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Singaporean singer and songwriter Tanya Chua will hold her \”Goodbye And Hello\” concert at the Shanghai International Gymnastic Center on Christmas Eve. The 2007 album gained 7 Golden Melody Award nominations — the Chinese equivalent of the Grammys — where she won awards for best female artist and best album producer.

Chua, who made her debut 11 years ago, is known for her magnetic voice and composing skills. She has written songs for many of the top female stars singing in Chinese.

But the 33-year-old singer admits it is difficult to be a serious musician. She said she almost gave up two years ago, shortly before she received her first Golden Melody award.

\”Rather than feeling honored, I felt comforted by the award. It was like an encouragement to sincere musicians like me,\” says Chua.

She has prepared more than 10 different pairs of high heels to wear during the concert which includes her song \”Red High Heels,\” about women\’s relationship with shoes and she wants her female fans to wear high heels to the concert.

(Shanghai Daily December 22, 2008)

Singer-songwriter Lee-hom Wang was interviewed recently by CNN about his upcoming conductorial debut of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO), sina.com reported.

The American-born Chinese music talent, who has made his mark in the Chinese mando-pop music scene over the past decade, now plans to show off his abilities in classical music. He will conduct the HKPO in Hong Kong Cultural Centre from December 22 to 24.

In his interview with CNN\’s \”Talk Asia\” program, also a third such interview in three years by CNN, the singer said that his collaboration with the HKPO is an experience he holds dear, and he will try his best despite the tension he\’s feeling.

Ahead of his first-ever experience in the role, he says a conductor has to convey to the listeners his own interpretation of the music, just as a producer does for an album or a director for a movie.

He will also introduce to the audience a classical piece \”Sui Bu\” (or \”Tiny Steps\”)by Huang Ruo, a new-generation mainland classical musician.

The tickets for the three concerts were already sold out in two days, thanks to Lee-hom Wang\’s unfading popularity.

(CRI December 19, 2008)

From Yellow Children, her first album, to United Nations goodwill ambassador, Zhu Zheqin has come a long way.

The singer, also known as Dadawa, made a two-year journey of Tibet autonomous region, then made her voice heard around the world when she released the Tibetan-inspired album Sister Drum in 1995.

Singer Dadawa has a new role working to advance the cultural legacy of minority groups as a goodwill ambassador for the UN. [Guo Yingguang/China Daily]

She then delved further into the world\’s minority groups and told her story in the 2006 documentary The Journey of Sound. It revolves around South Asian music, and includes street, gypsy and religious music.

Now she has a new role, working to advance the cultural legacy of minority groups as a goodwill ambassador for the UN.

The singer will work with the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) to help save and develop the cultural legacy of China\’s minority groups, from 2009 to 2010.

\”I hope that I can act as a conduit, that I can be the person who tells some of these (people\’s) stories,\” Dadawa says. \”My travel experiences to see these minority groups and the things I\’ve seen in my life have led me toward this.\”

Dadawa is always on the road. She has visited almost all of the Chinese ethnic groups during the past decade. In addition she has traveled from Kashmir to Delhi and Varanasi in India, to Nepal, then across the Himalayas and back to Tibet.

Because of the Tibetan style of her music, many people think she is Tibetan. In fact, she was born in Guangzhou and was discovered by He Xuntian, a Shanghai music professor who had been collecting Tibetan music for 20 years.

Her first album Yellow Children (1992), recorded in China, was well received. She is also popular in the West.

Her love of Tibet led to her taking the stage name Dadawa, which means moon in Tibetan. When she returned to the region last year she made her album Seven Days, in which she expressed a whole new type of Tibetan music, a music that is related to Tibet in a spiritual way.

She met with Khalid Malik, UN resident coordinator in China, when she visited Shangri-La, Yunnan province, back in 2006.

\”Dadawa\’s contribution to the development of ethnic groups\’ music and her passion for those areas attracted us,\” Malik says. \”She will not only help with the music part but also promote cultural diversity and local economies.\”

The project will combine two parts: One is saving and developing local music, and the other is supporting the trade in local handicrafts.

