35th Bon Odori 2011 Arigatou Malaysia

盆踊り a.k.a Bon Odori is a style of dancing performed during the Bon festival, a.k.a Obon.

Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed spirit of one's ancestor. This Buddhist custom has evolved into family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.

This is when the Bon-Odori festival in Malaysia comes in. The Bon-Odori festival is held in two states of Malaysia, namely KL and Penang simultaneously every year. This year for KL, it was held in Matshushita Sports Centre, Shah Alam. The crowd was overwhelming, way more than last year. People from all races and every walks of life was there to celebrate this very festival. There were mainly dance performances and stalls selling food and beverages.

Everyone who went also received a free hand-held fan with the illustration below wrapped around the fan.

Needless to say, this makes it super convenient for participants to keep track of events :).

It was my first time there and also my last time to Bon Odori festival, that's because I'm heading off to UK in 2+ months time. It was a good experience, I have not seen so much crowd in ONE place before. It awes me because even though I have been to even more crowded places outside Malaysia, the difference here is that I can stand still and take photos with the crowds around me, whereas outside Malaysia, if I stand still and take photos with this sort of crowd, I would be push off to god-knows-where.

Me and YY, with the crowd at the back!

and outside Bon Odori, outside the stadium, there are things one can never spot :)

 

Spotted : YUKATAS!

Final photo taking with the people!

 

From left to right, my brother's Japanese sensei (Atsuko sensei), my brother's girlfriend (YY), me and my brother's best friend (Greg)

It was a wonderful experience :), thank God I forgone the food+cocktail review at View, GTower for a quality time with these people :').

An evening of live jazz with the Patrick Terbrack Quartet @ No Black Tie

I have a weakness for good music and of course, great company. My classmates and I have been talking about attending a live jazz performance for a while,  since even before our mock exams. Finally, one of us, the kind Grace, got around to checking the website out and after much discussion, we booked a table for yesterday night, the 22nd of April 2011, to watch the Patrick Terbrack Quartet play in No Black Tie.

Below is the official poster for the event.

The quartet, not including the pianist in the picture because he was sitting far far left.

Notice the white shirt drummer? I think it's quite impressive because he's a JAZZ drummer and he's only 18!

sax & trumbone duo, complement each other so well that my jaw dropped.

It was a very impressive and fantastic performance I must say.

They started at sharp 10.30pm and  I think it went on until 1am++. I left at 1am though. Their performances were very relaxing and carefree, they totally know their stuffs! I was blown away by their creativity with the sax, trumbone, drums, bass and of course piano :). I didn't enjoy myself very much because I was struck with tummy problem around 11pm :(. It's like I only heard like 20 minutes of their performances and then booom! I was in pain until 1am++. Kind of it's my own fault la, shouldn't have drank the alcohol before taking my dinner, but they serve my dinner so late lah :(. I was thirsty, how was I supposed to know a sip of tequila would do that to my poor tummy?

Okok, enough of the whiny stuffs, back to the awesome quartet. It was held at No Black Tie, a small double storey kind of house on Jalan Mesui, located in the hearts of KL I shall say. Inside, it's quite small and it could accommodate up to 40 pax I think. I also think that jazz is not everyone's cup of tea, that night itself, the crowds consist of mostly classy caucasians and chinese.

We were the odd one out, we looked like 14 lost law students found ourselves trapped in a jazz concert XD.

Shall share some group pictures we took :)

from left to right : Me, Jack, Grace and Rachel a.k.a the gossip gang :P

me and Jack the mimbo LOL.

Group picture yo :)

Everyone dressed up so nicely for the night :)

We left around 1am even though the performances were still going on, that's because some of us have curfew :(, and I was in so much pain that I think i'd be a nuisance with my head down on the table while the quartet is performing two tables away from my table :X.

I wanna thank everyone for making this awesome outing happened!

Also, would like to thanks Faiz for driving me to and fro even though he lives temporarily in KL now.

mmm, ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH JACK, for walking with me to the mini market to get my tummy medicine in a sea of clubs and people from various backgrounds.

THANK YOU GRACE FOR MAKING THE RESERVATION, YOU ARE AWESOME!

OH, thanks Rachel for bunking over at my house, had an awesome sleepover withchu :D

So people, if you have a thing for Jazz, or you would just like a change of environment, or just wanna try something new, maybe can head on to www.noblacktie.com.my to check out their events date. It's not a bad choice to choose to spend an evening listening to live jazz you know :). They are really awesome at what they do, however cover charges may differ and time of the performance varies.

For the one we went, it was RM30 per person for the cover charge and the food & beverages were a bit expensive. However, you can opt to just order a drinks there and listen to jazz all night then head out to the mamak for food after the performance XD.

Yours Truly.

Thank you for reading :)