Zyan, Malaysia's First Chinese Bossa Princess

Well, Leslie Loh has done it again, the thankless task of discovering great talents and shaping their music in audiophile recording. Constantly pushing the boundaries. She is Zyan and tackling Chinese classics in the soothing bossa style is something I welcome and is sorely lacking in the market. The album should be out by end of the month. Don't forget the 2V1G gig at NBT, and I think Zyan will be the surprise guest performer. See you there!!!

we don't do it very often but once we do it, it is a special occasion.

2v1g is back to NBT for only the 2nd time since its inception in 2008!

besides playjng a vastly new repertoire, the presentation format will be totally different (it is not just singing and light bantering like a normal gig).

add another very special guest to it, you would have a show that promises to take your breath away.

dates: 30th november and 1st december 2010
time: 9:30pm - 12:30am
presentation: 2 sets of 45-minute each, 15-minute interval
cover charge: RM40
NBT reservation line: 03-21423737 (after 5pm)

Leslie Loh: yes, the mastering of brasileiro is completed in hong kong and we are ready to let you listen to some songs!

let's us introduce you to the first song in the brasileiro album : autumnal night, a classic of bai guang. [look to the panel on the right, click the play icon and you are on!]

before we even talk about how zyan tackles this song, let's credit the arranger, maestro salvador guerzo, for his masterful work. there is a story to this arrangement. ador initially did a brilliant big-band arrangement which had us screaming in joy, but due to the need of having 8 musicians and the associated costs, we asked ador to redo another version, which is the one you are listening now.

ador employed "a double bossa" arrangement style which gives the song a very rhythmic foundation that will make the listener sway with the music. the acoustic guitar intro, played by nick from aswara, is quite a magical intro. pay attention to ador's brilliant saxophone solo (sorry, it is not found in this edited version, you have to get the album la!) , this alone is worth the admission! ador's sax has the burnish tone similar to sax legend stan getz (that's why many regard ador as the stan getz of malaysia!) the tone is intoxicating and sensuous to the ears. not many sax players can blow like this, we assure you.

another signature and brilliant style of ador's arrangement (fans of ador would know this!) is the attack. the attack adds drama and contrast to the song. coupled with rizal soliano's dynamic drumming, this attack is very evident in many passages in the song. ador uses even more dramatic attacks in the solianos "pusaka" album. only arrangers of great skills can devise attacks in the arrangement, this we can assure you.

our bossa princess has a way with oldies, despite her age. she sings with a deep tone that oozes maturity and sex appeal. there was once she sang this song at a function and an auntie came to the stage and praised her profusely!

stefano, the producer, wanted zyan to maintain a rhythmic sway while delivering this song. it is a sweet song about longings. zyan sings it with an ease and confidence that is positively convincing. we definitely could feel zyan's sweetness and happiness in her voice.

recording wise, this is also one of the best recorded tracks in the album.

with all these reasons, we made it the first song in the album!

next week, we would premier another song, a local composition titled "romance in the rain" 【灑灑雨】, a great bossa nova ditty that truly carries the brazilian vibes....

A Foretaste Of The Solianos' Album

This is a truncated live version (normal should be 3.5 minutes with great jazzy piano improv) of The Solianos' rendition of the classic Tudung Periuk recently at No Black Tie. It was after hearing them do this number that I thought they should do an album, thus introducing Leslie Loh of pop pop music label to them.

If I can describe them, they are Malaysia's equivalent to The Manhatten Transfer. Wallah, the recording is almost complete. Hope it can be out by December.

Marketocracy Portfolio As At 9 November 2010

recent returns vs. major indexes
		Beating Today MTD QTD YTD SMF 0.13% 6.88% 9.80% 13.51% S&P 500 -0.10% 3.44% 7.37% 11.55% DOW -0.19% 2.59% 5.74% 9.39% Nasdaq 0.01% 2.90% 8.93% 13.70%

recent returns
		RETURNS Last Week 6.68% Last Month 6.47% Last 3 Months 13.65% Last 6 Months 7.31% Last 12 Months 23.98% Last 2 Years 105.75% Last 3 Years N/A Last 5 Years N/A Since Inception 43.38% (Annualized) 17.02% S&P500 RETURNS Last Week 3.34% Last Month 5.10% Last 3 Months 9.67% Last 6 Months 5.42% Last 12 Months 16.72% Last 2 Years 37.54% Last 3 Years N/A Last 5 Years N/A Since Inception 2.57% (Annualized) 1.11% RETURNS VS S&P500 Last Week 3.34% Last Month 1.36% Last 3 Months 3.97% Last 6 Months 1.88% Last 12 Months 7.26% Last 2 Years 68.22% Last 3 Years N/A Last 5 Years N/A Since Inception 40.82% (Annualized) 15.91%

alpha/beta vs. S&P500
		Alpha 16.18% Beta 1.15 R-Squared 0.77

turnover
		Last Month 9.49% Last 3 Months 19.19% Last 6 Months 47.23% Last 12 Months 131.20%

