Tonight, we are going to be talking to a man
whose sound has been a steady and powerful presence
in the Singapore music scene for a very long
time. From pop stages to jazz festivals, his
saxophone has truly become a voice of its own.
My guest tonight is a true veteran of the local
scene. He spent an incredible 14 years as the
lead saxophonist for Singapore's favourite pop
rock band, Jive Talking. After that, he made
the brave move to go freelance and became a highly
sought -after sessionist, recording on albums
and touring with some of the biggest names in
Asia, from Jackie Chung to Sandy Lam. He's known
for being versatile and virtuosic and a highly
respected improviser in the jazz scene. One reviewer
for The Straits Times even called him the busiest
soloist for his amazing work with the T .O. Ensemble.
He is a Yamaha win artist, a mentor, and a musical
chameleon who has mastered everything from pop
and jazz to Latin and experimental projects.
Tonight, we're charting the course of a legendary
career, talking about his love for the saxophone
and getting his thoughts on the state of music
and the live scene today. This is That One with
a Singapore sax talent, Kyo Boon Chai. Let's
get to it. The late Edmund Branson, great guy.
And some of you guys also moonlighted at the
Jockey Pub on the weekends. Oh, not me. Not you.
I'm very underage. Yeah. Not me, not me. They
were all bloody underage. I didn't know about
this. In Shore Centre. Yeah. Now I feel a bit
formal. Before we begin the show, here is an
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Now, let's start the show. What's going to happen?
Yeah, get the fuck out of here. Do that one more
time. Do that one more time. Get the fuck out
of here. Alright, did we get that? We have that.
We got to have that. I know I have my reason
why I need to have that footage, you know. Get
the fuck out of here. Yeah. You'll be cancelled
soon. You know, no. But I know you all won't
believe it, but I never said the F word in my
life before. I know. Never. I know. You are probably
one of the straightest rods in St Patrick's School,
man. We all know that, man. Dude, I mean, the
mic flag came out. You know why? Because, look,
man, you are, in my book, probably amongst the
top, top, top, top in this country when it comes
to the sex. a phone. When it comes to the saxophone,
right, you're probably the top. And anyone in
your position that goes full -time as a professional,
as a musician, would probably adopt a name or
a moniker or something like that. I mean like
Spooky Robinson. You know what I'm saying? Or
adopt a Christian name or something like that.
But you never did. Okay Okay, I'm pretty sure
I'm gonna have quite a time with quite a time
in my hands right now hello everybody and welcome
back to the chris hansen conversation and it's
still our tribute show to sg's music icons and
i have with me in studio you've heard the introduction
earlier on uh yep a very prolific musician someone
who really knows how to do a give a good damn
blow on an instrument Whatever the hell you were
thinking, get your head out of the gutter. And
he plays a saxophone. He's a fantastic saxophonist.
And he is Teo Boon Chai. Welcome to the studio.
All right. I have Boon Chai with me. And of course,
next to Boon Chai and next to me, squashed in
the middle like a damn meat in a bun. Because
you know why? He was here in season five. He
was here in season five with a band, with Debra.
his other half representing the band Bellingham
and we paid tribute to the band Bellingham and
he's back here today because you know at the
behest of Boon Chai Boon Chai said Chris I think
I want to have this guy next to me you know and
and he says Chris you know like I need a security
blanket and my security blanket is my squeaky
toy What did you say just now? We're going to
play that over and over again, okay? We're going
to put that over and over again. Anyway, we're
here to pay tribute to Bunchai. I've known this
guy since we were kids, man. Since we were way
back in school. And even from that, even from
those days, this guy does a meme. What's the
technical term for blowing a saxophone? You blow,
right? Do you suck at it? To breathe, yeah. I
didn't ask Kuopo, because Kuopo plays the sax.
So KP told me, I didn't ask him. So what do you
do? I mean, do you basically blow? Or is there
any sucking involved? It's like a reverse, you
know, like you're drinking milkshake. What? You
suck it in, right? Just imagine exhaling. Am
I right? Am I right? Okay, anyway KP has got
great things to say about you Yeah. Wow. He's
not sweating. He's sweating. He's sweating. I
think the aircon is not powerful enough. No,
no, no. I've got to bring the AC down a little
bit. Otherwise, I'll be picking up the fan noise,
man. You've got to make me say all these things.
These type of things are not supposed to be saying
in front of the camera, you know. Terrible little
squeaky toy. Okay. So now we have the Singapore
Sax talent. Boon Chai in the studio. And we want
to discover your early notes, man. Your foundation.
You started out in school. Now let's talk about
you picking up the instrument from the very,
very beginning. St. Patrick's School, man. We
produced quite a lot of talents. I might need
to bring back a bit. Oh, bring it back a bit.
You were blowing earlier on. Even from before.
Okay, I come from a very big family. Five girls
and two brothers. Five girls and two brothers.
Five sisters and two brothers. Five sisters and
one brother. It's just like sound music. So just
now you said two brothers. No, no, no. Please
count again. So he's a musician. I'm the youngest.
Yeah. Yeah. And somehow my late parents said,
no, this one need to go to like Christian Brother
School. You mean the rest didn't go to? They
did. But for me, it's like, must. So, yeah. By
who or by group? Because you unholy or? Yeah,
why? I mean, everyone else did. I think they
want me to be like more jatang -tang. The rest
went to what? Chinese high? Catholic high or
what? We need to talk about all this. You know
from Nan Chow? Yeah, from Nan Chow. He's from
Nan Chow. Oh my. Okay. That's distracting. Okay,
okay. This fella is a squeaky toy. So I went
to San Siven and then naturally I'll go to St.
Pat's. Yeah, I mean, we all did. Well, your brothers,
they didn't go to, they went to, which schools
did they go to? Oh, I can't remember now. I mean,
there are Chinese, Chinese schools. So I was
right, they were not CBS schools, they were Chinese
schools. One was just like, probably convent.
I don't know which convent, I can't remember.
The rest are all bentang. But for me, like special,
they went all out. To make sure I get a place
in St. Stephen's. Why? Why? Why? Why did they
say that? I can't remember. I was too young.
I'm too young. I didn't understand that. Okay.
Anyway, you went into St. Stephen's. St. Stephen's
and then cut the story short. Go stand back.
And then... Wait, wait, wait. Don't cut the story
short. When do you start blowing the saxophone?
St. Pat's. I've got to keep qualifying that.
St. Pat's. In St. Pat's. Not St. Stephen's. Not
St. Stephen's. What was your ECA back then? We
call it ECA. Now we call it CCA. Yeah, what were
you doing there? On Saturday, I played marble.
Who the fuck comes back to school to play marbles
on a Saturday, bro? You know, it's dedication.
Really important. soon before I'm a winner I'm
a winner I got When you say winner, you mean
W -I -N -N -E -R, yeah? I got to qualify a lot
of things to have this conversation with you,
man. This is probably my last time. So before
you started blowing, it's not going to be your
last time here. Why? You mean you're not happy
with me? No, no, no. I mean you to me. No, brother.
