Poetry in motion

Hari ni memang seronok gila! Walaopon start awal.. tapi got to catch up with friends sambil bekerja.

The day started early sebab sudahpu janji untuk photography and interview session bersama Dayang Nurfaizah dan Marcell. Dah lama gak tak jumpa Marcell ni so it was also a reintroduction to him. Ye la... lain la kalao band Indo aku memang more friendlier.

But once the photography got underway, it was fun all the way.

Celah sesi photography kat Alibi, ada lak kucing ni dok posing merata. Alahai.. comeinya! Nama dia Adam. Aku nak amik pic dia with the hood over his head, sebab baju dia tuh ada hoodie, tapi dia nih energetic gila tak leh dok diam.. so nih jer sempat snap.

Anyway, sat down pastuh abihkan interview. Tujuan sesi nih about Dayang and Marcell nya collaboration bertajuk Sayang - which most of you would have heard (kalao bukan dengar radio yang asik dok promosi Kau Dan Aku tapi susah nak main lagu artis lain).

I love the song! If you guys dengar bebetul, there's almost (but not quite) what sounds like a sample of Michael Jackson's Human Nature ala ala SWV's Right Here. Me likey... smooth 90s groove-esque tanpa actually being left back in time.

Yang pentingnya... borak borak semua, went on to Blackberry lak sebab Marcell nak email aku lagu terbaru dia nak bagi dengar. Terus menjadi antara orang pertama masuk Blackberry Messenger list aku.

Banyak gak dapat borak - tapi sebab immediately pastuh ada one more event, wrapped things up and headed to KL from Damansara where I was. Headed straight to Dragonfly - the old Orange club for Nidji nya pelancaran album, Let's Play. Kalao korang ingat last aku jumpa Nidji masa ke Bali for Soundrenaline where they performed an AWESOME set.

Ni some pics masa press conference.

Pas abih bebudak went through a quick sound check. Meka ni pro gila. Lajus je speed through everything and rectified what they had to.

Pas abih.. gerak gi makan. Sebab a few hours later baru meka akan perform bersama Aizat, 6ixth Sense dan beberapa artis Universal Music yang baru.

Memula ingat nak ke Pavilion melantak. Tapi atas invitation kengkawan Universal, ikut ler bebudak Nidji and their management nak gi makan.

Destination?

Atas pilihan bebudak Nidji sendiri - nasi ayam Hainan kat Jalan Bukit Bintang tuh. Merasalah meka datang KL kena merasa nasi ayam tuh sebab takde katanya yang camni kat Jakarta.

Tuh dia si Giring dalam letih sempat tuh makan banyak. Pas kita abih, we moved back to the venue to have a drink (ngan some friends and then terserempak ngan Nabila and friend - which kalao korang ada follow Twitter aku nampak la pic) while bebudak Nidji balik hotel jap berehat and freshen up.

A couple of hours later, it was showtime. A few artistes kicked off the line-up of the night. Finally the big names came out. Beginning with 6ixth Sense.. and then Aizat. I think they did three songs each kalao tak silap aku.

And then it was on to the main show. The boys performed six or seven songs in total. Maybe more. I lost count sebab aku dok sibuk headbanging. Suka suka suka!!!! Forget all the other songs (including all time fave Laskar Pelangi). Aku tunggu Sang Mantan je. Fell in love with it masa meka perform it kat Soundrenaline. Memang enjoy gila.

Ended the night, said goodnight to the boys. Sempat tambah contacts list aku kat Blackberry (matilah addict sungguh aku nih).

Pastuh gerak nak gi jumpa kawan-kawan. Banyak gak gosip dapat.

By the way, kalao korang interested to know, Kris Allen - the American Idol will be in town this coming Monday! Woohoo! Yeay yeay! I like him, so definitely will be there. This, I believe is the first announcement of his coming here (almost sure.. but I could be wrong), so whatever it is, nanti aku confirm dates and such ASAP when I get more info.

Now, I just need to call it a night. Esok banyak article nak wat. Work piling up... not a good thing.

Oh by the way, sapa peminat Nidji (sapa bukan kena give them a try), aku akan upload several videos of their performance. Must see!

Until then.. night all.

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Soundrenaline 2009 Bali - The event!

So we're on the way to the Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue or GWK, a private cultural park on the Bukit Peninsula at the southern end of the island of Bali in Indonesia.

It took us HOURS sebab memang sesak gila jalan! The fest was supposed to start at 3pm. But at 2pm, masa kami in the area, it took us forever to make our way up the hill. Dah lah transport kita panas sebab air con rosak. Pening rasanya...

