HALFWAY KINGS

Hey reader. Guess what?

It happened again. A mash-up of acoustic styles as different as the colours of a rainbow. No black tie. Zalila, Reza Salleh, Aiqa Halim, Narmi, Asmidar and Halfway Kings.

You know, sometimes a gig feels like a roller coaster ride. Tonight we did the triple looper and twister at the same time. It started with a short slow climb to the peak and then once we went down, it never stopped.

We played Down & Over, Traveling lines, Square is the shape, Best soldier (feat. Christine Tee on piano) and finally an encore of our cover mash-up. During our first song, my heart was literally cringing. There were so many people there. Then I looked at Asmidar and Narmi and you know what? These guys were smiling. Suddenly things ain't so intimidating any more. There were even smiles and nods from the crowd . After that, we smiled too, and played our hearts out. It helped that Christine,(our sessionist) awed everyone with her jazzy take on Best Soldier. You rock girl.

For the other performers that day, even an essay would not be sufficient so here are my 4 descriptive (self created) words of each act :

1st set

Narmi
Crooner, Clean, Make-the-crowd-eat-out-of-his-hand-kinda-guy, fresh
Asmidar
Emotion, Expressive, powerful, That-darn-good
Halfway Kings
(why dont you fill this up for me in the comments?)

2nd set

Zalila Lee
Soulful ,Guitardrumbeattablashakerbackingsoloist++ ,Fingerstyle ,Unique
Reza Salleh
Rez-Funk, Meaningful,makescrowdplaydrumonknees&tables, smooth
Aiqa Halim
Catchy, Bubbly-sultry, Easy-Listening, reminiscent

Reza;Aiqa;Zal


Ahh. That took some time. I guess the highway from brain to keyboard gets further when not used often.

You know, it still surprises me greatly how much support we received that day. I have never ceased to wonder how our scribbles and notes manage to resonate within somebody else, make them bob their head and even break a smile. Its quite humbling frankly. Another little thing occurred to me that topped off the night. Whoever says musicians are uppity and stuck up, have not met this bunch of people. One of the most easy-going, humble and talented group I have ever met. Seriously.


Halfway Kings feat. Christine Tee (far left)


Its late now. Thanks for spending a moment of your life here. Cheers.


Joachim Sebastian.