Published in Sunday People, New Sunday Times
26 July 2009
Young touch to old tunes
MAX KOH
Davis and Peters
Can the young hear the music of the older generation? The musical Kaki Blue is the litmus test, writes MAX KOH
THE musical, Kaki Blue, pairs 21-year-old singer-songwriter Nick Davis as the musical director, for the first time, with veteran Mervyn Peters as the chorus master.
Peters has 40 years of experience in the industry, worked in numerous local and West End musicals, and won a BOH Cameronian award in May for his work in Ismail: The Last Days.
Davis, an exuberant self-taught musician, is known for his role in Shanon Shah’s Air Con.
Kaki Blue is about our youths and their National Service experiences. To be staged at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre next week, the musical features a predominantly young and new ensemble of talents.
The show is Mark Beau de Silva’s maiden attempt at writing a musical, which he hopes will capture the “spirit of post-millennial youth”. After this, de Silva leaves on a three-month residency at Hooyong Performing Arts Centre in Korea.
“I’m really honoured that Joe Hasham contacted me to do this as it is something different from the things that I’m used to do,” says Davis who also has a small role in Kaki Blue.
“For the first time, I don’t have to do much writing as we are playing covers of songs of the yesteryears.”
The musical will feature songs of yesteryears such as It’s My Party, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, If I Had A Hammer, Walk Like A Man, Rave On, Monday Monday, and Come Together among others. However, these have been given an indie-rock twist.
“It was really fun researching, as I am not familiar with most of the songs. Take, for example, The Animals’ Gotta Get Out Of This Place. It has a very basic bass groove with a 60s feel to it. I rearranged it by adding some distortion, palm muting and power chords to give a modern-alternative rock feel,” explains Davis.
The arrangement process was fun for Davis as he was able to draw influences from bands of his school years.
“I thought a lot about the punk bands that I listened to in school such as Blink 182 and Sum 41. I feel Kaki Blue is different from the usual orchestra concept, so there will be a different kind of live band that plays really grungy stuff,” adds Davis.
And how does Mervyn find the new arrangements?
“He is very open to ideas. Obviously, I learnt a lot from just watching him because he has years of experience behind him.”
Davis, who actively gigs with his trio, The Snow Symphony, initially found the task of being musical director a little intimidating.
Despite that, Davis took it up because he “likes to do things that are impossible” and learn new things.
“Because I am a self-taught musician, Peters has helped me to understand music further. In fact, he is encouraging me to go learn music after this,” adds Davis.
“Peters is a cool guy to work with. He has a very interesting sense of humour because he tends to keep a straight face when telling you a joke. If you look past the funny comments, you realise that he is in fact trying to tell you something.”
“Davis has a lot to learn,” says Peters, “but I don’t mean it in a condescending way. It’s just that this is something new for him but he is very focused and dedicated.
“He’s really a good guitarist and knows what he wants in his head,” adds Peters, who first appeared on stage in 1975 as part of a choral group.
“What he needs to do is to take it further by studying more about music.”
Peters himself was a self-taught musician in the 1970s and used to conduct church choirs. “I didn’t know how to read music but I had a really good ear for music.”
He then made a conscious decision to study music further and developed from there. “I felt it was one of the best decisions I made because it opened so many doors for me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for the decision that I made then.”
Peters brought in some of the West End musicals in the 1980s but went backstage and focused on technical work such as lighting design in the 1990s.
He then returned to the “musical side” when he was roped as choral director for Broken Bridges in 2007.
He has since worked on award-winning musicals with the KLPac such as Tunku The Musical and Ismail: The Last Days. He is currently the personnel manager for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Davis is easy to work with because he can adjust easily to changes. He is really open to suggestions and a nice fellow overall, not to mention talented,” adds Peters. With the whopping 42-year difference between Davis and Peters, was communication a barrier at all?
“The age difference is not an issue at all because it really depends if the person is easy to work with. The difference between Davis and I is that I have experience while he’s at the beginning of the journey.”
Peters adds that he has still new things to learn.
“You know, I’ve never stopped learning. It is important to remember that no matter how successful a show may be, you have to do a personal postmortem and identify things that you can improve on.
“For Kaki Blue, it was a new experience working in a different style where music sheets are not prepared for the ensemble! It was challenging because there was no notations to determine how long you should hold a note for. Instead, everything is committed to memory only,” adds Peters who feels that notations would have made practice more productive and easier.
“But it was really refreshing to work with the ensemble. This group is particularly lively in the way they work. Sure, at times I found them unfocused and not used to the regimented practices and it took time to get used to singing as a unit.”
Seventy per cent of the cast are newcomers and most of the cast are still in school.
“But I suppose that is what makes them interesting. I know that some of them visited YouTube to listen to the original songs because they complained during practice, ‘But that’s not the way the original song goes!,’” says Peters.
“That’s the whole idea! We are not trying to be produce carbon-copy covers of the original. We are trying to bring a sense of originality to the songs,” he adds with a laugh.
Kaki Blue features 18 songs from the yesteryears with lyrics changed to suit the storyline. It is directed by Joe Hasham and features the choreography of Laskhman Balakhrisnan and set design by Yusman Mokhtar.
• Catch Kaki Blue at KLpac from July 30-Aug 16. Tickets: RM100, RM80, RM60, RM40, and RM30 (students, senior citizens, disabled and ex-NS trainees). Weekday (Tues-Thurs) tickets at RM30. Call 03-40479000 or visit www.klpac.org.
