This morning, James from Warner Singapore excitedly messaged me. I was prominently featured in the TODAY paper today. In the "TODAY T COVER" section page 43, I was given a full page photo with an eye-catching headline. Chester Tan: One of the most famous Singaporean musician no one knows.
I am thankful to Jing Yi for her flattering, almost sensational, write-up which is certainly going to catch some attention. "Most famous"? "Most successful"? I'm far far from that. Fellow musicians, please don't flame me, I didn't come up with the title!!!
As mentioned in my article, I hope more local composers can explore the instrumental genre. Last year, Singapore's twin sisters musicians, Low Shao Suan and Low Shao Ying, published their first piano-instrumental album in China and won the Guangdong Musicians Association 2014 Artistic Performance Album of the Year. Local music-maker Eric Chiryoku has also published 3 instrumental albums over the past decade and is going to release his 4th this year. Dick Lee has also published original instrumental music in the album "Rice" (2003). Andrew Lum is another Singaporean music maker who preceded me in winning COMPASS Top Contemporary Instrumental Award (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010).
The local music industry has seen tremendous growth and prominence in mainstream genres like pop, rock, jazz. I believe there are equal potential for instrumental or Neo-Classical music, where they could enjoy airplay in public spaces. If every mainstream songwriter allocates a bit of their time to publish instrumental songs, Singapore would have a sizable catalog for licensees to use them.
I hope to reach out to like-minded musicians who have similar desires to explore this genre, so do drop me a comment and we'll take it off from there.
Thank you James Kang and Warner Music Singapore for supporting Piano Spa since 2005. Thank you Gilbert Ong, my ex-manager, for starting it all. This journey would never have taken place without you.
Link to TODAY article: http://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/music/chester-tan-most-famous-singaporean-musician-you-never-knew
Article written by Chester Tan (http://musicphotolife.com/)Labels: feature, Life, Music, Original Compositions, Piano
