Community Performance By Keat Hong Chinese Orchestra

Several months ago, I received an invitation via Facebook to attend a community Chinese Orchestra  (CO) performance at the Community Center near my neighborhood.

This performance was organised by Keat Hong Chinese Orchestra and two neighborhood secondary schools (Bukit Batok Secondary School and Bukit Panjang Government High School) which are participatig in the SYF Central Judging this week would be participating in this performance as well.

Being an old boy from Bukit Batok Secondary School, this got me real excited because I was involved in the CO as my ECA (CCA).

As a alumni, I was more than happy to turn up and support my fellow juniors.

You may not know who was the one that got me involved in this whole cultural art back then, but if you were a CO member, you would have most probably seen his name somewhere... like on the score for Matsuri?

MATSURI/ 响宴

Below are the videos that I have taken of the performance. (Please bear with the bad quality videos!)

『大漠戍边图』

The first item was presented by my almar mater - Bukit Batok Secondary School.

I was awed by the fact that this is the choice piece （自选曲） they are gonna play for this coming SYF competition!

Definitely not an easy piece!

There are two movements to this song but I have no idea why they jump straight to the second movement. Perhaps it is due to the time limit allowed for each song?

The standards of school's CO are so high nowadays. No more easy peasy pieces like "Chan Mali Chan" or 『春天的花朵』!

Gambatte, my juniors!

Aim for that gold!

『嫦娥』

This is 『嫦娥』 performed by Bukit Panjang Govenrment High School and this is their choice piece （自选曲） for the SYF competition.

It was my first time hearing this.

Nice!

『征』

After their respective individual piece, the two schools combined to play 『征』, or Journey, which is the compulsary piece （指定曲）set for this years' SYF Central Judging competition.

For those unfamiliar with the SYF Central Judging competiton, all participating schools have two songs to play. One is their own choice while the other is comissioned by the CCA Branch of MOE (Ministry of Education). source

After the outstanding performance by both schools, the remaining of the performance was taken over by Keat Hong Chinese Orchestra.

『蜀乡情』

『将军令』

There are many variants to this popular piece and this is one version that I have not heard before.

『康定情歌』

『爱拼才会赢』 & 『明天会更好』

Watching this community performance has certainly brought back some bittersweet memories from my CO days.

I look forward to more performances like this.