I wouldn't be upset with my guests. No way. Wait,
wait, wait. So let me get this right. Before
you started blowing, you were playing your goalie
a lot. Okay. A lot that I'm good at. You're really
good at playing your goalie. I don't know how
to play marbles. Why you don't know? Very hard
to explain. You don't want to play marbles? Huh?
What kind of bloody childhood did you have? How
to explain? Bro, you draw a line. There are two
parts to playing marbles. I don't believe I'm
explaining about how to play freaking marbles
here. Okay, all you young people like this joker
down here. You know, you Xennials and all that.
You've never played by the goalie in your life.
Goalie. Goalie is our local term for marbles.
Okay? Yeah. So, we collect marbles. And we are
very proud of the marbles we collect. There's
a matakuching. Matakuching. Only one color, you
know. Yeah, the white one. And then, Kai, one
of our cameras are off. Okay, there you go. Lovely
guy, this guy. I tell you, how can you not love
my video producer, man? So, we got, we found
it online. There you go. Then you draw a line
first. You draw a line first. Then after that,
you throw. Yes. You throw your marble with your
other competitors. So the one that hits closest
to the line would be the one to go first. Yes.
Correct? Then you draw a circle on the ground.
Then you put all the marbles in there. Whatever
stick. Whatever your stick. Okay, let's say four.
Yeah, four. Everyone will put four marbles inside.
Yeah, four marbles. So you want to win all these
marbles in there. They belong to all of you collectively.
So it's like an early form of gambling for your
marbles. And then we use our marble and our skill
to knock a marble out of the circle. Yeah, yeah.
But once it gets out of the circle, it's yours
to keep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very fun, man.
You can do this. So much better. Or this. Duh,
you got to draw a circle in the ground. What
do you think? You draw a circle in the ground
and say, man, I cannot be right. Yeah, yeah.
So, voila, I cannot believe this. Gabriel Lim
has never played with his marbles before. Too
young. Too young. Interesting. So this is where
the saying comes from. Have you lost your marbles?
That's where the saying came from. Not from Peter
Pan. I have no freaking clue. I'm just saying.
I don't know when I write about my facts. One
of the lost boys. This guy's a geek, man. This
guy's a geek. Okay. So you were only playing
goalie marbles on Saturdays. And you're okay.
Goalie king. Yeah. Then when you went to St.
Pat's, you had to pick a CCA. Ah, okay. This
is very interesting because I didn't know what
CCA is showing. And I've been playing the piano
at home. Oh, now we're getting somewhere. Okay,
okay. When I was a kid. Ah. Yeah. How old did
you start playing the piano? Very young. My two
sister, they got classical piano teacher. Right.
But not me. Right. But I play more than them.
Okay. Yeah. So I bought, you know, those manuscript
book at the back where they have all the chords.
Yeah. All the 12 keys. Okay. Major, minor, dominant,
diminished. I learned to play all that. You played
diminished all of that at that time. I can play
all the chords, but not as a, you know, I'm not
good at accompanying people, but I can play the
chords. Really? Yeah. And you self -trained yourself
to do that? Yeah. I love to do that. How old
can you just estimate? Primary school. Primary
school. Okay. So seven and above. Yeah. So that's
the only musical background you had. No formal
lessons you learned yourself. It's not even proper.
But it's amazing you can play diminished and
augmented and stuff, right? Wow. You still friend
me, right? You still friend, right? Yeah, yeah,
yeah. I didn't tell you this, no. Did I tell
you? That I can play diminished chord on the
piano. He thought maybe I know how to play major
or minor. But diminished is like... Sometimes
he don't like playing the piano. I won't play
in front of you. No, but mate, Boon Chai, you
know, you played the piano, you went to St. Pat's,
you joined, you decided to join the band. Ah,
so yeah, so we come to the, the representative
from the various CCA will come to the Yeah lah,
they sell at Koyot lah. So the only reason I
joined is the uniform looks so cool. What? Yeah,
our old band uniform looks cool. No, the white,
the white one with red stripe, the number one,
white, white pants. Yeah. And the very nice ceremonial.
Yeah. The lanyards. Yeah. And the shamrock. Yeah.
Yeah. Nice man. To me, it's nice. Okay. Then
I drag my buddy to join also. Who's your buddy?
I think it's Henry. Henry. Yeah. I don't know
him. All right. Yeah. So you decided to join
the band because of the uniform, not because
you like music. No. Not because I like music.
I like because of the uniform. At that time,
did you like music? I mean, I like it, but. I
didn't join the band because I like music. So
you're telling me that at that time you had no
passion for music? No. It was a mistake. Yeah.
It's just 100 % the uniform. Really? It looks
so cool. Then what happened next? Cosplay. cross
-dressing then I was like the senior were let
me try on the trumpet trumpet and I didn't do
well and then he said okay just play clarinet
yeah so I've been playing clarinet for the whole
of my second school oh you said you played I
started clarinet not saxophone okay yeah and
I took I finished grade 8. But I remember watching
you play the sax while we were in school. Oh,
that's for fun. I think I joined some combo band.
They call it combo band. Combo band, yeah. Combo
band. Kevin Jefferson, Gerard Sami, Keishon.
Keishon. Also with Bong and Edmund Branson. Edmund.
Yeah. And the late Edmund. Yeah. And we played
on Chinese New Year. Right. You know, da -da
-da -da -da but in funk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You
guys... Wong was slapping. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I remember that. You guys used to play stuff
from... In front of Brother McNally. The late
Brother McNally. Yeah. He was staring. Wow. These
guys were brilliant, man. I tell you, really.
I swear. And I know that you guys played stuff
from Shark Attack. Yes. Yeah. Nightbirds. Nightbirds.
Yeah. And Maneater. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Man
Eater, Hall & Oates. I tell you, can you imagine
back then, you know, in school, these guys were
playing stuff like that. And is it true that
I know that the late Edmund Branson, great guy,
and some of you guys also moonlighted at the
Jockey Pub on the weekends. Oh, not me. Not you.
Very underage, yeah. Yeah, they were all bloody
underage. I didn't know about this. In Shore
Centre. Yeah. Now I feel a bit formal. So that
explains when they hit at the corner and start
talking, maybe they are talking about all this.
Yeah, I remember that. I remember that these
guys were playing at the Jockey Pub. And they
always looked forward to it, man. Jockey Pub?
I think Gerard Sami also sometimes stood in for...
Talented drummer. Oh, yeah. Oh, I forgot about
you. I forgot about you. He's my classmate. Yeah.
Fantastic drummer, man. Oh, bloody hell. Insufferable.
Oh, gosh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Yeah,
fantastic music, man. You know, even back then
in school. So, you joined the band. He was Mr.
Francisco, wasn't he? Yes. So, I have the pleasure
of having both. Even David Gloss. Yes. Yeah.
Yeah, almost split up. Hey, David Gloss. Again,
we're mentioning your name. Yeah. Can you get
in touch for goodness sake? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
But let's talk about the late Lawrence Francisco.
Yeah. It's amazing because we didn't know then.
