[Photo: Stefanie Sun (left) and Jolin Tsai (right).]
THE slated line-up of guest artistes at this Saturday's Wei Song Si Song (Garden Of Music) Concert is the most stellar Mandopop live ensemble in years.
There's hip-hop queen Jolin Tsai, Taiwan's dancing king Show Luo, husky-voiced Jam Hsiao, as well as Singapore's very own songbird Stefanie Sun.
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| Show Luo (Photo:MEDIACORP VIZPRO) |
Jam Hsiao (Photo:MEDIACORP VIZPRO) |
Hong Kong actor-singer Daniel Chan and local veteran singer Maggie Teng round up the list.
But therein lies the all-important question: With so many big names sharing the same stage, how will the sequence of performances be arranged?
More specifically, who will be the finale act?
Who will go on first, and who will fill those slots in the middle?
When The New Paper quizzed Mr Lim Sek, 49, chief executive of entertainment company Music & Movement and the concert's director and executive producer, he sounded unfussed and calm over the phone.
Clearly, he had seen this coming.
'It's inevitable you would bring this up, as there are a lot of artistes coming for the concert,' said Mr Lim with a laugh.
'Everyone would probably be thinking, 'Wow, so many stars, surely, there must be a major clash of egos!'
'But the fact is, all the artistes performing that night are good friends of the brothers Wei Song and Si Song. Among themselves, some are even bosom buddies (Show and Jolin), and they're looking more at having fun, to create a party atmosphere.'
Though he wouldn't give the details of the performance line-up, he promised that unlike your typical Mandopop concert, this wouldn't be one where each artiste does his or her own set and promptly leaves after that.
'You'll get to witness a lot of camaraderie between them and the brothers, plus it will culminate beautifully in a grand ending with all the artistes coming on stage.'
Each artiste will perform for an average of 20 minutes. The concert will be about two hours long.
For the finale, they will gather together to sing a new song the brothers had specially written for the show, said Mr Lim.
He stressed that all the artistes were 'utterly convinced by the logic and flow of the concert, once the rundown was shown to them'.
There was no diva-ish behaviour from anyone, neither were there complaints about the timing and length of their individual slots, he insisted.
Something different
'The concert is structured in such a way that each segment shares a part of the brothers' journey in their careers as songwriters and producers,' said Mr Lim.
'Most of the guest artistes are keen to use this opportunity to do something different, something you usually will not see at their respective solo concerts.'
For example, he said, this will be one of the rare occasions where you can enjoy listening to Stefanie Sun singing a duet with her two mentors.
She will also display her nifty skills on a musical instrument - you'd have to catch the concert to see which instrument that is.
All in all, said Mr Lim, it will be a concert celebrating friendship.
And friendship is definitely powerful enough to rid the superstars of inflated egos, he added.
'Ultimately, the brothers are not singers, so they probably wouldn't have dared to hold their show at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, without the appearances of their celebrity friends,' he said with a chuckle.
'These stars help to elevate the concert to a much bigger scale, it will be a great fun-filled night for the artistes and fans alike.'
This article was first published in The New Paper.
