Asia Sounds announces song contest

Lao singers and songwriters who have been harbouring dreams of becoming a star may have a chance for their big break soon, through a new television talent quest.

A team from Asia Sounds, an Australia-based music and media company, is currently touring Southeast Asian countries to promote its 2008 Asian Song Contest.

The team, led by the company's Executive Vice President of Marketing, Ms Adrienne Smith, met Lao Information and Culture officials in Vientiane on Monday to discuss the contest.

“We're in Laos to seek permission to invite musicians here to enter our competition,” Ms Smith said during an interview...more info>>

“We want to invite everybody to apply for the contest, which is open to all,” another member of the team, Mr Biag Occhino, said. “I hope that maybe someone in Laos wins it.”

As part of the music project, entitled Sutasi , which stands for “Sources of Unsigned Talents in Asia”, the team is looking for exceptional musicians and artists from throughout Asia .


According to the organisation's press release, Sutasi is an “Asian-level platform for discovering quality music and talent, with the aim of launching new-found talent to the Asian market and beyond.”

Winners will receive more than US$1 million in cash and prizes.

“We cannot say who will be the winner. Maybe they'll like the Lao music style, and we might win the hearts of the judging panel,” said Lao graphic designer Mr Praseuth Banchongphakdy, who is coordinating the competition in Vientiane .

“This competition is a good opportunity for Lao songwriters and singers.”

Songs to be entered in the competition can be written in the contestant's native language or can be a mix of languages, including English. The important thing is that the lyrics and melody are modern and appealing to listeners, Mr Praseuth said.

The company will choose 12 singers and 12 performers from the 11 countries in Southeast Asia , but those chosen will not be distributed evenly across the region.

“We might end up with five contestants from Laos or two from Singapore ,” Ms Smith said, adding that “the main criterion for success is quality,” and that she wanted as many people as possible to apply for the contest.

“It is not too late, and it's not important to us which country the contestants come from. It's more about the quality of singing and the performance,” she said.

The contest will begin in February in Southeast Asia, followed by East Asia in April and South Asia in August.

The contest is divided into two sections: a talent show in search of a star performer, and a song contest, to find an outstanding songwriter. For the final performance, songs written by songwriters who are not themselves singers will be given to skilled vocalists to perform.

According to the news release, the grand finale, scheduled for October next year will bring together the winning songwriter and singer from each region. The winners will be judged by a new panel of music professionals and via public votes throughout Asia .

Applications have been open since September 14; more people can apply by downloading the forms from www.sutasi.com. The closing date is November 1, but places are limited.

By MK. Vongsam-ang
Vientianetimes

The ‘Women's Talk' entertainment programme, which has been airing on Lao National Television for the past two months, is now asking for viewer feedback to improve the show's quality.

The 30-minute show, which features four young female presenters, broadcasts every weekend from 10:15-11:45am on the Lao National Television channel.

The show is centered on social topics for women, such as beauty secrets and healthy eating, and the programme is separated into three parts – ‘Life Updates', ‘ Question Time' and ‘Special Secrets'... more

During the ‘Update' section, presenters discuss local and international issues, followed by ‘Question Time', featuring interviews with special guests such as singers and other leading women talking about their lives, their ideas and any tips they have to share with other women.

The final part of the show, ‘Special Secrets', talks about strategies and secrets for life in women's health and beauty, as well as good attitudes and manners in everyday life.

Last week, Vientiane Times was able to interview the presenters of the show - Dalivan Soudachan (Peggy), Southida Sisoudachan (Dada), Chanthala Saythasavanh (Anny) and Manila Souvandouand (Kai).

Can you explain about your entertainment backgrounds?

Peggy: I won the Miss Popular Vote title for the Apone Lao contest last year, and was a model for a calendar, and I've done some presenting for tigo.

Anny: I'm a singer for music group LOG, and I also used to be involved with presenting events like Miss Lao-ITECC last year.

