Youths treated to non-stop fun and entertainment by popular artistes at the AZ Open House.
Colorful orange and grey helium balloons lined with sliver ribbons fill the ceilings of Conference Rooms 1 and 2 at City Harvest Church’s premises at Singapore Expo, Hall 8 on the afternoon of 18 April 2009. A casual seating arrangement replaces the usual lecture — style, facilitating interaction among the guests at the AZ Open House.
A spread of delicious Delifrance snacks such as smoked salmon puffs and tiramisu chocolate cakes were catered specially for them. Fruit punch was also served in wine glasses, adding a touch of classiness to the event. Warming up with “Super Chicken”, a game where participants play ‘Scissors Paper Stone’ with one another and advance from being an egg to a little chick, a chicken and finally a super chicken; the winners walked away with Starbucks vouchers.
The entertainment buffet truly tickled many taste buds. A hot favourite among the youths was the funky beatbox performance by Aries Zulkarnain zone’s very own 20-year-old Jacky Lam. Following that, friends of Lam, two b-boys from the Floor Techniques Crew, Victor Soh, 25 and Yeo Say Liang, 19 with more than five years of breakdancing experience each, got down to the floor and breakdanced in true hip-hop style.
When asked by the host, Lam gamely demonstrated the three basic sounds of beatboxing, namely the Kick Drum, Hi-hat and Snare.
The indisputable champion of Channel U’s Asian Beatboxing Championship in 2007, K Box Rap category in 2008, as well as winner of City Harvest Church’s very own Talentime in Emerge 2007 and CHC Got Talent in Asia Conference 2008, Lam attributes his success to God giving him the strength to breakthrough to the next level as well as the encouragement he received from his friends in church and the opportunities that he was presented with to showcase his beatboxing talent. He extorts, “Go after your dreams even if you face obstacles along the way. Just keep doing it!”
Mediacorp artiste Belinda Lee shares her testimony candidly in public for the first time. Having taken one and a half years herself to finally believe that God is real, Belinda urges everyone not to feel intimidated if they may be struggling with doubts and to continue to seek help and advice from the friends and leaders around them.
Another artiste, Taiwanese singer, songwriter Wing 罗文裕 melted hearts with his songs, ‘Good Day’ and ‘Ai Qing Man You’ 愛情漫游. Currently recording his second album, Wing thanks God he can now write songs effectively in a very short amount of time.
Guests were also treated to some magic tricks from Gospel Magician Raymond Chow as well as a hairstyling demonstration by the Director of Lush Hair Creations, Alex with his team of models crowned in the latest hairdos.
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| PHOTOS: Li Jing Wen And Matthew Foo |
One of the fringe activities happening in the AZ zone that night was Touch of Heaven Unplugged in the subzone led by Darren Tan.
Conference Room 2 was transformed into a lounge as the lights are dimmed and all focus drawn onto the stage, beautifully lit by two star-shaped lights on the wall.
One of the highlights of the night was a heartfelt rendition of Bon Jovi’s ‘Everybody’s Broken’ by 22-year-old Project Superband finalist, Ryan Wong, from the band Dreamfactory. Singing, “It’s okay, to be a little broken. Everybody’s broken in this life. It’s okay, to feel a little broken. Everybody’s broken, you’re all right” tucked at the heartstrings of those who may be going through some form of difficulty in their lives.
Beat Boxing, Music and other forms of entertainment — there’s indeed something magical about Pop Culture that brings people together.