\”Ethnic minority groups have the most original music. From their way of singing to their musical instruments, I am fascinated by it,\” Dadawa says. \”While protecting these treasures from extinction is important, we need to consider how to reinvent and develop this music today.\”

Together with 10 other musicians worldwide, Dadawa will visit Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to collect music samples and re-make them. \”Good music should be heard by today\’s listeners rather than just be put in museums.\”

As for promoting local handicrafts, Dadawa is in love with the clothes of ethnic groups and will, for instance, wear a long skirt with a pair of boots from Inner Mongolia.

She says that during her travels she has collected many exquisite hand-made products, from accessories to home decoration.

\”I have bought lots of local hand-made clothes and cushions. In my eyes, they are fashionable and comfortable. Why not let more people know about them and buy them? Then local people can have more income to solve their poverty problems,\” she says.

For today\’s celebrities, charity work is almost as much a part of the job as walking the red carpet. They have become linked with preventing domestic violence, curing breast cancer, gender issues and saving farms from development.

For Dadawa, her new title is an honor and she now wants to raise public awareness of her various causes. \”It (the title) has an impact on the people who see it,\” she declares. \”The more people, the bigger the impact.\”

\”We believe in working with people directly. She\’s a very profound singer and I was touched by her commitment to make sure she used her gifts for Chinese minority groups,\” Malik says.

(China Daily December 18, 2008)

Australian pop star Kylie Minogue (R) signs autographs for fans as she arrives at Changi Airport in Singapore Nov. 24, 2008. Minogue is in Singapore to perform in a concert as part of her X2008 tour of Asia. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo]

Kylie Minogue would love to switch places with one of her fans – so she could see herself perform.

The \”Spinning Around\” singer would love to experience her incredible live shows through the eyes of a concert-goer.

She said: \”It would definitely be interesting to trade places with a fan and know what it\’s like from their perspective and vice versa.\”

The 40-year-old singer has also said she would like to be someone else for the day so she could go about her life unnoticed.

She added to Britain\’s The Sun newspaper: \”Some days I would love to have anonymity. Just to watch and explore the world – to be a viewer.\”

Kylie also revealed she is thrilled to be presenting next year\’s BRIT Awards alongside UK TV stars Mathew Horne and James Corden, who appear in hit comedy \”Gavin and Stacey.\”

She said: \”I think it\’s going to be a lot of fun with the guys and a lot of dress changes!! Hopefully me, not them!\”

(China Daily/Agencies December 17, 2008)

Coldplay do not \”deflower virgins\” while on tour. The clean-living band insist their backstage antics are limited to changing their clothes and they never take advantage of groupies like a lot of rockers.

Guitarist Johnny Buckland said: \”There\’s sort of a whole heap of things that we do before the show. \”Obviously we get changed, we do a bit of singing, play the guitar and just sort of relax for a bit before. But we don\’t deflower any virgins or anything like that.\”

Meanwhile, frontman Chris Martin has admitted their live shows are influenced by flamboyant performers the Flaming Lips.

He added to Rolling Stone magazine: \”Any theatrics on our part tend to be inspired by the Flaming Lips.

So confetti probably came from seeing their show and thinking, \’Oh, confetti looks good,\’ and then thinking, \’Well, how can we make confetti our own?\’ \”And we thought, \’Oh, let\’s make them all little butterflies.\’ That actually comes from taking my kids to the butterfly house at the zoo.\”

(China Daily/Agencies December 18, 2008)

Former Beatle Paul McCartney and pop star Britney Spears are at the top of Simon Cowell\’s celebrity wish list as possible mentors on the upcoming season of \”American Idol.\”

But the chances of getting McCartney to appear on the most-watched American television show seem slim.

\”We try every year to get Paul McCartney on but for whatever reason he won\’t come on,\” the British judge told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday.

Cowell said he would welcome the chance to see Spears on the show, which returns for its 8th season on January 13. The singer is on a comeback roll with a No.1 album and upcoming tour after almost two years of personal woes.

\”She would be first on the list. I would love to see her mentor the contestants. But if she doesn\’t want to do that and she wants to come on the show to perform, I would welcome her any time,\” Cowell said.

He said he would also like to see Beyonce and would welcome back singer-songwriter Lionel Richie and movie director Quentin Tarantino, who was a guest judge in 2004.

\”American Idol\” has produced some bonafide stars since its 2002 debut, including Grammy award winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

Former contestants Jennifer Hudson and Jordin Sparks were both nominated earlier this month for Grammys.

