standing in front of the stage cheering on and sing along with the band. IT WAS CRAZY. When Double D came up to us and said, JunkOFunk is gonna drop the bomb. They drop the damn nuclear at Borneo Jazz Festival 2014 stage! That is how big and awesome their performance was. 

Next up is an acapella band. They performed for us during the tree planting ceremony and they took the stage as the last performance of Borneo Jazz Festival 2014. This is Vocal Sampling. 

All the way from Cuba, Vocal Sampling came and conquer the Borneo Jazz Festival stage with their awesome tune of sounds. One song that really stuck in my head is when they performed "Hotel California". Especially when one of them did the lead guitar sound! That was awesome!! There was a moment when I stare at them trying to figure out who was doing the bass sound. I was standing next to this huge speaker and the bass sounded so real! What a way to end the performance for the first night of Borneo Jazz Festival! But the fun doesn't stop there. 

This year, the introduce two (2) after party segment. The first is the DJ set with DJ Roundhead (from Traxx FM) and the second segment is a jamming session with the performers at Ruai Lounge. I went to the DJ set with the other bloggers and find a great way to just enjoy the rest of the night dancing away like there's no tomorrow. However, I didn't get to cover the jamming session as all of us was drop dead exhausted. 

So, that was the summary of the first night performance of Borneo Jazz Festival 2014. Will post up all the photographs taken in my next blog (Fabian's Snapshot 2014 - Borneo Jazz Fest 2014) and the second night performance blog post will be out soon! 

Borneo Jazz Festival 2014 - Performers Line Up

This blog post will focus more on the performers of Borneo Jazz Festival 2014.

Every year, this festival attracts local and international acts. This year is no different. So far, 7 performers was announced and I'm not sure whether there will be more performers added into the list soon.

So, the 7 performers are, JunkOFunc (Malaysia), Vocal Sampling (Cuba), Brassballett (Germany), Anthony Strong (U.K), Mario Canonge (Martinique), Iriao (Georgia) and Diana Liu (Malaysia). So, there you go, 7 line ups of the jazz festival.

Quick review of the performers :

1. JunkOFunc of Malaysia.

A band made of 12 members (a large band indeed). The first debut of this band is on 2008 at Genting Internation Jazz Festival. Their genre is funk/soul with the powerful gospel influenced voice of Elvira Arul and Russel Curtis.

2. Vocal Sampling of Cuba.

All male a cappella group. The members are Rene Baños Pascual, Pedro Bernard Coto, Reinaldo Sanler Maseda, Oscar Porro Jimenez, Hector Crespo Enriquez and Luis Alzaga Mora. Founded on 20th December 1989, most of their music style are based on the rhythms of Cuban music.

Heard their music online and trust me, it will make you move.

3. Brassballet of Germany.

Before I begin, after reading their bio at their website http://www.brassballett.com/, I go WOW!!

What can I say about this band. They claim that their name is not just a band's name but a musical revolution. They play music fuses with dances style like hip hop, salsa, street dance and etc. A must see act at Borneo Jazz Festival.

4. Anthony Strong of U.K

A man that has been claim as England new jazz superstar. Read about his bio and comments of other superstars are like "F**king amazing - Rod Stewart". Now, when an artist received such comment from a legend in the industry, he must be good, really good. Another must-see act people!

If you don't believe me, here's the link to his website and go check it out!

http://www.anthonystrong.co.uk/index.html

 5. Mario Canonge of Martinique

A pianist held from Martinique. He's been playing since he was at the age of 10. After watching his video in youtube, I find his music is calming. The kind of music that you would listen during your Sunday afternoon drive or just chilling. Beautiful, smoothing and calming. That is how I describe his music. Looking forward for his performance at Borneo Jazz Festival 2014.

Below is the link to his website:

http://www.mariocanonge.net/en/musique.html



6.  Iriao of Georgia

Name Iriao comes from the common phrase “Iriao-uruao” of the famous Georgian jodling singing style ” Krimanchuli”.

Iriao’s repertoire is based on Georgian authentic folk instrumental and polyphonic music, which has been recognized by UNESCO as being a masterpiece of oral immaterial heritage.  However, the band is not aiming to modernize the unique Georgian polyphony music, but to saturate and adorn it with jazz elements.

7. Diana Liu of Malaysia

Diana Liu, one of Malaysia’s most celebrated jazz musicians.  Her latest collection of songs treats listeners to a fresh burst of original and upbeat sound, bringing together Diana’s various musical influences in pop, jazz, bossa nova, funk/soul, gospel and experimental music.

You can also checkout her website at http://dianaliuwy.weebly.com/