		Symbol Price Shares Value Portion of Fund Gains Inception Return NYB $17.15 6,000 $102,900.00 7.16% $37,167.27 56.54% FMC $77.04 1,500 $115,560.00 8.04% $31,721.85 37.67% Details PLD $14.74 8,118 $119,618.73 8.32% $30,059.79 33.56% Details F $16.48 8,000 $131,840.00 9.17% $138,804.57 51.57% Details BP $44.09 3,000 $132,270.00 9.20% $43,548.12 28.49% Details MIDDLE QSII $63.94 1,500 $95,910.00 6.67% $27,472.77 22.89% C $4.44 25,000 $111,000.00 7.72% $87,454.95 25.04% UCO $11.69 6,000 $70,140.00 4.88% $8,479.31 13.75% WFMI $46.24 2,500 $115,600.00 8.04% $13,305.39 13.01% GE $16.72 4,000 $66,882.00 4.65% $7,644.75 12.91% Details AFL $57.33 1,500 $85,995.00 5.98% $2,517.42 3.02% Details BAC $12.54 14,000 $175,560.00 12.21% $31,893.53 9.39% Details

		Close Date Type Symbol Shares Net Avg. Price Net Oct 29, 2010 Sell SUN 3,000 $37.4391 $112,317.29 Details Oct 28, 2010 Buy AFL 1,500 $55.6517 $83,477.58 Details Oct 21, 2010 Buy BAC 5,000 $11.75 $58,750.02 Details Aug 17, 2010 Sell POT 1,000 $140.3169 $140,316.93 Details Aug 12, 2010 Buy F 8,000 $12.4259 $99,407.51 Details Jul 29, 2010 Sell NVDA 9,000 $9.1826 $82,643.21 Details Jul 22, 2010 Sell C 5,000 $4.0199 $20,099.65 Details Jul 22, 2010 Buy UCO 6,000 $10.2768 $61,660.69 Details Jul 12, 2010 Sell BP 1,750 $36.6356 $64,112.22 Details Jun 25, 2010 Buy BP 800 $27.55 $22,040.00 Details Jun 14, 2010 Buy BP 1,500 $31.4431 $47,164.65 Details Jun 11, 2010 Buy BP 2,000 $34.1535 $68,306.95 Details

Rumer Has It

Musically, this has to be my best discovery for maybe 10 or 20 years. Remember the spine tingling when you first heard Norah Jones, this is even better because this made me Buddhist for a while, its like Karen Carpenter reincarnated, refreshed and rejuvenated. I loved Karen Carpenter, yes the songs were wonderful but its her voice, she can sing anything. Her voice is so masculine yet feminine as the same time. It has a sad undertone ... now I think we have found someone who sings quite a bit like her, but thankfully very much her own self as well.

Rumer, her real name being Sarah Joyce, a UK singer songwriter, and needlessly pretty as well. She is divine.

Deepavali Greetings

So You Think Sold For A$60m

Tan Chin Nam and Tunku Ahmad Yahya came out way in front even though they did not win the Cup. Anyways, they would have had to share a paltry A$3.8m. Now they get to divvy up A$60m. Considering the horse only cost A$83,500 plus they great prizemoney it has won so far.



So You Think has almost certainly run his final race in this country after confirmation yesterday that global racing and breeding giant Coolmore Stud had purchased a majority share in the four-year-old that has valued him at an estimated $60 million. It makes So You Think comfortably Australia's most expensive racehorse.

Last Tuesday's Melbourne Cup favourite and third placegetter is expected to be sent to Ireland in the coming weeks to be prepared for a northern hemisphere campaign by Aidan O'Brien.

Tom Magnier, the racing and business manager of Coolmore Australia, said yesterday that there remained some details to sort through with the horse's owners but that it was likely So You Think would be raced in partnership with owners Dato Tan Chin Nam and Tunku Ahmad Yahaya.

''That is still to be finalised but he's [Chin Nam] a very lucky owner and we'd be happy to race the horse with him,'' Magnier said.

It is understood that Coolmore have identified So You Think as one of the world's best horses up to 2400 metres and are hoping to run him in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in Paris in September.

It is possible that he could have a rematch in the Arc with Melbourne Cup winner Americain.

Magnier confirmed that So You Think was certain to return to Coolmore's Hunter Valley property in Australia each year as a shuttle stallion once his racing days are over.

So You Think is certain to be named the Australian Horse Of The Year despite the fact there are almost nine months of the season remaining following five incredible wins in succession in Melbourne this spring before his gallant third in last Tuesday's Cup.

Dato Tan Chin Nam's racing manager Duncan Ramage confirmed the sale last night: ''Coolmore would like to the race in the Europe and we would have to take that into consideration when working the detail,'' he said. ''Dato has always campaigned his horses in Australia and Bart is probably not in a position to campaign a horse overseas for a lengthy period of time.''

Ramage said that before So You Think flies to Ireland, he will return to Dato Tan Chin Nam's Think Big stud at Bowral in NSW.

Coolmore has a history of purchasing Australian horses as dual hemisphere stallions.