We were playing jazz. We were playing caravan.
We were playing four by Miles Davis. Wow. We
were playing on the trail. We were playing...
Kilo, we were playing standard. Yeah, they were
playing standard. But as a military band, we
were known as military. I don't know now, is
it still military? But we were always known as
military band. Like, as though the drills is
more important than music. Yeah. Almost all.
Yeah, more important. So you played the clarinet,
then how did you switch over to the saxophone?
You knew how to play the saxophone even back
in school. I played the saxophone because I would,
they ask, because they won't want the clarinetist
to be in the combo band. So, not a choice. No,
no, it's not that, but how do you pick it up?
You play the clarinet. MDC. Music and Drama.
No, but in a combo band, when you were playing
in school for the combo band. It's not a self
-taught, right? Because it's almost the same.
Again, self -taught. Yeah, it's self -taught.
Okay, okay, okay. Clarinet and saxophone, almost
the same. Saxophone, I think it's easier. Because
Clamnet, you need a more tighter and more disciplined
ambusher. I should check off that bucket list,
man. Ambusher, ambusher. You call it ambusher.
The grip. Okay. You need a tighter, more disciplined.
And what's the word again? Ambusher. Ambusher.
Ambusher. Okay. So that. Yeah, yeah. So you play
recorder, you know, the lower and upper register.
Yeah. For saxophone, it's the same note. It's
just an octave different, but for clarinet, it's
different. Okay. A C, lower register. The upper
register is a G. Right. It's very complex. It's
more than an octave different. Wow. Yeah. But
the main thing is the discipline. Right. So is
there any... I'm skipping questions now since
we're on this topic. I like to do things this
way. Okay. So anyone, do you sing? Do you sing?
Just about anyone can learn how to play the sax.
Yes, can. Including idiots like me. It's easier
for, on saxophone, alto sax, because of the size.
Yeah. You know, tenor will be too large. Okay.
Yeah. Soprano will be a bit tiring, and if, embouchure
is weird, it's radical. It's different. Yeah,
soprano is really, if you can play, you'll play
very well. You can't, jialat. Yeah. Okay. So,
Okay, I know where you're going to. It's like,
I ever taught someone within 10 minutes. Yeah.
It was a lady. She could play. I taught her four
notes and came out with five notes. And the tone
was, sorry. No problem. The tone was impeccable.
It was perfect. 10 minutes. That's my record.
Really? Yeah. You're teaching, right? I don't.
You don't teach? Saxophone? He plays saxophone.
Do you know that? That's why he's here. You play
the sax? Yeah. Oh my goodness. When he first
knew me, he knew me as a saxophonist. Yeah. Is
it? Yeah. I know you played the sax when you
were in school. He's still playing. He's still
playing. Is it? Yeah. So you teach the sax? Do
you teach the sax? In school. In school. Where
in school? I teach band. Yeah, yeah. In the school
context. Oh. Yeah. Oh, you do? Yeah, I do. Okay,
okay. Okay. So you can blow as well. So you can
blow as well. We blow differently. This guy is
a legend. Yeah, we all know. Bunchai is a legend.
That's the reason why he's here. How many can
play one song? Well, musicians, man. I mean,
he plays the keyboards and he plays the sax.
You play the keyboards professionally. But you,
you play the sax as well. My goodness. So he,
whatever I say, he understand. My goodness. So
I'm the only dingbat sitting here amongst the
three of us. Now it's cool that, you know, from
St. Pat's, you went into the, you went to NS.
Yes. Did you sign on? Oh, this is another story.
I'll keep it short. No, I wanted to sign on because
I went to 3rd Sir Mono Intake. 3SIR. Yeah. Mono
Intake. And you know, Mono Intake. You cannot
get out of mono anything. There's no way. Yeah.
Your life. Yeah. And I'm Path A. And then I KK.
There's three infantry guys here, man. Because
I'm, because of Sam Pat's military, man, I know
all the drills. Yeah. I'm very good at that.
Yeah. All the commands. Yeah. And then I got.
So. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not showing it, but
I enjoy his company, really. So, I don't know.
I subbed myself. I did very well. And I got the
best trainee of the company. And then the...
And the CEO pulled me to the support company.
Because it's like a promotion. You have to join
the scout company. Oh, you were in the scouts?
Yeah. So, my fourth month, I was in scout. Right.
So, I went to see my S1. Manchester United, you
need to hear this. You need a scout. So, I went
to S1. Yes. I said I want to join the band. Last
time, there was an army band, navy band, air
force band. Yeah, yeah, yeah. MDC. So, there's
this four. I wrote letter to all four. Right.
I want to sign on. Right. I cannot tahan the
army life. Right. I don't blame you, yeah. Yeah,
yeah. It's tough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But isn't
it much? Huh? Much to say. Okay, Wun Che, ignore
him for a bit. Continue your story, please. Yeah.
Okay, yeah. So, I went to S1. S1 is manpower
officer. Yeah, manpower. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He
said, no way you're getting out. No way. Yeah.
Yeah. But somehow, MDC. Yeah. The next day, you
know. The music drama company. Yeah, yeah, music
and drama. The next day, after I spoke to S1,
S1 called me up and said, what happened? Pack
and go. Wah, happy. You know, the Alibaba bank
and everything. Then lucky. I went there. I went
to the BSM staff sergeant, Richard. I said, how
many years I need to sign? The first thing I've
met. Are we talking about Richard Tan? Not Richard
Tan. Oh, but he's not there. But this is another
Richard. Hey, Rich. Shout out to you too, Rich.
Yeah, okay. Okay, so I asked, how many years
do I need to sign? Six years? He said, no, no,
no. And then, two years only. What? Let me explain
to you why you're so lucky, okay? I'll explain
to you why. I was auditioned by Richard. Okay.
Okay? And I was from 1SIR. Oh. I was in support
company. Okay. Wow. Exactly. Exactly. And we're
from the Eastside units. Back then, it was all
the Eastside units, other two brigades, right?
And I went for the audition. And Richard auditioned
me. And I got it. Which? The drama side or the
band side? The drama side. Drama side. Yeah.
To do the MC work and all that. The voice work.
Blah, blah, blah. I got it. My unit didn't let
me go. My S1 didn't let me go. MDC wrote in.
They still didn't let me go. Oh no. So I spent
my two and a half years full on in one SIR. Oh
dear. What a sad man. Forces 55 wanted me too.
Back then, before Power 98 ever existed, the
only armed forces radio was called Forces 55.
Just a station. That's it. It's just a station
of the show that comes on. Radio One, which is
Go 905 now, right? On a Saturday. And it was
the first guy to do it. I hope I'm right about
my facts here. The first guy to get on air was
Leslie Pillay. And he was known as the corporal.
Oh. Yeah. And all that, even though I got accepted,
gone out the window. Yeah. Wow. Never had a chance.
Never had a chance. You're damn lucky, man. But
you ended up being an instructor. You didn't
sign on. I didn't sign on. You became an instructor,
right? For the Singapore Armed Forces Band. That
came a bit later after I left MDC. Oh, they came
later. Because back then, all the SSO players,
they were tutoring the three bands, the Army,
Navy, and Air Force. Oh, okay. The Singapore
Symphonic Orchestra. But they're lacking on saxophones.
