‘An ACG Symphony’ concert hits all the high notes, captivates audience

KUCHING (Aug 11): “Mada kono sekai wa—”.

As the opening bars of ‘Sparkle’ by Radwimps from anime movie ‘Kimi no Na wa’ were sung by renowned local singer Dell Lawrence, the emotion in the Ang Cheng Ho Multipurpose Hall in Batu Kawa here was palpable as concert-goers were fully immersed in the performance.

The piece was just one of many in the ‘An ACG Symphony’ concert organised by The Band Lab.

The 55-piece orchestra, joined by a 30-piece choir group from the Kuching Choral Society and other celebrated local singers Chien Ng, Christine Chai and Shann Liaw, took attendees on a journey of beloved songs from anime such as ‘One Piece’, ‘Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’, ‘Kimi no Na wa’ and Studio Ghibli works as well as soundtracks from games such as ‘Genshin Impact’ and the ‘Final Fantasy’ series.

Guest-of-honour Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian praised the concert, likening the talents on stage to ‘gold’ and the event as a ‘gold mine’.

“Tonight (Aug 10), the performance and musicians are all extraordinary. These are our homegrown, local talents — all Anak Sarawak. Next time, people will come to Sarawak to enjoy our homegrown talents because we are just as good as anywhere else. If we weren’t, how could we have a sold out concert?

“Open your eyes — there is gold in front of us. This place used to be a gold mine but it was abandoned because nobody wanted it. But we turned it into gold and we want our musician here, the audience here to turn into gold because we are the nation-building pride of our nation,” he said.

Dr Sim also noted the concert was the first time that a night event was held at the Ang Cheng Ho Multipurpose Hall.

“Thank you for taking the risk of being the first-ever night event held at this brand-new venue,” he said.

Earlier, The Band Lab founder and concert organiser Jesmond Siew in his speech reiterated his commitment to bringing more quality concerts to Kuching and pushing the boundaries of the experience of attending a concert.

He also announced upcoming projects from The Band Lab, including a Disney-themed flash mob performance at the Kuching Waterfront and string ensemble recital featuring music from hit Netflix series ‘Bridgerton’.

The Band Lab is an advocacy platform for wind bands and orchestras in Sarawak and aims to engage with the community by providing quality, holistic music education to the youths of Sarawak. The group made history last year with Borneo’s first full orchestra anime-themed concert ‘An Anime Symphony’.

Also present were guest cosplayers Nessarose and Amelia Khor, a political secretary to the Premier Susan Clement Ingun who represented Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Snowdan Lawan, Padawan Municipal Council chairman Tan Kai, and Sarawak Tourism Federation president Audry Wan Ullok.