Sheila Majid's Legenda Concert



Sheila Majid sang at the Esplanade Concert Hall last night a song selection from her twenty years in music. She was a consummate performer, artistic in her song delivery, friendly and teasing with the audience. I don't understand Malay but the language in her voice became fully expressive in a way I had not heard before. She sang the ballads with particular feeling; the sayang tenderness of the language, potentially cloying, sounded a range of emotional clarities and nuances. She helped me hear a universe of expressive possibilities in a language I had thought, in my ignorance, unsophisticated and derivative. She made me see again what artistry can do for ignorance, prejudice and callused hearts.

Comments

Anonymous said…
As a Malay saying goes, 'tak kenal, maka tak cinta', roughly translated as '(what) you don't know, you don't love'.
6:58 PM
Jee Leong said…
What a lovely saying! It reminds me of a quote from "The River Runs Through It" which goes roughly like "we can love completely what we do not completely understand."

Jee Leong
3:32 AM
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