So, I'm lucky. I've been put in. So when you
went into MDC, you were playing the saxophone.
Yeah, I need to. And I didn't even have a mouthpiece.
I don't even have a saxophone. And all was given
by my in -chief. They were very kind. They just
loaned me a mouthpiece. Wow. Get me some reeds.
Yeah. Okay. Honestly, I'm not. Let me get this
right. Everybody's got their own personal mouthpiece.
Yeah. Yes, yes. At least. So it's not very professional
that I didn't have. Even a single... You were
a kid, man. Come on. Yeah. At 18, we were still
kids. Yeah, yeah. We were still kids, man. Yeah.
And okay, then what happened next? And MDC is
like a stepping stone because Tamar Goh was there.
Oh, Tamar was there? Tamar was there. Serving
NS or was he full -time? Regular. Regular. My
sergeant. Hey, shout out Tamar Goh. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. He was a regular. Yeah, he was a big influence
to me. He and Captain Tony Wei. Both of them.
They were like coaching me. Tama, I'm going to
pay tribute to you next season in season seven,
okay? So stand by for my invitation. Stand by,
brother. Yeah, stand by, brother. Yeah. In those
days, we have like pager, you know. So he told
me to get pager. And then he had this wallet
that had a ring, what, a ring note that you can,
you have a, Like diary to write the gigs. Right.
So there's a pen and... Filofax. Yeah, something
like that. Then you can replace. Okay. Those
cost like $100. Yeah, yeah, Filofax. In those
days, you know. Yeah, yeah, correct. I know I
had one. In the 80s, you know how much is that?
$100 plus. Yeah. You must have that. You must
have paper. And every year we buy replenishment,
no? It's paper. It's paper. Yeah, replenish.
That's a ring. There's a ring. You take out.
That's your wallet. You buy next year's one,
you put it in. That's right. Yeah. Diary, is
it? Yes. We have a pen. Yeah. And it comes with
a pen and everything. What do you call it again?
Filofax. Filofax. F -I -L -O -F -A -X. Filofax.
It's like when you have a ring for something
like that. Interesting, huh? Those days, huh?
Yeah. We can buy Isis. Remember Isis? Isis, the
brand? Isis? Okay. I -X -I -Z. I -X -I -Z. So,
the brand in those days, Isis. Isis. Isis. Isis.
Shit. I think so. And we used to, by the way,
to us, it was branded, you know, the file of
access. Yeah. So you keep your schedule in for
all the gigs. He'd be guiding me and doing all
the standard songs. So MDC was very nurturing.
Very good. It's like a music school to me. A
college. So do you feel that Teo Boon Chai's
establishment The springboard for your growth,
eventual growth, actually was more attributed
to MDC than it would be to St. Patrick's School.
Oh, St. Patrick's. Clarinet, classical clarinet.
Yeah. I really practiced. But that's not, you
don't find that to be the ultimate foundation.
I still don't know where I'm going. But that
wasn't your ultimate foundation. No. MDC was
the nurturing one. Classically, yes. Because
I've been practicing sometimes five hours a day
till my lip blistered. Well, Kuo Po said the
same thing. She went through the same till her
lips blistered. Oh, no, not her. She was saying
that some music teachers tend to train train
their kids this way and she doesn't agree with
it yeah just get it back in the correct context
yeah yeah okay so so tell me what happened next
so mdc then after that after you're done with
your ns and it was nurturing you yeah you made
boon chai into that guy who wants to be the sex
talent so yeah so to to to someone is that uh
in second school it's more the technicality right
classical. And then when MDC, it's more like
the gigs, gearing to the gigs. Right. So it really
was a nice linear growth for you. But it's a
culture shock to me. Why? Because all along it's
classical for me. What were you playing? I even
wanted, I applied for SSO. I didn't get in. I
think I'm not good enough also, but there's no
vacancy as well. Okay. So the idea is like scrap.
Okay. And then this came along just nice. Okay.
So what happened after MDC? You started training,
teaching. I teach a bit, but the pay wasn't good.
I was teaching at Yamaha. Wait, hang on. What
happened to the Singapore Armed Forces Band and
the Police Band? Oh, that comes mid -20s. So
how did that happen? I mean, did you have to
sign on? No, no sign on. It's just... tutoring
and pay by hour so you were hired hired right
right okay to train these guys okay right and
then what happened okay so after army yeah i
did uh three years immediately i'm almost immediately
uh i was playing at the saxophone bar the old
saxophone bar at carpage terrace yeah wow yeah
yeah i did not even yeah man saxophone bar bro
I tell you, you missed out a lot, man. Yeah.
But what's this thing I hear about you getting
a grade 8 in clarinet from the La Salle Academy?
Ah, that's right. With honours. Yes, with honours.
Yeah, so when did that happen? Okay, before...
Well, he keeps forgetting his own history, you
know. I have to remind him about his history.
So the very first La Salle, before the Mountbatten
one, before the SIA, before the one at... The
one in Mountbatten? Yeah. Yeah, next to the swimming
pool. Yeah, it's called Lasal Academy. Ah, Lasal
Arts Academy. And it's in St. Pat's. Oh, the
one in the shed at the back. In St. Pat's, you
know, right? Yeah, right at the back of the school.
The late Brother McNally was the principal of
that school. Correct, yeah. How convenient is
that? So, so I actually, it actually we are Lasal.
Yeah. So you joined LaSalle back then in St.
Patrick's School. Yeah, when we were schooling.
In St. Patrick's School when we were in school.
Yeah. So you were concurrently doing your secondary
school education and in LaSalle. Yes, yes. What
the hell? But LaSalle then wasn't like full -time
like now. Yeah, it wasn't, yeah. Yeah. But it
still has that name, LaSalle Academy. Right,
right. That's the very first one. Right. So you
took your clarinet there? Yes. Wow. Trinity College.
Wow. And you got the grade A with honors. Yeah.
So did it, how come you never stuck to the clarinet,
man? I mean, you got, you went all the way. Actually,
after MDC, I still like the clarinet. But when
I go for gigs, when they hear I play the clarinet,
I say, okay, you want to play the clarinet? Fine.
But you must bring a saxophone. So the demand
is for the saxophone. Yeah, you have to bring
a saxophone. It's like this joker now. you know
this joker plays a piano because the keyboards
because it is more in demand it's a commercial
reason to it yes yeah granite are you keeping
quiet no why why why yeah both of them yeah both
of them both are different instruments no but
you you the last time we met in the in the studio
you decided to play the keyboards. That's what
you said. No, I decided to play the piano. I
decided to take the degree. I decided to take
the degree in... Don't use headphones and all
that. That's right. In piano. Rather than like
saxophone because like, yeah, pianists always
have more demand. Correct. So, isn't that the
reason? Yeah, but as in being a pianist and being
a keyboardist, I would say it's a different thing
as well. It's two different, how to say it? It's
pianist? I don't understand. Yeah, I also don't
understand. What's the difference between being
a pianist? Oh, by the way, in case you guys don't
know, the proper terminology, right, to pronounce
P -I -A -N -I -S -T is actually pianist. Oh,
no. I'm glad we got it wrong. It's actually not
pianist. We just say pianist because it's...
