Photo Slide Shows

I have been learning and playing around with photo slide show creator lately. It is quite fun doing it. Coupled with the right music, it sets the mood just right for the photos.

The first show I created is named Café Lumière as I shot the photos in a café. Then I chose a song with a romantic and jazzy mood to spice up the cozy café environment. This song is 'It wasn't Paris, it was you' by Nancy Holloway.

My second creation is called the Sentimental Moments. I shot the photos in another café of my friend and this time I added more scene animation. The lyrics of the song that I chose coincidentally sync with the pictures well at some parts. It was not intentional but an added bonus. If you are interested in the song, it is called 'Talk to me while I'm listening' by one of my favourite Irish singers Frances Black.

The third one is In the Mood for Love of Kartrina. The song is my all time favourite, 'Baby, now that I've found you' by Alison Krauss, my favourite female country-folk singer.

Joanna Wang's Debut Album, Japanese Pressing

I went to hunt for Joanna Wang's 'Start from Here' album today at the biggest Tower Records store in Tokyo, the main store at Shibuya. I was quite disappointed when I couldn't find it on the information kiosk.

When I was walking towards Tower Records, I spotted a HMV store along the way, so I decided to try my luck there. There were plenty of them there! So, if you are in Japan and looking for international music, HMV is a better place to look for it.

However, the Japanese pressing doesn't come with the second disc with the Chinese tracks, so I'm still looking forward to receiving the CD from China from Marlene the D.

Let's Start from Here

My good friend Marlene the D sent me a song called 'Let's Start from Here' and told me it is Joanna Wang's song. Who's Joanna Wang, I thought. However, Marlene and I normally share the same taste of music, so I started listening.

The moment the music intro started, I knew this is gonna be good music. Not until Joanna Wang started singing, it was just, WOW! Thanks, Marlene, for introducing such wonderful music to me, and thanks in advance for the CD that I'm gonna receive in Malaysia. :)

Joanna Wang is a Taiwanese educated in California. Everybody says that she's the Norah Jones of Taiwan, but I personally think that is an understatement. Her voice has a very distinctive identity, albeit sounds older than her age. She sounds like a jazz female vocalist with years of experience. If you don't believe me, just take a listen for yourself.

I heard that her debut album was also released in Japan, so I'm gonna hunt for the Japanese pressing as well!

Echoes of a Fallen Star

I can't remember the exact time that my brother introduced me to this singer. What I can remember is that I was mesmerised by her voice when my brother told me: "She only got popular after her death." She passed away on November 2^nd, 1996 at the very young age of 33.

Her singing skill is so versatile that she could sing blues, jazz, country, folk, world, etc. Probably due to her effortless talent that the clubs and recording labels shy away from engaging her, because she's not set up a niche for her singing career nor having a specific target group of audience.

A month after the release of her 2^nd album Live at Blues Alley, she was diagnosed with bone cancer. That's why she'd never made a hit in the music scene then.

My Eva Cassidy collection through the years.

This is the first CD of Eva Cassidy that I was introduced to her music, Live at Blues Alley. It's a live recording for her gig at a club. Most of the songs are jazz and blues genre. Her performance of Sting's Fields of Gold is just spectacular. You gotta hear it for yourself as it is beyond my ability to describe.

The second CD I acquired was Eva by Heart. The songs were collected from her scattered recordings in studios and club gigs. As I said earlier, she's no specific music style, so I just put up a track to show you her talent in singing jazz. What I can say is that she's from the school of Billie Holiday.

Some of her songs are compiled under this album called Time after Time released in 2000. She sings Cyndi Lauper's hit song Time after Time in this CD, thus the title. I'm not featuring this song here, as I want to show her country folk style in this song called Penny to My Name.

In 2002, Imagine was released with another 10 songs compiled. She sings John Lennon's Imagine in this CD. I'm featuring her jazz track You've Changed here.

The last CD in my collection is American Tune. She performs another Cyndi Lauper's melodic hit song True Colours and I'm featuring it here, just in case you miss Time after Time.