[left to right: Tic Tac Tone = Gene, Roy, Serene, Alina, Ken & Khar Liang]
I went on the 2nd-cum-last night of Tic Tac Tone's Secret Diary concert on 10 Sept 2005 Saturday night at the Esplanade Recital Studio. The 2-night concert is a celebration for TTT's 5 years of songs & laughter. Heard that it was full house on the 9 Sep night before.
Tic Tac Tone (TTT) is a mixed a cappella sextet consisting of 4 guys & 2 gals. Its members are Serene (soprano), Alina (alto), Roy (tenor), Ken (baritone), Gene (baritone cum vocal percussionist) & Khar Liang (bass).
Well, their programme booklet came in the form of a CD album cover which gives a brief description of what TTT is about. They had 2 solo concerts before - "Music" (2002) & "In Transit" (2003) as well as a collaboration with the Necessary Stage in a community play this year and Sing Song (2004).
The stage had no props, save for 6 high chairs. TTT came onto the stage with casual wear & hats propped on their heads with a James Bond medley with Khar Liang's earthy bass rumble that is realistic enough to resemble the original score.
Every Breath You Take is one song which TTT used to intro the makeup of a cappella singing by having each of its members coming in part by part. This is to allow the audience who maybe new to a cappella music to have a "feel" of a cappella singing. The led is taken by Roy, the tenor of the group. Though there was a small part that had a minor off-tune somewhere in the middle of the song, the group managed to cover it well.
The familiar Chinese oldie Cha Shao Bao & Zou Zai Zai Da Jie De Nu Zi were taken by Serene, TTT's soprano. The former song was given a very unique twist and modern flavour. Serene handled the song with her great stage presence. Hey, Cha Shao Bao was infectious and it's still stuck on my head after the show !
Brian Mcknight's One Last Cry was sung by TTT's baritone Ken who took the lead. This song according to TTT, was Ken's audition piece to join TTT and it blew the group away when they heard him sang this song. Ken handled the song with great vocal control and it really impressed me when he reached the high notes during the song with a nice sound for a baritone.
Then came the last song for the 1st half of the concert where TTT encouraged audience participation for Everlasting Love. Ken led the half of the audience to sing his melodic part while Alina led the other half to sing her harmonizing part. Alina & Ken "competed" whose side of the audience could sing better. The response of both sides of the audience were great ! Ken even joked to the audience that he would not have them singing inpromptu but will cue them in. That garnered laughter from the audience. Great 1st half.
The 2nd half. TTT guys sang a solo with Gene as lead. What can be more captivating than having a vocal percussionist croon a tune and a ballad at that? Well, Gene proved to be just as good in singing Love Is On The Way and double-roled in vocal percussing. Nice.
There's also a very lovely rendition of New York State Of Mind (first sung by Kimberly Locke from American Idol 2: season 2) sung by Alina, TTT's alto diva. Indeed she sang it with an air of diva. Last but not least, Khar Liang, TTT's bass gave a nice bassy edge to the tune Beyond the Sea, a lovely and familiar jazz piece.
The audience had indeed enjoyed themselves and it shows when someone shouted encore when TTT left the stage after the last song. TTT came back with an encore piece of this Cantonese evergreen Shanghai Tan (literally translated as 'Shanghai Beach') where Alina gave a powerful performance in her lead. Strangely, the audience laughed. Must be they find it humorous that one as young as Alina should sing such as an oldie.
Well, this Secret Diary contained all "scandalous" on-dits of TTT that the audience enjoyed 'reading'. Well, I first heard TTT on their 'In Transit' concert back in 2003 & indeed TTT had grown in terms of their sound in this concert. So now at least for me, I enjoy the laughter & humor & the vibrant music that is of Tic Tac Tone twist of it all.
Rating: 4/5
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