All socially acceptable. I'm a penis. Gabriel
Lim is a penis. It's going to be different from
today on. Being a penis. There's no turning back
after this. It's established, man. Singapore's
first penis. Singapore's first penis squeaky
toy. The first paid thing. First what? Your pay.
You know, so... Okay, being a pianist and a keyboard
player, what's the difference? Keyboard is playing
in a band. Yeah. Soundscape. You know, like...
Pianist plays in a band too. Pianist... Oh, you're
talking about the acoustic thing. Yeah, like
acoustic. You know, like playing in a lounge.
Okay, I mean, that's different. But if you play
a piano without playing a synthesizer keyboard,
You're playing a piano, like a road piano. You're
still a pianist. Yeah. He's also a keyboardist.
What's the difference? I really want to learn
because I'm not a... I don't play instruments.
Isn't it like an acoustic and electric guitar?
Yeah. He's still a guitarist. I mean, yeah, you
are a guitarist. It's the same but different.
But they will be rather... They will rather be
like... Okay. Then in that case, let me just
put it this way. Would a keyboard player... With
a keyboardist, be able to play a piano. Should
be, right? Your foundation will be... They may
not have the feel. Foundation... Because the
touch is different. Yes. The touch of a piano
and acoustic piano and... And the wooden keys.
And the keyboard is different. Yeah, wooden piano
keys, right? Wooden piano keys. I understand
that. And the light plastic -y keyboard keys.
Okay, I like the difference. It's a tactile thing.
It's like if I... I have been playing alto sax.
Yeah. But I can play the tenor. But if I play
the tenor, it's a bit different. I may not. The
sound is different. I may not. The sound is different,
but I may not play it well. Yeah. It's different.
Yeah. Really? Yeah. No wonder I'm not a musician.
So it wasn't because you picked the saxophone
up. Because you said, darling, you're the one
for me. I'm going to blow you all my life. it's
not because no no no but it wasn't because yeah
but i grew to like the saxophone can you tell
me right now on the scale of one to ten how much
do you love the saxophone then now it's ten ten
okay yeah over the years she became familiar
to you yeah and then it becomes like becomes
zero oh now it's zero yeah so very great eight
with honors you can great read that as zero only
two occasions that i would have play if people
ask me it will be like Dixieland music wow I
feel I can it's easy for me I feel he's talking
about all the left field stuff man yeah Dixieland
Dixieland or like I was sharing with Gabriel
just now like if there's playing for a concert
sometimes you need to double up because I don't
play flute so when I tell them I can play clarinet
because clarinet and flute have pretty much the
same range oh is it yeah oh boy Okay, I changed
my mind. I'm not going to learn to play any instrument.
If you could go back in time and give your younger
student self one piece of advice, what would
it be? I think I would still do the same thing.
I would still pick up the clarinet because the
clarinet gave me a lot of technique that I can
apply on my saxophone. Okay. Yeah, and it's more...
discipline, it's all helped me. It's like going
through NS, you know, a lot of grind. A lot of
grind. Yeah. Okay. You really train hard for
it. Okay. Am I right? Do you, if you're in a
school band contact? Yeah lah, I mean, you have
to go through that phase, that phase, if not,
if not. Yeah. Right. So there was no regrets,
basically. No, no, no regrets. No regrets. No
regrets. Okay. You spent 14 years, man. I was
so proud of you, my friend. I tell you, I was
so effing proud. How many years? 14 years. It's
like softness with Jive Talking, man. 14 years.
Yeah, man. 14 years. Jive Talking People is a
real legendary band here in Singapore. They're
still in existence. What was the secret to you
staying together for so long with them? Wow.
How did it feel like, man, playing for Jive Talking
and Rafi? I must choose my words carefully. This
is not a loaded question. This is not a loaded
question. But this story is linked to Kuo Kuo
a bit. Okay. I know, I know. Because all my life...
She hired you guys, right? Yeah. All my life,
I love to jam. Yeah. Even when in secondary school.
You are still a serial jammer. Yeah, in secondary
school. Serial jammer. Yeah, secondary school,
I would go and crash other school practices and
join them. Really? And I actually counted in
the span of my secondary school, I joined at
least 21 bands. Some colleges, some secondary
school, some like SIA school. And how can you
say at that time you didn't like music? Or music
wasn't a thing for you? That's the only thing
that I can... We're jamming for 21 freaking schools
and colleges, man. It's crazy, right? Yeah. Maybe.
Yeah. I mean, come on. Who does that? And there's
someone who's really passionate about what they
do and really passionate about the music, right?
Yes, yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So, you like to jam
and you're telling me about KP. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, I like to jam and then I knew the late Barney
Farrow. Oh. The late leader of Jive Talking on
day one. So Jive Talking wasn't formed yet. You
don't know who's money from, right? You heard
of him, right? Yeah. What a legend. Then KP has
this outlet called Java Jive. Java Jive, yeah.
Right? Yeah. So Hard Rock sent someone to sort
of audition us. So one of the managers was planted
there to watch us. Right. And then Barney Farrokh
came. Come and join. Come and jam with us. And
then Jeffrey Maulod. Yeah. Also was jamming also.
Yeah. So we jammed. Play, play, play, play. Then
I went to the bar, asked for milk and things.
I got laughed. And then the next moment. Went
to the bar, asked for what? Milk. I got. I never.
I never. I never been to a bar before. You're
not joking. I'm not joking. I say I want milk.
And then, wah, kanah, boy. I'm not laughing,
right? Yeah, yeah. They're angry. True story,
true story. So then, then the next moment, I
forgot it with the manager from Hard Rock. I
said, I want the band. I want Jeffy Maru. And
I want that sexual player. And, yeah. From there,
uh -huh. That was, yeah, the rest is history.
14 years. He's not really answering my question,
no. Which one? The milk or the... How was it
like playing with giant fucking man? How did
it feel like being together then for so long?
I mean, it must have been great. I love it, I
love it. I love it. And there were a lot of travelling
as well. That one was also quite fun. Yeah, the
Beijing, Jakarta, Makati. What was the magic
you think, Gail? What was the magic in Jive talking?
Oh, I... What was the magic, man? I mean, the
late Barney Farrokh is really inspiring. Ah,
yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And Rafi too. Yeah. But
Rafi is cool. Yeah. Barney was talent, man. Yeah.
After Barney passed away, Rafi took over. Rafi
knows what song to play. Yeah. he always had
the mentality to play for the crowd. Right. Not
for our, you know. Oh, we love to play. Yeah.
Not shook sendiri lah. Yeah, no, no, no. It's
about always reading the room lah. Read the room.
