Tommy Emmanuel once said, “Put a guitar in a boy’s hands at a very young age, and magic will happen.” Sungha Jung is a personification of this statement, bringing music to his listeners either vicariously through the internet, or into their hometown via concerts.

On December 16, some one thousand fans of the 16-year-old fingerstyle guitarist had the privilege of witnessing his first ever concert in Kuching, Sarawak. The concert was organized by Borneo TruEvents, a strong force in corporate event organization in the region. “We started out heavily focused on music, but the situation in Sarawak was such that we had to move to corporate events to grow. Now, a couple of years on, we feel it’s time to give back to the community, and we chose to do so through this concert, which also signifies our underlying passion for music,” CEO of TruEvents Silas Michael mentioned.

Indeed, ‘Sungha Jung Live in Kuching’ was a milestone event for the city. It is not often that an artist of his caliber stops by. Hopefully, his visit has inspired fans to take up the guitar seriously, and will be a catalyst to birth new talents.

Sungha opened the concert with an original piece, ‘Irony,’ which is also the title of his second solo album. In halting English, he addressed the crowd, and was careful to thank them for listening to his music. It took a few pieces, however, before he settled down to the atmosphere of the crowd. The transition to the next song, a cover of Maroon 5’s ‘Payphone’ gave signs of his not being fully settled yet as he took a while to tune his guitar from the non-standard tuning of ‘Irony.’ Still, the crowd seemed not to notice, as the song was clearly a crowd favorite.

Sungha gave a preview of his third solo album, due for release next year, with an original tune called ‘Nostalgia.’ Later on in the set, he surprised the crowd by playing two Malaysian songs: ‘Rasa Sayang’ and ‘Sejahtera Malaysia.’ It gave a warm feeling to the listeners to hear their own country’s songs being played so well by someone not from their homeland. It portrayed the ability of music to unify despite differences.

Nevertheless, Sungha’s first set of 8 songs had perhaps one too many covers, each having a heavy rhythm segment. There were a few K-Pop pieces, no doubt to please his teenage fans, as well as a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep.’ It was only the last song of the first set, ‘Lupan,’ a Japanase piece arranged by Akihiro Tanaka, that revealed more of his fingerstyle prowess. A running bass line, as his smooth fingers carried it together with the lead and melody, was pleasing to the musically-inclined ear.

After a short intermission Sungha came onstage for the second set with a ukulele. He delighted the audience with a rendition of Goyte’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know,’ followed by a playful interpretation of the ‘Super Mario’ theme. But by that stage, you’d have had this notion that this young man is still trying to discover himself, despite his prowess on the guitar. He played to draw reactions from the mainly adolescent crowd, and perhaps that’s why he had a wide range of covers that had the sign of being quickly strung together, in order to be current. But then again, he’s only 16.

Back on his Lakewood guitar, he played a beautiful medley of Christmas carols, just right for the festive season. Right after that, the crowd perked up as quizzed them (“What’s the most famous K-Pop song right now?”) as he went on to play ‘Gangnam Style.’ It brought some of the front audience to their feet, and Sungha flashed his trademark grin at them.

Sungha probably did not do himself full justice in his choice of songs. He has a number of original compositions in his manuscript collection, and it was a little disappointing that he only played three of them (‘Sorry’ was the other). Some fans commented after the concert that they would have liked to have heard more original tunes, like ‘Waterfall,’ ‘Hazy Sunshine’ and ‘For You’.

However, towards the end, Sungha displayed his maturity in the guitar, which showed the the level where he is. He played ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ and the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ theme, both excellently arranged by him. These two arrangements showed more thought and elaborate chord work in it. With fewer strums and rhythm, he was able to give more clarity in the individual notes and greater room for dynamics to capture the intent of the pieces.

At the end, he was called back on for an encore, playing ‘Guitar Boogie’ as arranged by Tommy Emmanuel, to cap off an inspiring evening for this young man.