26 July 2009
Young touch to old tunes
MAX KOH
Davis and Peters
Can the young hear the music of the older generation? The musical Kaki Blue is the litmus test, writes MAX KOH
THE musical, Kaki Blue, pairs 21-year-old singer-songwriter Nick Davis as the musical director, for the first time, with veteran Mervyn Peters as the chorus master.
Peters has 40 years of experience in the industry, worked in numerous local and West End musicals, and won a BOH Cameronian award in May for his work in Ismail: The Last Days.
Davis, an exuberant self-taught musician, is known for his role in Shanon Shah’s Air Con.
Kaki Blue is about our youths and their National Service experiences. To be staged at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre next week, the musical features a predominantly young and new ensemble of talents.
The show is Mark Beau de Silva’s maiden attempt at writing a musical, which he hopes will capture the “spirit of post-millennial youth”. After this, de Silva leaves on a three-month residency at Hooyong Performing Arts Centre in Korea.
“I’m really honoured that Joe Hasham contacted me to do this as it is something different from the things that I’m used to do,” says Davis who also has a small role in Kaki Blue.
“For the first time, I don’t have to do much writing as we are playing covers of songs of the yesteryears.”
The musical will feature songs of yesteryears such as It’s My Party, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, If I Had A Hammer, Walk Like A Man, Rave On, Monday Monday, and Come Together among others. However, these have been given an indie-rock twist.
“It was really fun researching, as I am not familiar with most of the songs. Take, for example, The Animals’ Gotta Get Out Of This Place. It has a very basic bass groove with a 60s feel to it. I rearranged it by adding some distortion, palm muting and power chords to give a modern-alternative rock feel,” explains Davis.
The arrangement process was fun for Davis as he was able to draw influences from bands of his school years.
“I thought a lot about the punk bands that I listened to in school such as Blink 182 and Sum 41. I feel Kaki Blue is different from the usual orchestra concept, so there will be a different kind of live band that plays really grungy stuff,” adds Davis.
And how does Mervyn find the new arrangements?
“He is very open to ideas. Obviously, I learnt a lot from just watching him because he has years of experience behind him.”
Davis, who actively gigs with his trio, The Snow Symphony, initially found the task of being musical director a little intimidating.
Despite that, Davis took it up because he “likes to do things that are impossible” and learn new things.
“Because I am a self-taught musician, Peters has helped me to understand music further. In fact, he is encouraging me to go learn music after this,” adds Davis.
“Peters is a cool guy to work with. He has a very interesting sense of humour because he tends to keep a straight face when telling you a joke. If you look past the funny comments, you realise that he is in fact trying to tell you something.”
“Davis has a lot to learn,” says Peters, “but I don’t mean it in a condescending way. It’s just that this is something new for him but he is very focused and dedicated.
“He’s really a good guitarist and knows what he wants in his head,” adds Peters, who first appeared on stage in 1975 as part of a choral group.
“What he needs to do is to take it further by studying more about music.”
Peters himself was a self-taught musician in the 1970s and used to conduct church choirs. “I didn’t know how to read music but I had a really good ear for music.”
He then made a conscious decision to study music further and developed from there. “I felt it was one of the best decisions I made because it opened so many doors for me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for the decision that I made then.”
Peters brought in some of the West End musicals in the 1980s but went backstage and focused on technical work such as lighting design in the 1990s.
He then returned to the “musical side” when he was roped as choral director for Broken Bridges in 2007.
He has since worked on award-winning musicals with the KLPac such as Tunku The Musical and Ismail: The Last Days. He is currently the personnel manager for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Davis is easy to work with because he can adjust easily to changes. He is really open to suggestions and a nice fellow overall, not to mention talented,” adds Peters. With the whopping 42-year difference between Davis and Peters, was communication a barrier at all?
“The age difference is not an issue at all because it really depends if the person is easy to work with. The difference between Davis and I is that I have experience while he’s at the beginning of the journey.”
Peters adds that he has still new things to learn.
“You know, I’ve never stopped learning. It is important to remember that no matter how successful a show may be, you have to do a personal postmortem and identify things that you can improve on.
“For Kaki Blue, it was a new experience working in a different style where music sheets are not prepared for the ensemble! It was challenging because there was no notations to determine how long you should hold a note for. Instead, everything is committed to memory only,” adds Peters who feels that notations would have made practice more productive and easier.
“But it was really refreshing to work with the ensemble. This group is particularly lively in the way they work. Sure, at times I found them unfocused and not used to the regimented practices and it took time to get used to singing as a unit.”
Seventy per cent of the cast are newcomers and most of the cast are still in school.
“But I suppose that is what makes them interesting. I know that some of them visited YouTube to listen to the original songs because they complained during practice, ‘But that’s not the way the original song goes!,’” says Peters.
“That’s the whole idea! We are not trying to be produce carbon-copy covers of the original. We are trying to bring a sense of originality to the songs,” he adds with a laugh.
Kaki Blue features 18 songs from the yesteryears with lyrics changed to suit the storyline. It is directed by Joe Hasham and features the choreography of Laskhman Balakhrisnan and set design by Yusman Mokhtar.
• Catch Kaki Blue at KLpac from July 30-Aug 16. Tickets: RM100, RM80, RM60, RM40, and RM30 (students, senior citizens, disabled and ex-NS trainees). Weekday (Tues-Thurs) tickets at RM30. Call 03-40479000 or visit www.klpac.org.
