Music therapy interspersed with laugher is the best medicine
Robert Fernando’s ‘Here and Now’ concert



Incidentally that's not champagne... it's some fizzy apple drink... Robert says that he 'can't drink for nuts.'


Robert’s concert is one the most enjoyable concerts I have attended – the one that leaves you in a state of perpetual high for a considerable period of time after it is over.

The concert runs over two hours, without intermission, but there was no need for one because nobody wanted to! Music therapy interspersed with laugher is the best medicine.

Robert entertains us with familiar favourites from that wonderful era of James Ingram, Frank Sinatra, the great jazz singers… where songs are masterpieces and, as Robert himself puts it, really puts people into the mood of love. Not ‘Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me’ which Robert camps to the audience, and jokingly attributes this as a factor for the declining birth rate in Singapore! He spoke of the old dating medicine, which I call the 3Ms: movie, makan (‘eat’ in Malay), MacRitchie. So for guys, on your first date, you bring the girl to the cinema, then go for supper… and then MacRitchie. And someone from the audience suggested putting plaques along the benches and bushes: ‘So-and-so was made here’.

Robert is backed up by a four-piece band whose players are experts with their instruments. For several songs they provide new and refreshing arrangements. I am very much intrigued with the way Robert and they delivered On the Street Where You Live (from My Fair Lady), Tonight and Maria (from West Side Story). Most strikingly Maria is sung almost thoughtfully, accompanied by solo piano, compared to the outburst of passion that we so often hear on the stage and screen versions. I also get to hear other great songs which were frequently jammed at Buddhist Fellowship (when we still had a decent band setup and frequently jived into an evening of music-making) but I often play them half-not-knowing how they actually sound. I am so taken by ‘Just Once’ that I am so inclined to go and learn that song (incidentally it’s become Robert’s classic, which he says he’s sung more times that its original singer James Ingram).

Robert is the impeccable showman who knows how to make the audience feel appreciated. His performance does not simply becoming the act of performing, but a sincere want to share those songs with us. This probably explains the lack of a programme. Instead Robert has this list of songs on a music stand which he runs through and ponders on the stage which to deliver, according to how he judges the audience’s reaction, as well as the availability of time. When he feels he has done too much slow songs and fears that the audience is ‘falling asleep’ (to quote him) he finishes the rest of the evening with up-tempo songs. He constantly asks us if we are enjoying ourselves, are we tired – in doing so keeps our energies up as we respond to him. He points out friends and family from the audience and makes them feel appreciated. He banters with members of the audience, even encouraging the audience to do the main singing while he backs them up in the song Amore.

At 9.30pm he springs a surprise. It is his friend Brian Richmond’s (for those who do not know, Brian Richmond is a veteran DJ with Gold 90.5FM, and is the father of another local celebrity Mark Richmond) birthday, so he wants us to help him celebrate by singing the birthday song. He calls the station where Brian is working, and tells Brian that the audience was going to sing for him. Brian must have been so shell-shocked, but composes himself quickly not to disrupt his show, and with gratitude puts us on air! And so the hundreds of us sing the birthday song into the microphone, into the phone, and onto national radio.

It’s about time Robert had his first solo concert – which he already did. So now it’s about time he had another one.

¶ 9/07/2007 11:48:00 pm