a journey home (part 1)

It isn't much fun to drive long distance, especially after a stretch of twenty-four hours' work. And this was my last cup of coffee before the night fell last friday. At RM 7.50 standard or RM 8.50 large for a latte, this should be a real steal. And the sugar container actually gave this whole posh segafredo coffee the penang feel. A back to basic treat!
I went to Alliance Francaise in Jalan Phuah Hin Leong to buy the Penang Jazz Festival ticket. The people is much friendlier than you could imagine, especially Sophie and Yann. They gave me directions to find the place, suggestions for car parks and even offered food while i was there! The art-pieces you see here are “Colours of Jazz Exhibition” by Christian Vey. "very illustrative!". There's a lot more paintings and the exhibitions finishes on this Dec 10, 2005.
About 8:30 PM the workshop started with Mr. Gambus telling us a bit about his modern gambus, which has a flat-bottom and installed with pickup. The strings are guitar strings. One could experiment with plenty of modes since this instrument's main characteristic are the micro or quarter tone, and also the 'thrill' musical expression. The sound is very subtle and mellow because the original gambus was commonly used to perform for the king during his majesty's lullaby hours. Other musicians include fly on electric bass, and eric on acoustic piano and a drummer missing in action.
Japanese kawai, Chie Hanawa amazed the males not only with her smooth complexion, but her aggressive virtuoso playing on the shamizen! This ancient japanese instrument is using only three strings, instead of the common six strings for the guitar. The acoustic volume is range from medium soft to extreme loud! The character? Bright. Percussive. Unique. Yes, it's the one used by the geisha, but the repertoire and style was totally different, as explained by Chie. This baby is not pratical for chordal playing, and it's fretless! Here's something interesting about the pick. It's made of tortoise shell and ivory. Guess there should be some synthetic alternative, in order to prevent these two animals from extinction. A note about playing the gambus or shamizen? One must be equip with very very good ears!
Now, where is Julian?