ENGAGING ELEMENT
By Christopher Quah
It is no secret that social media has become a very important platform in the sharing of creative works especially so in music. As such, more and more Christian musicians have started to use websites such as YouTube to publish and popularize their creative works.
Malaysian Christian Tenor Trio, Element, has recently ventured into this platform and have seen for themselves greater exposure and success. The trio is made up of Victor Chua, Doreen Tang, and Tom Tan.
Element’s recent project, a YouTube video entitled “Malaysiaku” has so far, gained thousands of views on YouTube. The group shared their story in regards to the success of this video.
“Element has been going around singing in churches as well as in secular functions for more than five years. Before this we had a Facebook group, but it was not that popular. But then Victor managed to team up with a guy who was into videography. Together we teamed up to make a music video about our country’s independence, sometime close to this year Medeka Day celebration. It got a lot more views than we expected,” Doreen the only female vocalist in the group explained.
Victor recalled how they first came upon the idea of the video.
“The guy that we worked with was a young man working in the sports ministry, who happens to have the same name as me. Victor Pei was his name. He revealed to me that he has an interest in the art of film making. He had done a musical project with us before. So he sat down with us and together we looked through our ideas. There he made some changes and we decided to go for it. If you had watched that video on YouTube, you would know that it was some kind of a flashback, from our school days a very long time ago. We had planned beforehand who the cast members would be. They were teachers we knew. We also didn’t have to go through any red tape to book the location, as the beach used was a public beach in Sepang Gold Coast, and the children were our very own, together with their classmates. They were the real stars, and enjoyed themselves thoroughly,” he said.
Doreen added that the music they used for the theme song was a combined remix of two very famous songs.
“One was the famous YouTube hit, ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. The other was ‘Sejahtera Malaysia’ by Zurin Aniza. We chose these two songs as they were something people would be able to relate to. We were very surprised that these songs blended well together. I felt it was a very organic process. We made a few adjustments from time to time. And finally we ended the song on a high note with the phrase ‘Malaysia ku’ right at the end,” Doreen said.
Victor added that they never really had any fixed plan in regards to the video.
“It’s amazing that it worked. We actually thought about having a video in early July this year. But we never really planned ahead. This was deliberate as we never knew when we would be free, for it was a very busy period of time,” Victor shared.
Tom the most senior member of the group recalled his experience.
“It was fun to do. The video come out at the right time as when it was released, our country had just changed to a different government party. Everyone involved felt very patriotic. We did it in celebration for the new government. We made the decision in July, about two months after the new government took office.” he said.
Victor added that using Internet platforms for their work had some unexpected results.
“Strangely our previous videos are very popular in the Philippines and Indonesia. But with the “Malaysiaku video” it was very popular among Malaysians. I guess it’s the way social media is,” Victor mused.
“There was a lot of exposure. Till today we still receive a lot of congrats over that video. To those who I have spoken to, on a one to one basis, their comments were, this is our best video on several fronts,” Doreen added.
Although this has indeed brought more exposure to them, it has not changed the reason why they do music.
“We do music because we love to sing and bless people through music. “Malaysiaku” was to celebrate the new Malaysia after the 14th general election. We wanted to get something out there, to get people talking about the new opportunities a new Malaysia has brought us. In Malaysia, what we do doesn’t make money. We do it to inspire others. That is more valuable than money,” Victor explained.
The internet possibility for instant fame
“When we first started doing music, we never had those kind of social media outlets. In order to do anything musically and get notice we had to do it the old fashion way, by knocking on people’s doors for help, such as big companies,” Victor explained.
“In the last 10 years I’ve seen many singers go full time, thanks to social media platforms such as You Tube and Instagram. More and more individuals are pulling their resources together to make entertainment and singing as their career. Social media has really helped many young talent. They are very self-guided. Music changes every 20 years in a cycle. This is a new cycle which offers a lot for younger talent,” Doreen said.
“Today with social media, you can be at home, and build your own followers around the world. YouTubers have become so popular they can even raise funds through videos. This was something we never had. Young people who are very passionate, about music can choose to build a career of it. Whether it becomes a career depends on you. Even my own daughter uploads videos that I share on WhatsApp,” she added.
Tom however has a different and more cautionary view towards social media.
“For YouTube, you have to find your niche. How many people really get spotted? There are so many good singers but few made it to the top. It’s like the saying goes, ‘15 minutes to fame, if you go viral.’ In order to build a career, it has to be more than one hit on your YouTube video. Some of the principles or things that you need to consider are, a lot of hard work, who you know, networking, being at the right place at the right time. So its a different ball game altogether. But, if it’s just to get people to hear your music out there, then it’s the best platform I guess,” Tom believed.
Advice for aspiring musicians
Although singing may be a dream job for some, the trio have some advice to those who want to go into this industry.
Doreen has this important piece of advice for those interested in making music as a career in Malaysia, which is that one must be bold to try different things at the same time.
“To do this as a living you have to do all sorts of different things. I hosted radio shows, radio advertisement, TV shows and even animated cartoon voices. I did cartoon recordings for years. Japanese cartoons to be precise. They would use my voice for a lot of international releases. The anime was in Japanese and had to be dubbed into English. The dubbing process went through Malaysian recording companies which hired me to be the voice actress. Unless you’re really fortunate, you have got to be willing to do this sort of things while building your reputation,” Doreen explained.
Victor explained that in his case, he didn’t choose music as a full time career.
“I don’t take singing as a job. It is not something that I have to work on for a living. Instead, it is a passion. At Element we only come together as a team for practice once awhile. This is due to our other commitments, such as work and family. We don’t approach people for gigs. It is people who come and approach us, thanks to the reputation we had built up over the years. How do we support ourselves? We have outside jobs. We sing mostly at functions, and see music as a way to bless people. When we sing at churches, we don’t charge. In fact most of the time when we sing at churches, we sing to raise funds for charity. But for corporate events we do charge,” Victor said.
Tom shared a humorous opinion on the matter.
“My advice to those who want to have quick success in the music industry is to go and join American Idol or some reality shows like those China singing reality shows. Even Malay singers have gone to these China reality shows to try their luck and even succeeded,” Tom replied.
Victor ended with this piece of advice.
“Do it because you enjoy it. Never do it because of the money, because music, or anything related to entertainment doesn’t necessary assure you food on your plate,”
Indeed, a venture into the music industry is not for the faint hearted. It takes passion, perseverance, and dedication. But the most important thing is to enjoy the journey itself.
