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Shirley Horn had most of her right leg removed in 2001 due to diabetes complications. She has also received chemotherapy for breast cancer and has ongoing problems with arthritis. What could knock most people over has only given Shirley more strength, and her lengthy trip to Singapore from the states is a testament to her unstoppable willpower.
 
Answer any 3 of our daily questions and win a pair of tickets to either the Women of the World or the Poncho Sanchez Putumayo World Music Party.
The 19th March question is: Which two performers at the Putumayo World Music party recently got married in India?
Send 3 correct answers to editor@esplanade.com by 19th March to win your pair of tickets!
”To people in Columbia who listen to salsa, U2 is world music. Seriously, The Beatles is world music. They have specialist radio stations that play Western music to keep people up to date with what’s happening. I think it’s a question of communication.”
- Sidestepper’s Richard Blair on what the term ‘world music’ actually means
”I’m not ready to close the door. I’m not retired, I’m not giving up. I’ll conquer that piano-playing foot. It’s kicking my ass and I’m kicking right back.”
– Shirley Horn
”If you put a thousand Singaporeans in front of any one of these groups, if you could just wrench them and get them here, 998 are gonna have the time of their life.”
– Dan Storper, Putumayo founder, on getting people to hear world music.
”The design is really original - it’s like the fruit. The inside sounds great and I like the building. I want to taste the fruit before I leave.”
– Youssou N'Dour on Esplanade.
”It was fantastic, amazing. The first show I’ve been to and I feel I’ve lost out on the whole week. It gave me goosebumps.”
- Melissa, Interactive Marketing, after Youssou N’Dour
”I was my first time at the Concert Hall watching non-classical music, and I was thinking ‘oh no, people are getting up out of their seats, is that allowed?’”
– Lwee, Interactive Marketing, after Youssou N’Dour
”It was absolutely riveting. The energy was amazing. The standard of the festival is incredible. If Esplanade is going to continue doing this, it will really put Singapore on the map. I hope to see that it grows.”
– Gary Kitching, Managing Editor I-S Magazine.
”I think it’s an excellent festival because it utilises all the space at Esplanade very effectively and the musicians are all very happy and well taken care of. The programme is great, very diverse, a lot of choices.”
–- Danny Loong, singer-guitarist of ublues
 




 
Saturday 19th March 2005
LKJ in Dub
featuring Linton Kwesi Johnson
6pm, Theatre Studio
Shirley Horn in Concert
7:30pm, Concert Hall
Putumayo World Music Party
Latin Groove
featuring Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band, Sidestepper and GlobeSonic DJ Fabian Alsultany
9:30pm, Stage@Powerhouse
Explorations – Workshop by Monsieur Camembert
2pm, Recital Studio
Putumayo World Music Workshop
Musical Mosaic of Kaïssa & Susheela Raman
5pm, Recital Studio

Jazzy Ladies Night
featuring Dawn Ho and Michaela Therese
6:30pm – 7pm & 9pm – 9:30pm, respectively, Concourse

Rasta Reggae Romp
featuring Stillriver and Fishtank
7:30pm – 8:15pm & 8:45pm – 9:30pm, respectively, Outdoor Theatre

Montreux Jazz Archives: George Clinton Special – 1995
8:15pm, Roof Terrace & 9:30pm, Outdoor Theatre

 


Shirley Horn will be filling the Concert Hall with her sultry jazz sounds tonight and she is expected to be on full form, despite her recent health problems. We’re told she will be wheeled onto the stage in her ‘Cadillac’ and lifted onto her piano stool. Shirley has wanted to visit Singapore for many years and seems quite in love with our green and luscious island, green, she says, is her favourite colour.

The only poet at the Mosaic Music Festival, Linton Kwesi Johnson, is going to cause quite a stir with his unique and thought provoking show. Be prepared for something quite unlike you’ve ever experienced before, as LKJ demonstrates how music can be heard in poetry. With his rich, melodious voice, he weaves his stories around reggae and dub rhythms, although tonight he will be performing sans band – “like the emperor in his new clothes” he says.

Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band will head up the Putumayo World Music party tonight, no doubt steaming up the Stage@Powerhouse with their infectious boogaloo rhythms. Then dance the night away to the Latin-fused, drum ‘n’ bass sounds of Sidestepper and Globesonic’s DJ Fabien Alsultany.

The Jazzy Ladies are performing at the Concourse tonight. Local ladies Dawn Ho and Michaela Therese will no doubt have a calming effect on festival revellers trying to shake off their working week and relax into the weekend.

Keeping in line with the reggae theme for the evening, catch local bands Fishtank and Stillriver performing at the Outdoor Theatre.
 
 
A wave of excited apprehension swept through the Concourse last night as Youssou N’Dour’s eclectic crowd arrived, unexpectedly, on time. Susheela Raman opened the show with her trancey and ethereal adaptations of ancient carnatic songs. Showcasing one or two of the tunes from her new album - the crowd lapping up her short but very, very sweet set.

It was only his second song but the mere mention of having a boogie and the audience was up dancing in the isles, whooping and hollering and going as wild as one can in a Concert Hall. All eyes were on the female dancer who came on half hour into the show and belly danced and leg-kicked as if her life depended on it. For five minutes her unique energetic moves overshadowed Mr N’Dour who had previously held the audience captivated. Equally captivating was the seeming unstoppable drummer who came to the front of the stage and whipped the crowd up into a frenzy, drumming as if he didn’t know how to stop. The whole performance from Youssou and his 10-piece band was pure infectious energy and the man himself seemed happy and satisfied and not even slightly worn out after the two-hour, two-encore stint.