\”I absolutely love it when that happens,\” Cowell said. \”There is so much snobbery in the music business about what we do on this show. So I think it is fantastic.\”

(China Daily/Agencies December 18, 2008)

Britney Spears wants Madonna to join her on her upcoming \”Circus\” tour. Wade Robson – who is choreographing the 27-year-old singer\’s comeback shows – has revealed Britney is keen for her 50-year-old idol to join her on stage at one of her concerts.

He said: \”I\’m choreographing and set-designing Britney\’s tour. There has been talk of Madonna making an appearance, and there\’s so many place we could take that. At this point, the main issue is timing.\” This would not be the first time Britney and Madonna have appeared on stage together.

They famously locked lips at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, and Britney also performed \”Human Nature\” with Madonna as part of her \”Sticky and Sweet\” world tour last month. It was recently reported Britney\’s tour, to support her new LP \”Circus\”, is inspired by her breakdown, and will see the mother-of-two flee to the circus before emerging from the end of a rainbow following a thunderstorm.

A source said: \”Britney is well aware of what a roller coaster she has been on. She thought the best metaphor to use would be the circus. Fans get to travel with her through her fall from grace and her eventual rehabilitation.\”

Britney, 27, famously went off the rails following the end of her marriage to Kevin Federline. She shaved her head in February 2007 and was hospitalised several times – most famously in January of this year when she refused to return sons Sean Preston, three, and Jayden James, two, to their father.

Since then, Britney\’s dad Jamie has taken on co-conservatorship of her affairs and she has begun to turn her life and career around. \”The Circus Starring Britney Spears\” begins in New Orleans on March 3.

(China Daily/Agencies December 16, 2008)

The first of pop-rock band Mayday\’s concerts in Tapei on Saturday drew thousands of fans who lined up the night before in hopes of securing prime space at the open-seating event, the Tungstar news agency reported.

Tickets for the concert were attached to the band\’s latest album, \”Poetry of The Day After,\” which was released on October 23, and were not numbered, so that those who arrived at the concert venue first would get their pick of seats. Fans hoping for the best seats started to queue overnight outside the Zhongshan Soccer Stadium in Taiwan\’s capital.

The concert opened with a three-minute fireworks show, which cost about 600,000 Taiwan dollars (more than 800 U.S. dollars), according to local media.

The five-man band received screams as more than 50,000 fans sang along to their hit single \”Love I-N-G\” and other songs from the new album.

The second concert will be held this evening in the same venue.

(CRI December 15, 2008)

British singer Elaine Paige performs at the Beijing Exhibition Theater on December 14, 2008. [sina.com.cn]

Elaine Paige, the \”first lady of British musical theater\”, kicked off her career-anniversary world tour on Sunday with a sensational show in Beijing.

\”Good evening. I love Beijing,\” Paige said in Mandarin as she greeted her Chinese audience when she appeared on stage at the Beijing Exhibition Theater.

She then furthered her connection with the audience by performing her classics \”Memory\” and \”Don\’t Cry for Me Argentina\”, both of which were popular hits in China.

Belting out a rich repertoire, Paige took her time to explain what each song meant to her before she sang it.

The show was the first stop on 60-year-old Paige\’s world tour which marks the 40th anniversary of her stage debut. She will next perform in Shanghai on Tuesday.

Paige\’s prolific career began in 1968 when she was chosen to star in the musical \”Hair\” in London\’s West End. She made her Broadway debut in \”Sunset Boulevard\” in 1996, and is best-known for acting in Andrew Lloyd Webber\’s widely-loved musicals \”Cats\” and \”Evita\”, which respectively popularized the hits \”Memory\” and \”Don\’t Cry for Me Argentina\”.

(CRI December 15, 2008)

New Zealand singer Karen Davy broke a world record on Monday after nearly 48 hours of non-stop singing in Auckland.

She went home for a well-earned sleep, with a world record and a lot of money promised to Kidney Kids, a charity which takes care of children with kidney disease.

Davy began her record attempt on Saturday morning at the Botany Town Center in southeast Auckland.

She ended 47 hours and 29 minutes later, breaking the record by 51 minutes.

She got a five minutes break every one hour. Every song she sang had to be over three minutes in length and she got a 30-second break between songs to take a sip of water.

Each song was also timed by supporters and a representative of Guinness World Records.

She sang a series of songs which lasted three hours and repeated the series over and over for the duration of her 47 hours and 29 minutes on stage.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2008)