| James Kon |
THE pool of multi-talented musicians from Brunei Darussalam is continuing to amaze and impress people on the international stage.
The recent semi-finals of the Asean ‘Be our Rock & Pop Soul’ Music Competition, held at Vietnam, saw the local band from Expression Music ‘Waht?’ and ‘D-1’ in the group category; while Lim Ao and Bridget Ang qualified for the solo category.
Despite failing to capture a single trophy at the event, the Bruneians did manage to garner praise from numerous judges from the competition.
One of the judges, Kelly Chew, who is the CEO of the record label BMBX Entertainment, that works with superstars like Beyoncé, commented, “Brunei has never been a country to mention when people talk about music, even around Southeast Asia, so I was pleasantly surprised to see four contestants participating.”
Local band ‘Waht?’ in a group photo. – JAMES KON
Tyler Smith, the Senior Vice President of Trinity College in London, also had praised Bruneian performers. “They rocked the house right there,” he said, amid loud cheers from the audience. “The drums were in my face. I liked it.”
U-Jin, who is the Regional Academic Consultant, said, “The standard of the band performance were very high overall.” He also pointed out that “The lead singer of ‘Waht?’, Evan, carried the vocals well. The band displayed a great sense of energy and appropriate youthful musicianship, in a performance.”
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