Thats why I came to Singapore. Mediacorps' production. This was a talent hunt for youngsters between 13-17 in Singapore. They called me in to host the final episode which is why we landed here. Tipu and Harini came in as special judges as well.
I was told that this was the first ever time that they called in someone from India to host a show on Singapore television. This contest has been going on for the past ten weeks and was hosted by Ilamaran, one of the leading singers in Singapore. I was his co-host. The point about this show was that it was Live. It was a live telecast from the Mediacorp studios.
Ilamaran and I had a sort of a rehearsal yesterday to go through the script (for the first time in my life, I was given a script to host a television show and it came in even before we left to Singapore). Under the guidance of Thaamarai, producer of Yaar Andha Star, she is one very exacting person and very meticulous, everything went according to plan today, when we actually started rolling. Ilamaran was extremely affable and we hit off pretty well. Once we kinda went through the script, I went to give an interview and only had enough time to catch some zzzzz.This morning we went to the studios by 10 AM and I started writing points on my cue cards. Which was also a first. I actually got the opportunity to take down the names of the contestants, because I would actually see them and hear them perform live for the first time.
The show was for 90 minutes. Around 3 pm Ilamaran and I went to the floors for a dry run. Right from the opening walk-in to all the performances and the final bye we went through every line of the script. It was good to have a script to know what was coming when, and especially the names and what they were going to sing. It was also good to know how long we would take and whether we were running late. The dry-run clocked 93 minutes. We overshot by almost 3 minutes.
We went on the floors again at 6:20 PM and we were on stand-by. An interview with P C Sreeram was going on just before ours.
The best thing about this event was I was not nervous at all, which was weird, because I expected to be. Maybe I was OK this time because there was preparation and I actually knew what was going to happen when.
90 minutes flew past and it was a breeze because Ilamaran was great support. And when we said "Bye Bye see you next time" we clocked precisely 90 minutes. Yaar Andha Star was won by a boy called Koushik who was very good today. I must also say all the 9 singers today were very good. We heard that the talent level would only be "mediocre"", but when we did hear he performances, (most of them were totally untrained) they were very good. Also they do not have the kind of exposure to the wide range of music that Indians living in India have. Koushik was trained and it showed.
We attended a reception and dinner thereafter and I got to speak to a lot of people and there were a lot of photo-ops as well.
Today would be the best day of the trip. And I am totally waiting to come back home. Time and again its getting reaffirmed that I will not be happy anywhere except India. Nowhere but India. Nowhere but Chennai.
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
From Singapore
Flew down here today after we almost forgot to get the visa ..yep I know.. its one of the essentials, but with so many things going on and when someone else is organizing things for you, we tend to get complacent and believe things are taken care of. But then sometimes, luck favours you and things work out, and we got the visa in less than 24 hours.
I am here for a very interesting show. As usual I am superstitious about talking about what I am about to do. Rather comfortable reporting that I have done something.
I will be here for the weekend. Only that since today is Good Friday there is not much that I can do, not much looking around or shopping (not that I like it..) but then .. well..
5 years back when mom and I flew to New Delhi for a show, we happened to fly Indian Airlines. At that point in time, I had just started out as a playback singer but Kannathil Muthamittaal and some other songs had already released. A gentleman, probably in his 40-s working with IC recognised me, and when I got off the flight, he gave me a bar of chocolate and wished me all the best. And I met him again today inflight, and we both remembered the incident. Situations were almost the same. The last time the business class area was empty except for mom and me and IC employees. Likewise this time. Its weird how time seems to present some people and incidents that you least expect at you, and some of them are totally deja vu, or rather deja-happening. This meeting was one such and a happy one. Also happened to watch 'Enchanted' inflight and I am soooo happy that I didn't waste bucks watching it at at a theatre. Thank Gawd!
I am here for a very interesting show. As usual I am superstitious about talking about what I am about to do. Rather comfortable reporting that I have done something.
I will be here for the weekend. Only that since today is Good Friday there is not much that I can do, not much looking around or shopping (not that I like it..) but then .. well..