But Bunny has this jazz element in him. The little
George Benson in him. Yeah, even leading the
band. So, for example, he'll say, Boon Chai,
go solo. So you let me do a free solo alone.
And then he'll lead it into some song. Wow. I
love that because it's spontaneous. Yeah. And
it's not like a pop band. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Wow. Why did you leave Jump Jockey? Wow. I don't
know how to say it. It just happened. It just
happened. After China Jump. So 10 years at Hard
Rock Cafe. Four years at China Jump. Yeah. Yeah.
Then I... I left. Do you know China Jump? No.
Really? China Jump is now simply retro. Yeah,
now it's a simply retro. It's in the same space.
More or less a simply, yeah. That space cannot
die, but only businesses die. China Jump, then
John Bolina had Berlin there. Yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, then after that, now it's simply retro.
Yeah. So you played in China Jump for four years.
Four years. So ten plus four. Yeah. Why did you
leave? Personal reasons. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Personal
reasons. Okay. But I am enjoying my time outside
of Chai Talking. Okay. How long has it been since
you left Chai? My math is not very good. Our
math is very bad. No, I can tell. Should we try
it a bit? Very fast one ah. So there was this
year. No, I know when the two of you get along.
You know sometimes when you wear like army helmet,
then we become like blah blah right? You know
I was not blah when I put it on. Yeah, when I
was 27. There was a year we were like, I was
double his age. Yeah, when I was 27. Then I was
asking him, next year, oh, we'll still be double,
right? Yeah. Then he agreed. Do your math, do
your math. You were double. You cannot influence
by us. What the fuck are you talking about? How
old are you? No, I'm 27. Yeah? He's 54. Cannot
be 54. You're a year older than me only. I'm
born in 1968. Two years older than me only. Yeah.
I mean, that was three years ago. Three years
ago, I was 27. He was 54. Yeah, I was double.
Yeah, okay. He was double my age. We kept thinking
that every year, I'll be double. But when we
are alone... And he had the same Patrick's education.
Then we were like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll
still be double. But when we are not together,
we are okay. Like we are smart. What the f...
Okay. Enough of side track. Not until you're
making me stupid, boy. You were thinking it.
You were like, oh yeah. I tell you. Wow. Very
confusing. Okay. After so many years with Jive,
having gone freelance, how many years has it
been since you left? Okay. I've been 37 years
all in all. 14 minus 27 minus 14. 23? 23 years?
So you spent more years out of the band than
you did being with the band. It was difficult
to calculate because it's like almost one year
no gig. Because everyone gigging would have their
own clique of musicians. And also I've been out
of the scene for 14 years. Out of the session
scene, you mean? Yeah, and these two aspects
actually explain why I don't have a gig for one
year. Okay. So I'm just waiting for spillover
when I sub for so -and -so and get into the clique.
You could have easily just gone back to jive
talking. You know, 12 months of no work. I don't
know. I left, so I left. Okay. So one year no
work, then after that, it was tough. Then eventually
it started coming in. Yeah. And I didn't know
what's like so -called the outside gig songs.
It's repertoire a bit different. Yeah. You know.
It was a leap of faith, you know. Yeah. I need
to learn Sway, you know. Yeah. And I was supposed
to play Sway. Okay. Now you're talking about
a song. Okay. Sway. Oh, no, no. Okay. The Michael
Boo play. The Michael Boo play song. Okay. Sway.
Okay. I should have picked another song. When
the rhythm starts to play. Yeah. I was supposed
to play the melody. Uh -huh. I said, I don't
know. And I was on the spot. And the bassist
hum the melody for me and play. That's how I
learned all the songs, really. And those days,
no iPad, nothing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's nothing.
You really have to play by ear. Wow. It was tough.
Yeah. But you eventually became one of the most
sought -after session players, man. Hey, look,
man, I'm in your socials. Every damn time I see
your picture, he's somewhere playing, don't know
who, man. People I don't even recognize, boy.
He's like, wait, this fella, that fella, you
know, surrounded by young babes and all that
kind of stuff. You know, I'm playing in this
gig, playing in that gig, that gig, this gig,
until I blur like Sotong, boy. I say, what, this
fella really, very, very busy session player,
man. Some truth lah. I don't know how to say.
But, I love to gig and this is my rice bowl,
right? Yeah. So my attitude will be different.
If I have a daytime job, my attitude will be
a bit different. Like, I won't put in 100%. And
because I don't need gigs because I got a daytime
job. But for me, it's 100 % right. Yeah, my attitude
is different. I'll be the best I can for the
gig. So after you left Jive, tell me if I'm right
or wrong. You recorded with some of the biggest
names in Asian pop. Is it after you leaving Jive,
right? During Jive, actually. During Jive's time?
During Jive's time. Because those are the, in
the 90s. Yeah. All the Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong
Kong producers come to, they love our studio.
Yeah. So, the studio managers, they will get
local. Hey, you know something, man? Even David
Foster loves our studios. Mariah Carey comes
here to record too. Somehow. I even know which
studios they go to. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway,
I just want to name a couple of the big names,
Asian pop stars that our dear friend Boon Chai
played with. Sandy Lam. Sandy Lam. Aaron Kwok.
Tony Leung. Chi Yu. Chi Yi. Chi Yi. Oh, Chi Yi.
Chi Yi. Okay. Wang Jie. Wang Jie. Oh, Wang Jie.
All right. Check this out. Haken Lee. Haken Lee.
Haken Lee. Haken Lee. Where is he from? That's
a famous song. Where is he from? I don't know.
Is he Singaporean? No, right? No, no, no. From
Hong Kong, right? But famous. He got many hit
songs. Famous, I never heard of him. Haken Lee.
Haken. Haken Lee. Ho Yau San. Ho Yau San. CD
album. Yeah, I kind of figured. Tracy Huang.
Tracy Wong. Oh, Tracy Wong. What a lovely person.
Can I talk about Tracy Wong? Yes, you can. I
can talk about her too. I had to show you that.
I didn't see, I didn't hear, oh, sorry. Tracy
Wong or Feng Fei Fei? Okay. I think it's Tracy
Wong. So, the producer is Santana's, Basie's
wife. Wow. So, she brought her own mic and everything.
Yeah. And, wow, bizarre, man. I was standing
by the mic. I said, no, stand. like very far
away. Right. And it turned out perfect. It was
so nice. So the producer knows what the hell
she was doing. She knows. But Tracy is such a
lovely person. But I didn't get to see her. I
did a show once. It was quite a big one. It was
for Crook Champagne. They had to change generations.
You know family, right? So Crook family, they
change over to the next son or the grandson or
whatever. And I was hosting the gig. And Tracy
Huang was a performer. And she was so upset with
me because I told her, you know something, Tracy?
When I was 12 years old, your poster was in my
cabin. And she said, wow. You were how old? 12.
Thanks, Chris. You still look so good. The Demogorgon
prick. I told you, she looks so good. But it's
true. I open my cupboard, take out my clothes.
Oh, Tracy. Wow. That is a nice session. I never
say true in the past. Yeah, the wardrobes. Yeah,
you mentioned earlier, you worked with Fong Fei
Fei, Stephanie Sun, Jackie Chung, man. Oh, wow.
