Doorkeeper

I went for a little concert last night, by singer-songwriter Dawn Fung. The venue: Pitchblack, a small cafe cum art gallery cum screening room in Haji Lane (parallel to Arab Street). Haji Lane is one of those one-horse lane type roads which must have survived from the early days when this area was first built up. Old shophouses line each side of the road. These days, new boutiques, restaurants bars, and funky cafes like Pitchblack are moving in.

Dawn Fung sings folk music, or rather folk music with a Christian orientation, and that's the kind of music she also writes. She plays the guitarlele which I suppose is some cross between a guitar and a ukelele but in reality looks like a mini guitar. She was accompanied by another guitarist and a violinist.

I enjoyed the performance. Dawn has a sweet clear voice which suited the intimate setting of the small upper room. The songs were pleasant too, with interesting harmonies and rhythms but could do with a little more variation in composition as there was a certain sameness throughout the performance. Dawn takes the Bible as a source of inspiration. Eg one song was based on Isaiah and another the famous verse in Ecclesiastes which has already inspired a number one hit song many many years ago. I must confess also that I was a little surprised that she sang so many hymns, as the poster advertising the performance didn't really mention it - the plug was that the Doorkeeper was a "brief visit to into the world of bedtime stories". All in all, a good performance but the songs need to be a little more memorable. When I left, the song running through my head was "To every thing (turn, turn, turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn)..."

p.s. Dawn also sang that old favourite, "Blessed Assurance". Now that takes me back to my convent school days :-)