WALLFLOWER by Inch Chua / Some random thoughts

I bought a thumbdrive (with downloaded songs)

and two badges. You could say I'm a fan.

WALLFLOWER
INCH CHUA and The Metric System
Esplanade Recital Studio
Friday (30 July 2010)

After attending thousands of classical concerts over the past thirty years, I have just done the unthinkable.

I have just attended my first ever rock concert. OK, this is not a review as I know next to nothing about rock music, but here are just some observations and random thoughts I made in the past hour. By the way, I have known Inch Chua (aka Chua Yun Juan) since she was a little girl. Most young people I have known, such as Abigail Sin and Tang Tee Khoon, usually turn out to become classical soloists. But this one, is now… gasp… a rock star!

Here they are:

The audience that attended this rock concert was slightly older than the one at this evening’s SSO concert.

The audience is equally well behaved as the SSO audience.

Inch Chua is still a little girl, but could pass as an older sister of Selina Tang (the violinist).

Her voice sounds a little like Madonna’s, but what do I know about Madonna?

Besides singing, she can also play the guitar, piano and ukelele. Name me one classical musician who can do the same.

Rock music is not all bad for you. Some of them have interesting harmonic progressions.

I strained to hear four letter words, but failed to spot any. There is no mosh pit in Esplanade Recital Studio.

Not all rock music is loud. Much of Mahler and Shostakovich is far louder.

All the songs she sings are about the same length as Schubert’s Lieder. There’s also one dedicated to those whose hearts have been broken (a perpetual Schubertian theme, if any). The song Wallflower can’t be far different from Trockne Blumen, can it?

Some of these songs may be transcribed for piano, like what Christopher O’Riley did for Radiohead.

Inch Chua composed all of these songs herself. She is damned talented.

She is the fifth woman composer in Singapore I know of. The first four are Joyce Koh, Low Shao Ying, Low Shao Suan and Adeline Wong.

The only song she sang that wasn’t composer by her was a "cover". That’s popspeak for “transcription”.

Inch Chua’s other band is called Allura. The boys are presently attending National Service.

This will not be the last rock concert I will attend (I hope!).