I think one of the best rock recording that I've
thought of is Jackie Choo. Really? She put my
Chinese name in the CD credit. Wow. So people
thought, wow, related ah? So... There's this
recording. It's called Man Man. Slow. I know.
Man Man. My Chinese is not so bad. I recorded
the clarinet part. Oh, I should play it. It's
in concert E. No, don't worry. Later I'll show
you what I have in mind. I cannot play it. Anyway,
it was in concert E. F sharp for clarinet. It
was so stressful because the producer said, he
just mapped out everything verbally. Why not
like YouTube? Do this, do that. And F sharp is
hard for Claire. F sharp is very hard for me.
To do the glissando, you know, to... So I did
it. Fast forward. What the fuck's a glissando,
bro? Glissando. Glissando. What's a glissando?
Secession of notes. Fast secession of notes.
From bottom to top. It's like a piano. It's glissando
lah. No, no, no. That one is volume. Volume.
Crisando is Crisando is not Crescendo so so recently
I heard a live concert by Jackie Choo right so
when it came to the Man Man song the clarinet
played the solo exactly like mine so I said wow
quite cool eh I I've been learning people's solo,
right? And now people copy my solo. People copy
your solo. Yeah, note to note. Note to note.
Wow. I don't know how to play it. Then there's
Wen Zhang. Oh, Wen Zhang. Stella Chang. Eric
Moo. Eric Moo, yeah. One of the first artists
that I... You know who's Eric Moo? Ochi Sien.
Yeah. Malaysian, no? I heard. I heard. You love
Malaysia. Yeah. You love Malaysia? Yeah. Right
thing to say, right? I don't know whether writing
is the wrong thing to say. It doesn't matter.
Dick Lee as well. Dick Lee, yes. And Jacinta.
Oh, Jacinta. Yeah, I went LA with Tama, with
the late Iskandar Ismail. Yeah. With Joshua Wan.
Yeah. And that was for that album, wasn't it?
She had an album in Latin, right? Yes. With...
Wow. Yeah. You know that album? I bought that
album. Oh. And I actually learned how to sing.
It's an Engelbert song. Love Me If All Is Your
Heart, but she did it in Spanish. So I actually
learned it by heart, you know? Oh. So I can sing
that song in Spanish because of Jacinta's album.
Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. I love that rendition.
traveling with her is fun she always buy us gift
and every time she pass by a gift shop you'll
get some gift from her but what were you doing
in LA with her it's a two week it's some cultural
thing it's two weeks back to back first week
at New Zealand and second week at LA okay in
LA was very stressed to perform there my goodness
Even Iskandar and Joshua is like, oh my. Why?
Because they are great musicians there. Even
like those people working at the music shop.
They do recordings. They are very good musicians.
Wow. That's their standard. Wow. So it was stressful.
Besides your work with Jive talking, you also
don't have your funk side with Funky Monkeys.
Oh wow. Wow. What do you love about playing funk?
Fun. I love funk, man. Yeah, it's fun. You know
everything about this show? All my credits, end
credits, opening credits, anything that I've
got, it's always fun. I will only choose funk
for my videos and stuff. Yeah, I love funk. We
had a great time. It's really a different genre.
So tell me about Funky Monkeys, man. Funky Monkeys.
Let me think. I think we are so dedicated. We
practice quite regularly. That's very different
from me. I don't have a regular group. So this
is like a regular group. And very serious. And
we actually had to go to some consultant house
to actually teach us how to be a good band, dance
move and all those things. how to wear, how to,
you know. It's serious. Yeah, very serious. Yeah.
Wow. Those were the days. Yeah. And we would
go to the Willy there. Where? No more already.
Willy and Arjunit. Willy and Arjunit, no more
already. But they moved, huh? Is that Porong
Pasir, right? No, no, still. It's still around.
No, not in Arjunit. They're still around, but
not in Arjunit. Ubi. Ah, Ubi, Ubi, that's it.
Yeah, they moved to Ubi. That's right. Yeah.
Yeah. Really. Funky monkeys. But what happened
with funky monkeys, man? You guys get gigs everywhere.
Yeah, yeah. We do. Yeah. So tell me about that.
Tell me about how the experience was like. It's
very different because we really work like a
team. And there's a horn section. And it's all
about fun. Yeah. There's a four -piece horn section.
Trombone, trumpet, alto section, tenor section.
Wow. It's different. It's not so much on you
as a lead player. And the solo is not the key
anymore. It's a big sound that you want to give.
It's like an open and fire thing. You know, like
there's this fantastic Russian outfit now, Leonid
and Friends. You see them online, right? They
are amazing, boy. I have a bunch of Russians
to come out and sound so good with earth, wind
and fire music, you know, and even carpenters.
I mean, and all the old stuff, you know, like
even the old jazz stuff. I mean, these guys are
amazing. Wow. You're a highly respected improviser
in the Singapore jazz scene. How does a saxophonist,
now teach me, walk me through this, learn to
speak spontaneously through their instrument?
Before we go on, I'm not like a hardcore jazz
player. You're not? I'm not, yeah. Maybe I went
a bit more avant -garde. Let me tell you something.
This thing I just said, this thing I just read
out. This highly respected improviser in the
Singapore jazz scene wasn't plucked from the
sky. I do deep research. I pay good money for
it. And these are the results of that research.
Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. This is what you're
known as in the jazz scene. You are a highly
respected improviser with your instrument. Okay.
So my dear friend, I don't just call people here
to give tribute. I give tribute because the person
really truly deserves it. And you guys, you got
to stick around because you know why? Because
at the end of the show, there's going to be a
three -minute video of Boon Cha in action. Then
you'll understand why I have this man I'm paying
tribute to. I'll show it to you later on. I'll
show it to you later on. So all these things.
What people say about you, publicly even. Yeah.
So walk me through, man. How do you improvise?
You say you don't like jazz, but you are so damn
freaking good at it. I think I'm very sort of
got influenced by jive talking. Okay. Even though
I do like almost every night I have to do an
instrumental. Always the first song is instrumental,
by the way. Except maybe on Friday and Saturday.
So Monday and Tuesday, we always do... We do
the intro song. Like Dave Kors, Ernie Watts.
I'm so geared to pop music. You know, pop or
smooth jazz. What are you trying to tell me?
You're trying to tell me that you don't like
jazz? No, I like it. But I like... pop more and
more. And recently... So it just so happens you're
good at jazz. I don't play so much jazz nowadays.
But you have played jazz often enough. In those
days. Yeah, yeah. Early 20s. Which means you
have accolades. People in the jazz scene feel
that you are a highly respected improviser with
your saxophone playing jazz. Which means that
you, Boon Chai, you consider yourself so -so.
That's not what the rest are saying, man. That's
not what the rest are saying. I think my first
three years after MDC when I was at Saxophone
Bar, I was playing the tenor. And wow, I loved
it so much. I don't need fake boom. Actually,
more or less, I can memorize all the hits. I
don't know what that means. Oh, yeah, yeah. I
memorized all the hits that I can blow. I knew
it. I shouldn't have used that. I memorized all
the hits that I blow. Right. Okay. That says
a lot. Sure. Okay. Wow. Speaks volumes, man.