Dada: I've participated in different beauty contests like the one at the National University of Laos in 2006, and have joined many other activities, like the Fomost Star Challenge in 2005. I've also been a presenter for Star Phone and some other shows.

Kai: At the moment I'm singing with Over Dance, but I'm the only girl in the group. I have also had the chance to work as a presenter at different promotions and modeling events, which has been a good experience.

How is presenting ‘Women's Talk' different from other work?

Peggy: It is quite different to my previous jobs because ‘Women's Talk' is for television, which means I need to pay more attention to my presentation. Television involves a lot more detail and we need to find a lot more information and practise more to make it work well.

During the programme we try to be natural, and you can easily make mistakes, but if you do something wrong you can just laugh, because it doesn't really matter, as our production team can cut it and we will do the scene again.

Dada: I find this job quite hard because I am used to just posing for photographs and standing around for beauty contests. I didn't need to speak before and haven't had much experience with this, so I need to try and be more careful with my acting and speaking. We have to talk and talk, but also concentrate on getting across useful information to our viewers. I feel I'm quite different from Peggy, Kai and Anny, because you can tell they have more experience on the stage, but that this is really a first time for me. But I'm trying my best to improve as much as possible.

Anny: My mother is really beautiful. She has some secrets for make-up and beauty which keep her young, so I ask her for advice for myself. When I had the chance to go on television I told my mother's secrets to the viewers so that they could be more beautiful as well. At the same time, our team's producers also find information for the show from the Internet and some magazines and newspapers. I love this show so much because I can share with other women all my life-long secrets that everyone can use, and I can learn from this at the same time. I don't find it difficult, I can just prepare myself well, then talk and talk, and there you have it!

Kai: This programme is a great challenge for me, even though I have done a little presenting before, and recoding too, going into the TV studio is different from the recording studio. But I think I have taken on some valuable lessons about what works and what doesn't for listeners.

By Viengsavanh Phengphachan
vientianetimes

MORE than 300 people around the country have been telephoning the offices of the Lao Star Channel in Vientiane each day with their comments, according to its manager.

Since early April the channel has been broadcasting experimentally via the Thaicom satellite, and has proved popular so far among local and foreign viewers, especially those living outside Vientiane, said Mr Soulaphet Keoviengkham.

“Most people around the country can access various channels through the Thaicom satellite and the Lao Star Channel is one of them,” he said.

“We feature entertainment such as music videos, game shows, musical drama and information in the Lao language. We have been giving our phone number on-screen for feedback from viewers,” Mr Soulaphet, said yesterday... read more

After the channel went to air on April 1, staff got letters from viewers, most of which offered congratulations. Some asked about what would go on screen after the experimental period, which has not included advertising.

“At first we thought there wouldn’t be much feedback but actually there are a lot of viewers both here and in neighbouring countries who have expressed an interest,” he said.

The channel was first established in December through cooperation between Lao National Television and the Lao Ethnic Art and Cultural Promotion (LEACP) group, with investment from members of the LEACP.

“I’m the vice-president of the LEACP, and I have invested more than US$1 million (about 9,6 billion kip) in the channel to promote information on Laos throughout the country and in other countries,” Mr Soulaphet said.

The channel will begin full time broadcasting in June, with advertising. It will feature information about Laos, focusing on Lao culture and traditions – and a range of issues covering health, education, development, economics, entertainment, sports and politics.

“I did research all around the country last year,” Mr Soulaphet said. “I spent six months interviewing viewers and found that most of them were interested in watching channels from neighbouring countries.”

“We believe the Lao Star Channel will entertain viewers every bit as well as the foreign channels they can see today,” he said.

Foreign channels have more experience and presented better quality programming than local channels, and have attracted Lao viewers. He believes viewers will be pleased to tune into a high-quality local station.

“I asked myself why we can’t have better programming to attract local viewers to the information we provide. After doing my research and getting the Lao Star Channel to air at last, many viewers have been calling to encourage me to keep going,” Mr Soulaphet said.

By SOUKNILUNDON SOUTHIVONGNORATH
(Latest Update May 15, 2007)