5 years back when mom and I flew to New Delhi for a show, we happened to fly Indian Airlines. At that point in time, I had just started out as a playback singer but Kannathil Muthamittaal and some other songs had already released. A gentleman, probably in his 40-s working with IC recognised me, and when I got off the flight, he gave me a bar of chocolate and wished me all the best. And I met him again today inflight, and we both remembered the incident. Situations were almost the same. The last time the business class area was empty except for mom and me and IC employees. Likewise this time. Its weird how time seems to present some people and incidents that you least expect at you, and some of them are totally deja vu, or rather deja-happening. This meeting was one such and a happy one. Also happened to watch 'Enchanted' inflight and I am soooo happy that I didn't waste bucks watching it at at a theatre. Thank Gawd!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Update on the Singapore concert
Quite a raging flu and on the road to recovery. And the road to recovery does not leave me much energy to do great things. So I am here to blog and give you useless facts about what happened at my concert in Singapore.
So post my AKK on friday, I auto-ed straight to the airport to find that the flight was delayed by an hour. And we waited around and our humble troupe of five finally boarded. Once in, I was wondering whether I could get some shut eye but they were playing Machakaaran inflight, so decided to watch it. And somewhere at the 30-oddth minute it stopped and started right from the beginning. And then again it stopped. I was not gonna go through watching the same portions again and again so eventually we all started playing musical chairs. Not literally. But figuratively. We started yapping and taking pictures and videos and whatnot. And then I finally mustered enough courage to talk to Manorama Aachi who was in the same row as us.
It has always been the case with me. I can't muster enough courage to go and say hello to someone I don't know, or to someone I have been introduced once. She was sweet and very friendly.
Singapore, amazing the way they have planned that small city, and maintained all the greenery. After settling down at the hotel, the organizers met us, went through the song list and we settled down for the day. Most times mom and I look forward to my concerts out of town because that is when we get some decent rest. The following morning we had to get some media interviews done and we headed to the venue for a sound check. I had issues with the sound initially because for anyone, it takes time to tune-in to the my voice. Not an easy one to mix I guess. But the guy finally did get it right. After the concert we headed to the Night Safari and we took the last tram around the forest. Quite nice I would say. Saw some species I have not seen before. And decided I would have to take some kinda crash course on photography. With a Nikon D80 I had no decent pictures of the animals. Guess clicking away at night requires skill!
We headed to Mustafa shopping center to see what all the hype was about. Even in the dead of the night there was a helluva lot of activity. But then again, vegetarianism and the world, still seem to run on parallel roads.
Next day was the day of the concert. We just stayed in and prepped for the show and finally headed to the venue at about 5 in the evening. This concert had some 15 ministers and there was a enough and more protocol to be followed. I was supposed to get my make up done at the venue. So when we reached there, I am told that I have 10 minutes to go up. Did quite a job of applying the war paint quickly and went on stage without brushing my hair. Ah well! And after that came down and did the needful. Krish was the next to perform and saw that he has a way with the crowd. Naveen was next and with "aadungada enna suthi" everyone was raring to go. Sowmya performed "chandralekha", it got her a lot of plaudits on Super Singer and here it was no different. She really does a great job with that song. We danced, sang, performed and the four of shared great vibes on stage. And it was non competitive :) The mutual admiration society and fun was what was top most in our minds. And it showed. The crowd was about 8000 strong and that was supposed to be quite a feat because the concert was outside of the city and there was too much security due to the Ministers attending the concert.
Once the show was over I headed backstage and I must say that I had one of the best dinners in the recent past. Maybe because it was the third day and both mom and I hadn't really eaten anything of great taste. That way, I must say, Malaysia is much better as long as food is concerned, than Singapore.
The next morning we packed up, loaded the bags in the cars and headed out to Sentosa. We were longing to get to the Fish spa at Underwater World, what with so much said about it.
Once at Sentosa, we went on the Luge, Skyrail, The Skytower, Underwater world and the disappointment was when we knew that the Spa was fully booked. Our hearts broke. And they are still not mended :( We also saw a museum chronicling the history of Singapore. That was quite brilliant.
We took the cable car back to Mount Faber and the car came to pick us to drop us at the next destination - Sim Lim tower. We met a group of wonderful girls in Singapore who helped us around. Sheetal, Nandini, Smriti, Shrti, Wanitha. Nothing like hanging out with happy-go-lucky girls. And one thing they all shared was their expressiveness. They all go wide-eyed and theatrical in a nice way when they talk. Not something that we see too often with all the play-it-down kinda attitude that we are stuffed with as we grow up. I ran around that place to get some things, and eventually ran out of time. I also spoke to some long lost friends who had settled down in Singapore. And headed to the airport.