Perhaps it will take a few more years for Sungha to craft his concerts into something that is truly his own, using pieces to hold the set as a whole instead of bringing them out as individual entities. But having said that, Sungha Jung is indeed a remarkable young guitarist with a bright future ahead of him.

Photo Credit : Abdul Malik

The article ‘Sungha Jung in Concert’ Review appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

It’s not often that the best young fingerstyle guitarist in the world bypasses your country’s capital and heads to your city. That is, if your hometown is Kuching, which means ‘Cat City’ in Malay. If you aren’t a Malaysian and haven’t yet been to Kuching, this would be a perfect excuse to book a flight and plan a holiday there in mid-December: Sungha Jung, the 16-year-old South Korean musical sensation will be having his own concert there on December 16. It may be a great chance to meet this young star personally, in a relatively small city.

Many have come to know Sungha through his Youtube videos. His ability to learn and play a wide range of tunes since he was 9 caught the attention of people worldwide. What made Sungha stand out then (other than the fact that he was a tiny kid playing a guitar), was that while many people starting out with an instrument settle for being able to get a few notes right, Sungha was able to master and play songs with precision and skill.

Real practice pays off, and now at age 16, Sungha already has an impressive record: he has performed alongside a number of notable fingerstyle guitarists, such as Tommy Emmanuel, Andy Mckee, Ulli Boegershausen, Thomas Leeb, Kotaro Oshio, Byung-Woo Lee, and Trace Bundy.

As a preview for this concert, Toonari Post caught up with Borneo TruEvents, organizers of the event, to get more information on the show. I spoke with Silas Michael, CEO of Borneo TruEvents.

Toonari Post (TP): Why bring in Sungha to Sarawak and not Kuala Lumpur, where all the big artists usually go to when they come to Malaysia? What was the initial motivation to bring in Sungha?

Borneo TruEvents (TruEvents): We’re a Sarawak-based event company looking to expand the horizons of event organizing and management in the state. It is our passion to host major events and artists here instead of the typical venture of doing so in the national capital. As a passionate music enthusiast, I would like to see an artist entertaining us from pure musical talent, away from the usual manufactured glitz and glamor of the standard pop culture. Of course, being Korean, Sungha will carry a pop buzz anyway.

TP: Sungha actually did a free mini concert at the Kuching Airport earlier this year, organized by Borneo to the World (BTTW). Many commented afterwards that they would have gladly paid for an actual sit-down concert, where they could enjoy his guitar playing in a quieter atmosphere. Would this have played a part in the decision to organize this concert, seeing the overwhelming response to his short visit?

TruEvents: His then appearance was purely to help promote BTTW’s soap products and his performances were merely road show styled which to me are not very appropriate for such a great musician and artist. Sungha’s talent and status as a musician are deserving of an exclusive concert setup, performing as the headliner and main attraction. I have been following his videos since late 2007. Seeing that he is now of age, sweet 16, I strongly believe it is timely to host him here in Sarawak.

TP: How can people purchase tickets? Would there be meet and greet sessions?

TruEvents: The tickets will be made available via an online ticketing portal come November 1. The meet & greet session in Kuching will be held at 8pm, at The Spring Shopping Mall on December 13.

TP: What can fans expect from the concert?

TruEvents: A mesmerizing acoustic fingerstyle guitar performance- which has never before happened here in Sarawak. We will also be seeing some other inspiring performances by top-notch performers from the International Music House and a grand opening by Malaysia’s youngest professional mentalist-magician, Chris Cheong.

TP: How many people are you expecting for the concert?

TruEvents: 1000 people.

TP: Tell us more about TruEvents, what are your aspirations as an event management company in Borneo?

TruEvents: We are an outgoing, passionate team of ‘Eventors’ and ‘Artivators’ (regarding event organizing as an art) looking to push the limits of the event management industry in Borneo. Currently, we run events all across Sabah and Sarawak and have been growing steadily in strength and market share over the past 7 years. Find out more about us at our website.

TP: Any other artists you hope to bring into Malaysia in the future?

TruEvents: Keep checking our website or social media page, you will hear from us.

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