FOBISSEA Choral Festival 2010

The Secondary Campus of the Alice Smith School at Equine Park played host to 150 visiting students from eight international schools over the two days of 15^th and 16^th January, for the 2^nd FOBISSEA CHORAL FESTIVAL.  The event, coordinated by Alistair Hamilton (Head of Music) and Julie Anderson (Music Teacher), combined the ‘freshly air-flown’ student singers with 60 of our Alice Smith vocalists to put together an ambitious programme of SATB music for a concert on Saturday evening.  Schools from Brunei, Vietnam, Penang and Jakarta flew in, and locally we welcomed Kolej Tunka Ja’afar and Tenby International School. 

To avoid straining voices and to treat the singers to some variety, workshops were held on the Friday.  Visiting vocal specialist Liz Mummery ran a very physical singing clinic, ASWARA College dance students taught choreographed moves based on silat, the Malay martial art and I myself led a Malay kompang drumming session.  Pride of place however was taken by Malaysian artiste Datin Seri Tiara Jacqueline, Putri Gunung Ledang  co-star Ida Marianna, who enthralled a packed room with tales about being a professional performing artist and producer for both stage and screen.

The Gala Concert on Saturday evening was well received by a very appreciative audience, who were treated to full choral pieces, solos, small ensembles, songs from early Baroque to modern pop and musicals, a cappella music for full choir, piano accompanied pieces, beat boxing and guitar – there was something for everyone. 

 The festival closed with a Gala Dinner and Disco at Cititel Hotel Ballroom.  ASWARA dancers entertained our singers with a medley of cultural dances and jazz singer Elvira crooned as the students relaxed over dinner.  When the last handful of students left the dance floor at about midnight, it was obvious that everyone had a tremendously enriching musical experience.  

Let’s hope that FOBISSEA Choral becomes another regular event on the calendar.

FOBISSEA Gamelan Festival 2009

For the first time in South East Asia, FOBISSEA schools came together to play and celebrate the gamelan. The Festival, run at BIS Jakarta, was a great opportunity for students to explore and study five different gamelans from Indonesia.

So, in October, students from Bangkok Patana School, Tanglin Trust School and Harrow School, Bangkok, joined students at BIS to play gamelans from Java, Sunda, Bali and Sumatra. They even took a workshop in Betawi Dance which provided a break from playing the gongs and learning new styles.

Each group played each gamelan for just two hours with little or no prior experience of the gamelan. They were able to try different instruments in each workshop and some students enjoyed playing the rebab, an Indonesian string instrument which accompanies the gamelan orchestra. The students worked incredibly hard and made new friends in a very short space of time.

To close the Festival, the groups came together to share their work with the rest of the participants in an informal concert. The ability of each group to play a piece all the way through with a good understanding of how the piece was structured was amazing.

The next FOBISSEA Gamelan Festival is planned for January 2011. Do please get in touch with elizabeth_alwi@bis.or.id if you would like more information about the up coming Festival.