Let me add a quite word about the discounts here.. Underwater world has a 20% discount on the ticket if you hold a citibank card, and Night safari will give you, 30% off on the tickets if you flew Singapore Airlines. And yes you needed your boarding pass.
The flight was an hour late again. I picked up some M.A.C cosmetics at the airport, me being me, I am always running out of war paint. And nothing quite works like the M.A.C.
I have always complained about the way people tend to misspell and mispronounce my name. It has been everything from Sinmai, to chinna mayil, sinna mai, chiang mai (yes of thailand!!). My name was once split, quite conveniently by my Chinese translator, to Chin-May-Yi and she wrote to me in Chinese. I had to write back to say Hi lady, I don't Chinese yet.
But the best I would say was Krish. No one quite got the hang of his name. From Kreeees to - Hold your breath - Grease :D
Once we reached our terminal, he said from hereon, Finally!! I am Krish ..
Naveen though generally quiet, he is the silent damager. And Sowmya had her own antics up her sleeve. Her style of speech was enough to get us all started. And she safely kept quiet throughout the trip. Once she 'lost' her phone and we called the number and it went to a local singaporean. Paavam that girl got lambasted. And it only dawned on us later that Sowmya's phone was not on International roaming. And the girl found the phone in her bag. *Sigh*
The flight back home was mostly uneventful except for the fact that I was queasy and the whole flight seemed to notice that. Someone handed be an air-sickness bag and until I got into the restroom it was quite something. Probably I was tired with all the running around in Sentosa or what I have no idea. I have never been air-sick before and there were some 'kind' souls who kept asking if I had thrown up 'well'. It continued all the way to immigration when random people asked "did you throw up well?". I for one, was quite flummoxed and had no idea how to respond to that. All I could do was just nod. And then there was advise on what to do if I did get air-sick. I thought I was quite unobtrusive when I did walk up to the restroom but then it seems I was not good enough.
Once home, mom and I fell sick and Aahaa Kaapi Klub has an RJ who sounds like her nose has been run over by a road roller. Voice modulation is the spice of life!
So post my AKK on friday, I auto-ed straight to the airport to find that the flight was delayed by an hour. And we waited around and our humble troupe of five finally boarded. Once in, I was wondering whether I could get some shut eye but they were playing Machakaaran inflight, so decided to watch it. And somewhere at the 30-oddth minute it stopped and started right from the beginning. And then again it stopped. I was not gonna go through watching the same portions again and again so eventually we all started playing musical chairs. Not literally. But figuratively. We started yapping and taking pictures and videos and whatnot. And then I finally mustered enough courage to talk to Manorama Aachi who was in the same row as us.
It has always been the case with me. I can't muster enough courage to go and say hello to someone I don't know, or to someone I have been introduced once. She was sweet and very friendly.
Singapore, amazing the way they have planned that small city, and maintained all the greenery. After settling down at the hotel, the organizers met us, went through the song list and we settled down for the day. Most times mom and I look forward to my concerts out of town because that is when we get some decent rest. The following morning we had to get some media interviews done and we headed to the venue for a sound check. I had issues with the sound initially because for anyone, it takes time to tune-in to the my voice. Not an easy one to mix I guess. But the guy finally did get it right. After the concert we headed to the Night Safari and we took the last tram around the forest. Quite nice I would say. Saw some species I have not seen before. And decided I would have to take some kinda crash course on photography. With a Nikon D80 I had no decent pictures of the animals. Guess clicking away at night requires skill!
We headed to Mustafa shopping center to see what all the hype was about. Even in the dead of the night there was a helluva lot of activity. But then again, vegetarianism and the world, still seem to run on parallel roads.
Next day was the day of the concert. We just stayed in and prepped for the show and finally headed to the venue at about 5 in the evening. This concert had some 15 ministers and there was a enough and more protocol to be followed. I was supposed to get my make up done at the venue. So when we reached there, I am told that I have 10 minutes to go up. Did quite a job of applying the war paint quickly and went on stage without brushing my hair. Ah well! And after that came down and did the needful. Krish was the next to perform and saw that he has a way with the crowd. Naveen was next and with "aadungada enna suthi" everyone was raring to go. Sowmya performed "chandralekha", it got her a lot of plaudits on Super Singer and here it was no different. She really does a great job with that song. We danced, sang, performed and the four of shared great vibes on stage. And it was non competitive :) The mutual admiration society and fun was what was top most in our minds. And it showed. The crowd was about 8000 strong and that was supposed to be quite a feat because the concert was outside of the city and there was too much security due to the Ministers attending the concert.
