Joined a Breeze magazine contest 2 days ago (got tagged by Dino) for a free CD and a Meet and Greet session with Sabah's very own songbird, Angelina Perete, and fingerstyle guitarist, Roger Wang, at Bella Italia Restaurant. All I had to do was tell them why I liked Angelina Perete. An hour later, I found out that I won! (should totally join more Breeze contests...)
My aunt happened to be there so my mum and sisters sat with them and enjoyed the 50% discount off pasta and pizza every Friday from 3pm to 7pm. Friday nights are also jazz night I think. It's funny when I looked at the menu and found that one of Bella Italia's main attractions is this really old bartender named Ajit! He has probably been there since Kota Kinabalu was still called Jesselton and uses hearing aid. He's quite pleasant and smiles at everyone.
The four winners (my face looks fat here! huhu...)
I received an autographed Butterfly Baby single CD, got a front row table and chatted with Angelina Perete (who I'm super distantly related to, no matter what my mum says) and Roger Wang and family (found out we go to the same church! Really classy family..). There were three other fans there as well, a junior from my high school-Danica (thanks for the photos!), Kenneth (who reminds me of my old housemate Dexter, haha) and one other girl who sat too far from me so I didn't catch her name.
Performing Butterfly Baby! ♥
Li'l cousin Stala wanted in on the action too, complete with tutu!
When Angelina sang Butterfly Baby with her daughter Este, it was amazing and she had everyone's attention. She credited Roger Wang because he was the one who arranged the song since she admitted that her voice is her only instrument. I've seen him play at one of the KK Jazz festivals (2nd, I think) with Mia Palencia and I have one of their Double Take CDs. Anyway, she did a wonderful job despite having 3 mouth ulcers after coming back from Manila! Mouth ulcers can really make a person irritable and miserable (true story)..
(Forgive the selipar buruk, it was raining and I had to walk over from Jesselton Point...)
During the meet and greet session, we also managed to ask them a few questions about how did they get this far in their music career. Angelina has been singing since she was 5 years old and won a few karaoke competitions when karaoke was first introduced. Roger has studied under a few teachers and taken a lot of courses to be as good as he is today. Currently, Angelina hopes to put out a new and original album this year as well as perform at the KK Jazz Festival and Roger Wang will be having a concert somewhere in March or April in three states if I'm not mistaken. I guess we'll just have to keep on the lookout!
A big hearty thanks to Breeze magazine once again for the opportunity to meet talented Sabahan artistes!!!