Raman took to the stage again at the Putumayo World Music Party for a longer, more energetic performance located at the Stage@Powerhouse, followed by DJ Fabian Alsultany. Spotted overlooking the proceedings at the VIP box were the Sidestepper crew, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Danny Loong from ublues and various other members of the Putumayo team who seem to be taking a long holiday - a week long for some of them. This is not surprising considering certain band members were traveling from the USA. Sidestepper DJ and bass player Richard Blair lamented that he left Colombia on Sunday and arrived in Singapore on Tuesday. He’s not looking forward to the journey home.
  
 
Shirley Horn gave a little chuckle when asked what she’s been doing since she arrived in Singapore. “I passed out on the bed,” she said of her arrival at the hotel. Apart from her jet lag, she seemed very happy that she’d managed to purchase a bottle of liqueur at the airport that is apparently exclusive to Singapore, and was extremely enthusiastic about her forthcoming trip to a seafood restaurant where she is going to watch the preparation of a certain type of crab, after which she is hoping to eat it. Apparently she loves to cook, and seafood is her specialty.

Youssou N’Dour, however, didn’t start his trip quite so successfully. On arriving at the airport, immigration discovered that he was missing his yellow fever jab. They promptly administered the injection, after which Youssou came down with a slight fever and spent the rest of the day relaxing. It didn’t stop him, however, from visiting Newton Circus for a slice of local cuisine on Thursday night and from spending his Friday afternoon rehearsing and sound-checking for the concert.
 
Shirley Horn: How to be a living legend
Grammy® Award-winner, seven-time Grammy® nominee, five-time WAMMY winner, and so many more awards that we don’t have space to list them, Shirley Horn will appear at the Concert Hall tonight. And if those credits to her name haven’t convinced you, in the highly revered words of Vanity Fair magazine: Horn’s taste is impeccable, her conviction contagious, and when she sings a lyric… “we accept it as pure gospel”.

Beginning her career as a 17-year-old pianist at a local restaurant, she eased into the role of vocalist when she realised just how much she loved to sing the old songs that she grew up hearing her mother sing at home. Although Horn didn’t set out looking for fame and fortune, the turning point in her career came when, after hearing her debut album, Miles Davis convinced her to open for him at New York City’s Village Vanguard. Slipping quietly away from the limelight in the 70s and 80s in order to raise her daughter, she reappeared in 1987 when she signed to Verve, winning the Grammy® for Best Vocal Jazz Performance in 1998 with her album I Remember Miles. With a long list of credits, including three number one albums on the Billboard Charts, she was most recently voted #1 Female Vocalist at the New York Jazz Critics Awards and #1Jazz Vocalist in the Downbeat’s Critics’ Poll. Jazz fans, you’d be mad to miss this one.
Poncho Sanchez: How to party with the head honcho
When you hear salsa music do your feet start shuffling back and forth to the beat? Does your bum start wiggling from side to side? Do your shoulders start to roll in a suggestive manner? Do your hands raise above your head and start playing imaginary castanets? If the answer is yes to any of the above then you’re going to be gripped with Latino fever when you hear the funky, sultry sounds of the Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band playing at the Stage@Powerhouse tonight. Sanchez’s sound draws on the funky, danceable brand of R&B and soul music that was all the rage in 60s California when he was in his teens. At the same time over on the East side, Latino musicians were experimenting with Afro-Cuban rhythms, combined with R&B tunes and English lyrics, which became known as the Boogaloo. Today, Sanchez combines these styles, adapting them to his jazzy trademark cha-cha tempos. Coupled with his slick James Brown moves and his easy style of talking to and relating to his audience, we asked Sanchez what else can we expect? “A lot of excitement, energy and a mixture of older music, newer funk, standards, Afro-Cuban and a band that people have never heard before.” Rumour is you can barely even catch Poncho live in the USA and yet here he is in Singapore! Don’t miss out. The night wraps up with Sidestepper’s drum ‘n’ bass Latin fever rhythms followed by a dance set by the renowned DJ Fabian Alsultany. Rules for tonight: Dance until you drop. Dress code: Party. Closing time: 3am.
 
LKJ: Spinning words on the revolution
Described as the world’s first reggae poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson’s rich, melodious and authoritative voice is filled with drama, irony and passion – a combination that draws you in, invites you to listen and hooks you with its flowing, sing-song rhythms. And that is the idea, as this is a man with a message that he wants everyone to hear. Reciting his poetry both a cappella and over dub beats, it can often be primitive, yet details “street life with authentic vigour” and describes the racial struggle, desperation and delusion faced by black people living and growing up in Western society. The Caribbean Times said: “The name Linton Kwesi Johnson conjures up leadership, strong views and direction. He is the acknowledged head of the new wave of performance poets, whose words welded politics and social conscience with a potent challenge to those in power.”

Although he produced a wealth of work in the 70s and 80s, Johnson feels that his themes are very much a part of the present as he says “they relate to the struggle for racial equality and social justice, which is an ongoing struggle”. His inspiration of course comes from growing up against a backdrop of racial hatred in 70s Britain, articulated within the reggae framework. He says: “I have drawn from my Jamaican roots and continue to do so, and by my Jamaican roots I mean the entire ambit of Jamaican folk culture.” Johnson has published five books of his poetry, recorded 15 albums and has been bestowed with too numerous honorary awards to mention. Experience his unique art form tonight in this rare performance.