The stud paid $20 million to secure sprinter Choisir to stand in Ireland and the Hunter Valley following his group 1 wins in the King's Stand and Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2003.

Encosta De Lago also stood a season in Ireland after Coolmore purchased him but Haradasun, who was valued at $45 million when Coolmore bought into him, has only stood in the Hunter Valley.

More recently, Newmarket Handicap winner Fastnet Rock has stood in both hemispheres while Starspangledbanner, who cost Coolmore about $20 million, is due to stand in Ireland and in the Hunter Valley when his racing days are over.

Melbourne Cup and Malaysians

As I did my tertiary studies in Sydney and lived there for nearly 10 years, the Melbourne Cup still fascinates me. Even non punters will get into the merriment all over the country. Its infectious. Its easily the biggest horse race in the world judging from the history, the colour, the celebration and fame that come with it.



Its always run on the first Tuesday of November, and throughout Australia, everything literally stop for those two hours. Too much drinking, there will be the usual office sweeps (people will put in a dollar or ten and each will get to pick a horse from a hat, winner takes all).

The actual prize money of the Cup is also enticing. Its now worth A$6m, with the winner getting A$3.6m, even the second horse gets A$900,000, the third gets A$450,000 and so on. Even those who finish 6th-10th will get A$125,000 each.



The race is not regarded as a true Group 1 classic because its a handicap race. True Group races runs at set weights or weight for age. In a handicap, the better performed horses get bigger weights. The field is usually the max at 24. Oh, by the way, Tan Chin Nam has another horse in this year's race, Precedence, as well. He could have had four, but the other two probably could not handle the wet track, so Faint Perfume and Dariana did not pay up to enter the final field.

Malaysia has a unique history with the Melbourne Cup, thanks largely to Tan Chin Nam (IGB). In 1974 and 1975, his horse Think Big won it twice, unexpectedly. Tunku Abdul Rahman was there to lead in the horse, apparently he had a small share in the horse as well.



Tan Chin Nam has won it another 2 times and his name is well known among Australian racing circles. Besides that, people also know Tan Chin Nam as the man behind IGB, which renovated two of the prettiest buildings in Sydney, the QVB and Capitol Theatre. He has subsequently won the Cup with Saintly, and 3 years ago with Viewed. All his horses were trained by Bart Cummings.

For the past 30 or 40 years, there has not been a more hot raging favourite for the race than this year's So You Think, a horse Tan Chin Nam co-owns with Tunku Ahmad Yahya (ex-Sime Darby), the nephew of Tunku Abdul Rahman . The horse is still young but has won and incredible 8 out of just 11 races and among that 2 Cox Plates, one of the top Group 1 races in the world.



So You Think is at around A$3.40 for $1.00 bet to win. Usually the favourite in the Cup runs off at 6 to 1 or 7 to 1, owing to the very big field, with a high chance for interference.

Considering that So You Think only cost Tan Chin Nam A$83,500 he is already way ahead, especially when most well bred but unproven yearlings now are sold for between A$100,000-A$500,000.

I can only see one danger, its the French horse Americain, to be ridden by the famed HK French jockey Gerard Mosse. You can tune in for the festivities from 10 am - 1pm today (M'sian time) on the Australia News Network, Astro 521.

Sydney Morning Herald article 3 years ago: Cummings hitched his stable to Malaysian property developer Dato Tan Chin Nam in the early 1970s when he saw him playing two-up, and whichever way the coins have landed, the two have remained friends.

Dato Tan OBE ("Over Bloody Eighty," he joked) urged the other octogenarian to tell the yarn, and Cummings, who loves a short story, did: "He was having a drink in my bar in Adelaide years ago with Glynn Pretty, the jockey, and we were playing two-up. How many times did you win?"

"I won 10 times in a row," Dato Tan said.

"I thought I better stick with this bloke. He's lucky," Cummings said.

Dato Tan Chin Nam stuck, too, after Cummings provided back-to-back Melbourne Cups with Think Big (1974-75) and Dato Tan brought then Malaysian prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman into the ownership for the second Cup.

In the late-1980s, Cummings spent heavily, buying horses as part of a tax-minimisation scheme, but when the recession hit, he went broke. His friend helped bail him out.

Data Tan wrote in his memoirs, Never Say I Assume: "With a true friend, one does not seek to ask for help when in need. Help is offered even before one asks. In life, there are very few friends of that calibre."

Cummings repaid him with Saintly in the 1996 Cup and with plenty of other wins with horses in Dato Tan's chessboard colours; and with a record fourth Cup for an owner, besting Tony Santic's three with Makybe Diva and Lloyd Williams' trio (Just A Dash, What A Nuisance and Efficient).

Dato Tan said of Cummings: "Bart, he's got long pockets and short arms."

Cummings said: "Where did I learn that?"

"Not from me," shot back a laughing owner.

If Cummings is the king of one-liners, Dato Tan is a riddler extraordinaire. He said of the relationship: "Here's to me, here's to you, may we never disagree. And in the event we do, here's to me and to hell with you."