Oh... before I move on, nak cita sikit pasal venue for Soundrenaline, which is the awesome GWK.

It's a limestone area and it houses the statue of Lord Wisnu, riding on the mythical Garuda. Made from more than 4000 tonnes of copper and brass, it will stand 150 meters tall with its wings span 64 meters across and is Made from more than 4000 tons of copper and brass,

The statue's not totally up yet, but it's supposed to be bigger than even the Statue of Liberty, and is supposed to be one of the biggest statues in the world and you can see it from 20 km away or something.

What is ready is the surrounding 240 hectares of cultural park which houses the Lotus Pond, Festival Park, Amphitheater, Street Theater, Exhibition Hall, as well as Jendela Bali The Panoramic Resto and souvenir shops.

If you get to go there, hopefully, you get to see the statue of Wisnu, it'll be in one piece, unlike when I saw it in three different areas.

Ok, now were done with that lesson, here's some pics of how the festival looked. Amazing! Smack in the centre of that limestone part, cut to form surroundings of it with huge courtyards.

Layan la pics of the festival. Soundrenaline is the BEST music festival I've ever been to. Forget the local fests you've been to like Sunburst and Live & Loud. Nothing comes close to Soundrenaline.

Bersedia layan the many many pictures I have. Ni pon sikit je. Banyak lagik aku tak postkan.

The limestone walls


On some of the walls, there was amazing artwork carved in


That's the top part of the Wisnu statue


Check out the view of the entrance into the festival area


Saja nak gambar kenangan


The themed 'streets' along the limestone alleys to represent the genres



And more streets


The Garuda behind the main festival stage.. the Wisnu head can be seen too


Majestic... and awesome crowd


Simply stunning venue


Some of the about 40,000 crowd attending Soundrenaline




Along the Hip Hop street I think. Funky bicycles pimped up!



Even the refreshment area is music themed. Tables - drums. Umbrellas - cymbals/hi hats and seats - drummer stools


The intimate setting at the Amphitheatre where about 500 can sit. Presenting soul, jazz, fusion and ethnic sounds



The merchandise store


Very different as you can make your own - with your own name for less than RM20!


The chill out area


The other stages


Ungu performing


As it gets dark, the place gets more and more beautiful


Dedy Lisan of Andra & The Backbone


The crowd just got bigger and bigger and they were in the mood to party - nothing rowdy about them at all


Giring of Nidji - the most awesome band of the night





Dhani with The Rock pun ada


It was a simply amazing day. There were so many awesome bands that performed for the night.

The all Indonesian line-up for the whole day included Slank, The Changcuters, Kotak, The Virgin, Naif, Ello, Ungu, Pas Band, J-Rocks, Superman Is Dead, Ardo & Delight, Kanan 5, Nanoe Biru, Saint Loco, Maliq & D'Essentials, Balawan & Friends, Ari Lasso, Gigi, The Rock, Andra & The Backbone, as well as Mulan Jameela.

Tapi serious, paling happening, the opening in D'Masiv as well as masa primetime, Nidji rocking the stage. Especially masa opening meka leh menari. Amik ko...

But my personal faves of course lah Laskar Pelangi as well as Sang Mantan.

By the way, a little extra info - DVD as well as (kalao tak silap aku) soundtrack Laskar Pelangi featuring Nidji's rocking sounds will be released in Malaysia soon.

Anyway, after we were done, with the concert wrapping up, we headed just across the venue to the stylo restaurant Jendela Bali to meet the guys from Nidji.

What an entrance...


The stylo spot


Check out the structure


Giring (vocalist), Andro (bassist), Run-D (keyboardist), Rama (guitarist), Ariel (guitarist), and Adri (drummer). One of my fave Indo bands of all time


Two for the album



After we spent some time with the guys from Nidji (memang cool gila - siap leh gelak gila bila meka wat Gerimis Mengundang dari Slam sebab tu antara lagu meka penah minat) - we walked like 2 to 3km away to get to our transport. Sebab jalan sesak sangat with berpuluh ribu orang keluar jalan masuk yang sempit, it took us forever to get out.

But pas kita abih, gi hotel lak lepak ngan bebudak D'Masiv.




Yang aku bangga sangat, bila ada yang tanyakan kalao meka kenal band Malaysia, bebudak cakap kenal 6ixth Sense. I am proud that our new bands pon leh register with these hot acts from Indonesia.

By the time got back to hotel, serious half dead. But happy - and still excited about the whole Soundrenaline affair. This was rock at its best! And it's going to be a long time before I will ever have the opportunity to party out like this again.

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