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BATTLE OF THE BANDS

On Friday 29 February, I had the priviledge of witnessing the ANPS-BI sponsored band competition at Sekolah Tiara Bangsa ACS. In previous years, the ANPS has held arts show or exhibitions. Today’s battles are the first competitions, and hopefully not the last. The new format worked marvelously. Billed as the Battle of the Bands, it was indeed a battle among the six bands at SMP level (junior high or middle school).  And yet another battle amog six other SMA bands (senior high school). The battlefield was the spectacular Tiara Bangsa theatre, with its beautiful lighting effests and even billowing smoke. The battle was opened by Daryl Forde, chairman of the ANPS and then passed to Thelma Poetiray, MOC and event organizer supreme for the ANPS, who introduced the contestants.

First, the SMP bands duked it out. Bands from:

1. Sekolah Bogor Raya

2. PSKD Mandiri

3. Yayasan Pendidikan Jayasrijaya – Papua

4. Vistory Plus School

5. Gandhi School

6. Sekolah Tiara Bangsa- ACS (Intl.)

The winner of the first battle was an awsome group from Papua, and second place went to the hosts Tiara Bangsa. (Had there been a third prize, I believe it would have gone to Sekolah Bogor Raya.) Watch these kids in a couple years, when they are in SMA.

The second battle featured senior high school bands from:

1.       Sekolah Bina Nusantara – Serpong

2.       Gandhi School

3.       Sekolah Bina Nusantara – Serpong

4.       SBI Madania

5.       Sekolah Bina Nusantara – Serpong

6.       Sekolah Tiara Bangsa- ACS (Intl.)

The winner of the second battle was Madania, and again second place went to the hosts, Tiara Bangsa.

While watching the everchanging projected stage backgrounds and disco light effects in Tiara Bangsa’s theatre, I thought of light and images specifically selected and linked to each piece of music, and how this would add another dimension of creativity. You see, I am a great fan of Disney’s Fantasia, where fantastic cartoon imagery was composed to complement some great classical music. A quick search of YouTube revealed lots of examples of slideshows, videos and animated videos composed to complement music. An example of each follows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jxml24gXwU

Black night by deep purple slideshow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykJNJYganCg&feature=related

cup of coffee video garbage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce6VHAdzxr4

i cant believe its not fantasia part 12 

What do you think about a visual creative component for the next band competition? Shall we make it a real multimedia event that utilizes he full potential of Tiara Bangsa’s grand theatre?

The judges for the Battle of the Bands were from the 8 Souls Band, who not only did an outstanding job of judging the battles, but also performed several pieces, thereby demonstrating their credentials to judge the battles, and, at the same time, delighting the audience. And strangely, most of them were related to Thelma, our event organizer extraordinaire.

Just one complaint about the 8 Souls...they don’t have a presence on YouTube. This is poor PR. Similarly, the ANPS really should develop a PR mindset. If events such as this Battle of the Bands were covered by TV and print media, the image of the ANPS would surely shine.