Sunrise Jazz Fest 2007! I’m not sure what it’s called nowadays, though DiGi is one of their sponsors.

26th August 2007 featured the Aseana Percussion Unit. (Yes, I will rewind for Ariff Akhir, Arthur Kam and Sheila Majid later.)

Amanda and I are most proud to have started a conga line (though I didn’t take any pictures of it.)

Prema, one of the many vocalists.

Bring the beat down!

Fast forward to the 1st of September 2007, with Asiabeat.

Here’s a first – psychedelia at a jazz fest.

And there I was, trying to make sense of all the colors, when I felt a presence.

The Interesting Specimen!

She stalked Amanda from way afar with my Tamron 200-400mm F5.6 at 400mm! 1/6th of a second was still steady. The only problem was waiting for a clearance when people were not walking past.

We were at Chakri Palace; Amanda was in front of Starbucks.

Okay, my lens wasn’t that long…

Meet a most kickass fusion jazz band from Indonesia…

Saharadja!

400mm F5.6 1/80s ISO800. No problem, with my Sony A100’s Super SteadyShot.

I added the Kenko 2x teleconverter and got a manual-focusing 800mm F11. This was shot at 1/15s, ISO1600, from way back, around Chakri Palace or so.

Given big performances, the stage would be bigger thus requiring longer lenses to get here. Fortunately bigger stages also mean stronger lights.

This dude was awesome. He channelled the incredible Les Claypool!

They also did a cover of Flight Of The Bumblebee, among other technically excellent stuff.

Adil, Malaysia’s best saxophonist (according to Saharadja) came on stage for some saxing.

The singer/guitarist/horn player (I’m not sure which instrument don’t stab me with your conductor stick) serenaded some hot chick.

Yes, with an expression like that, who could help but fall in love? (Okay, he had a great powerful voice almost akin to Freddie Mercury’s so yeah.)

And so, when he tells people to shake their hands in the air…

…they do it.

(With the assistance of green bottles, perhaps.)