Once the show was over I headed backstage and I must say that I had one of the best dinners in the recent past. Maybe because it was the third day and both mom and I hadn't really eaten anything of great taste. That way, I must say, Malaysia is much better as long as food is concerned, than Singapore.
The next morning we packed up, loaded the bags in the cars and headed out to Sentosa. We were longing to get to the Fish spa at Underwater World, what with so much said about it.
Once at Sentosa, we went on the Luge, Skyrail, The Skytower, Underwater world and the disappointment was when we knew that the Spa was fully booked. Our hearts broke. And they are still not mended :( We also saw a museum chronicling the history of Singapore. That was quite brilliant.
We took the cable car back to Mount Faber and the car came to pick us to drop us at the next destination - Sim Lim tower. We met a group of wonderful girls in Singapore who helped us around. Sheetal, Nandini, Smriti, Shrti, Wanitha. Nothing like hanging out with happy-go-lucky girls. And one thing they all shared was their expressiveness. They all go wide-eyed and theatrical in a nice way when they talk. Not something that we see too often with all the play-it-down kinda attitude that we are stuffed with as we grow up. I ran around that place to get some things, and eventually ran out of time. I also spoke to some long lost friends who had settled down in Singapore. And headed to the airport.
Let me add a quite word about the discounts here.. Underwater world has a 20% discount on the ticket if you hold a citibank card, and Night safari will give you, 30% off on the tickets if you flew Singapore Airlines. And yes you needed your boarding pass.
The flight was an hour late again. I picked up some M.A.C cosmetics at the airport, me being me, I am always running out of war paint. And nothing quite works like the M.A.C.
I have always complained about the way people tend to misspell and mispronounce my name. It has been everything from Sinmai, to chinna mayil, sinna mai, chiang mai (yes of thailand!!). My name was once split, quite conveniently by my Chinese translator, to Chin-May-Yi and she wrote to me in Chinese. I had to write back to say Hi lady, I don't Chinese yet.
But the best I would say was Krish. No one quite got the hang of his name. From Kreeees to - Hold your breath - Grease :D
Once we reached our terminal, he said from hereon, Finally!! I am Krish ..
Naveen though generally quiet, he is the silent damager. And Sowmya had her own antics up her sleeve. Her style of speech was enough to get us all started. And she safely kept quiet throughout the trip. Once she 'lost' her phone and we called the number and it went to a local singaporean. Paavam that girl got lambasted. And it only dawned on us later that Sowmya's phone was not on International roaming. And the girl found the phone in her bag. *Sigh*
The flight back home was mostly uneventful except for the fact that I was queasy and the whole flight seemed to notice that. Someone handed be an air-sickness bag and until I got into the restroom it was quite something. Probably I was tired with all the running around in Sentosa or what I have no idea. I have never been air-sick before and there were some 'kind' souls who kept asking if I had thrown up 'well'. It continued all the way to immigration when random people asked "did you throw up well?". I for one, was quite flummoxed and had no idea how to respond to that. All I could do was just nod. And then there was advise on what to do if I did get air-sick. I thought I was quite unobtrusive when I did walk up to the restroom but then it seems I was not good enough.
Once home, mom and I fell sick and Aahaa Kaapi Klub has an RJ who sounds like her nose has been run over by a road roller. Voice modulation is the spice of life!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
The Singapore Show - Vasantha Oli
That was how my weekend went by. Rushed to the airport As soon as I wrapped up Aahaa Kaapi Klub on Friday. This time it was Naveen, Krish, Sowmya Mahadevan of Airtel Super Singer and I.
We had a few preliminary meetings at home before we went on this show as a lot of things had to be coordinated. And right from the word 'go' I knew that this show was going to be enjoyable. More often than not, it is tough to find people who have the same wavelength. And it was a great trip and a great show.
Will post more on the show on the same post. As of now have to run for a recording!
We had a few preliminary meetings at home before we went on this show as a lot of things had to be coordinated. And right from the word 'go' I knew that this show was going to be enjoyable. More often than not, it is tough to find people who have the same wavelength. And it was a great trip and a great show.
Will post more on the show on the same post. As of now have to run for a recording!
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