Lama hilang...? (Part 1)

Yes, yes... I know. Mentang-mentang baru kahwin, takde masa nak update blog. Sorry to disappoint some of you, I was genuinely hard at work with various projects. After tying the knot and buying lunch for about 500 people last December, I just had to revitalize the bank account. This is what I was up to for the last 6 months...

JANUARY-MARCH
Upon my return from the honeymoon, work immediately began on the construction of Hijjaz Records' recording studio in Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara. Long 5-day weeks they were and had to deal with a lot of difficulties: absent contractors, no electricity, communication breakdown, arguments over plans, late supply deliveries and such...

Still in the thick of the construction, I was called upon by Ali (ex-XPDC) to fill in the bass spot for M'Pire (his new band). Two shows were lined up: Sungai Besar in Selangor and Tuaran in Sabah, both a week apart. As usual, had some fun, kicked some ass... We had to prolong our stay in Tuaran since we were told by the organizer that we didn't make the projected figures, no thanks to the weather and a certain award show finals.

Upon returning to KL, I received a call from an officer in the Prime Minister's Department, to acquire my services for a Nasyid festival to be held in April (which was later postponed to May). I was requested to coach a team of 10 civil servants from the PM's department and provide the music for their performance. This means I had to commute daily between TTDI and Putrajaya for the next couple of months or so. It wasn't that bad, the money's good and I got acquainted with the nation's administrative capital... I didn't realize up to now, Putrajaya is a beautiful town!

The competition day arrived, the group gave an 'ok' performance and much to my disbelief, the group actually won first place! The victory was bittersweet for me: I was delighted that we won but that means more commutes until the Inter-ministry round... *sigh* (more on this in the next entry) .

Meanwhile, the studio was still under construction, and I was called upon to pick up my trusty 6-string bass for another gig... the story continues...