Shit, Chris, you understood that? Yeah, I can
understand it some other way. Gonna lose followers.
Okay. Or gain followers, I don't know. No, no,
no. I mean, this is actually a pure conversation
already, isn't it? I mean, it's authentic enough
and I think that's what people want to watch
and listen to. You know, whether we get somewhere,
doesn't get somewhere, doesn't matter, you know.
But end of the day, right, this is, it's real.
We just speak our minds, you know. A reviewer
for The Straits Times, Boon Chai, called you
the busiest soloist during the Land With No Sun
concert series. How did it feel to be a central
part of a project that has big themes like climate
change? And how do you express those complicated
ideas through your saxophone? That one is the...
It's a fusion band with Erhu and Carnatic Violinist.
What? Indian Violinist. Oh, okay. Yeah, Carnatic.
That one is quite cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Express
it for me, man. How do you express it through
your instrument? It's very organic because many...
very spontaneous and especially the solos. So
I would exchange solo with the Carnatic. So they
use Raga. And their Raga is really so cool. The
only Raga I know is the current Super Typhoon
that starts with the name Raga at the beginning.
That's hit Hong Kong now. What's Raga? Indian
skills. Am I right? Indian skills? Indian skills.
Musical skills. Yeah. There's a name for it.
It's called raga. You have like blue skills,
you have minor skills, major skills. Right. So
Indian have... Skills. Raga skills. Has their
own... Their own interpretation. Okay, right.
So Western, actually, we can actually count how
many skills. But for raga, it cannot count. It's
like hundreds, thousands. It's crazy. Wow. Do
they do like microtonal stuff? What? My mind's
about to explode. Micro what? Microtonal. Do
they do the microwave? Put my sandwich in there
and eat the mum or what? What the fuck's microtonal,
bro? Microtonal. Very tiny sound. You have C,
you have D. Yeah. But there are 100 notes in
between. There are. No, you can have, yeah. I
can think only one or two. So it's easy. I can
only, I can only. So okay, you lower the, you
lower the semitones by, you lower the, you lower
the cents by. The cents, yeah, okay. The one
I understand, two cents, three cents, yeah. Five
cents, 20 cents. So semitone is actually cents?
No, no, semitone is. Semitone is tempered scale.
Or like a whole, okay, semitone is from C to
C sharp. That's a semitone. Right. C to D is
a whole tone. C to D is a whole tone, okay? Two
semitones make up a tone. Two semitones make
up a tone. Okay. So, a sharp followed by A. Say
C is C major. C. C sharp. C, no. C major is C,
D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Right, yes. Okay. A semitone
from C major is a C sharp. Yeah, a semitone from
C up is C sharp. Right. So, you have microtones
in between C to C sharp. So the next semitone
after the C -sharp is what? D. D. Okay. C, C
-sharp, D. Right. I thought he wanted to know
about the microtones. Yeah. Microtones are...
In between these. Any note. Any note. Even between
a C and a C -sharp. Yeah, any note. And how do
you denote these microtones? Cannot denote. Wow.
Because they are in space. Wow. So it's frequency.
It's like frequency. If I got cymbal right, is
it a down cymbal? Wah, I have never gotten that
one. I mean, you don't usually use like that.
Yeah, you don't because no keyboard will have
a microtone to. Yeah, it has a pitch bender.
Oh, a pitch bender. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's
a synthesizer. Right, okay. So it's interesting
because when he plays, he set the mode and until
he does this. And I supposed to follow after
his solo. Oh dear. Wow. So I learned how to cope
and play the fifth note or third note. To be
able to accompany. I mean, I could have just
played some pentatonic or some jazz line. It
would not fit. Yeah, it's still like a solo,
but you have to relate. I don't want to ask what's
pentatonic. Okay. Otherwise, this show will continue
to tomorrow. It turns out to be, hey, go to YouTube
and learn all about these things, you know? Okay,
Bun Chai, tell us about the T .O. Ensemble and
the composer Zito. Zito, right? Yeah, Zito. Okay.
Yeah. So, he's very, very talented. I think you
graduated from Lhasa as well. So, did you do
any improvising? A lot. A lot. Yeah, yeah. So,
how do you balance between something that's written
with the freedom of improvisation? Oh, he gives
me a lot of room to express myself. Yes, they
are written. They are melodies. How do you express
yourself when you improvise? Well, as far as
it's difficult. In that context. Is it a feel?
Yes. I don't know. Tenor seems to be the right
instrument. I don't know why. Sometimes soprano.
But not alto sax. It just didn't work. I don't
know why. When I play the tenor, it just fits
into that ensemble. The colour. Okay. What piece
of advice would you give to someone who wants
to make a career in music? Wow. Yeah, I've been
asked a lot. Maybe I share how I feel. Sure.
I've been wanting to prove to people that all
along to make a living out of purely just gigs.
Right? That's my... I didn't tell myself, oh,
I won't do that. But it seems that I want to
go to that direction. Not to prove people wrong,
but actually to encourage. Well, you're the first
guy to say this. All my musical guests. So no
teaching? Yeah. Just gigs. Just gigs. Yeah. Wow.
So if I set my mind to that, I think my attitude
is a bit different. I'll learn like, lately I
have many like mental pop songs to learn. I'll
go and learn the intros and... So you're saying
that it's not an impossibility. No. I've been
doing it. To live your life, to earn a living
fully by gigging. Yeah. Okay, I hope you guys
are listening, especially all you parents out
there are telling your children. Exactly, yeah.
Don't grow up to be musicians because you cannot,
I'm living. I'm so tempted to use a particular
finger on camera right now, but I'm not going
to. So, you know, stop doing shit like that.
Yeah, I mean, it is. Gabriel is a good example.
Yeah, Gabriel is a good example. You should see
the car he drives, man. Oh my. He got some bling
on it too. Yeah. Boom, boom. Squeaky toy in a
little car. It's not a little car, anyway. Oh,
no. It's a British make, okay? What have I done?
Yeah. Oh, man. Thanks for that, man. I mean,
I... You know, all these two and a half years...
Kai, has it been two and a half years, Kai, since
you started filming? Around that. Okay. All of
my guests on my tribute show, I've not heard
a single one say what I'm hoping so much. for
them to say don't worry guys go into music you
can earn a good living and you know thank you
so very much for that man uh really yeah yeah
thank you so much for that man when i was younger
i remember i remember bonchai telling me like
many years ago when i first met you he got closer
he was like yes just do your thing yeah so Yeah,
he has always been. Just shut the fuck up, go
out there and do your thing, right? Yeah, I didn't
use the F word. Yeah, I know. I'm saying it or
you'll be asked. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Which is what I always, like, at the back
of my mind. So do you advocate the same thing
Boon Chai has advocated? Yeah, I always, I mean,
I always tell people, even younger musicians
right now. to just do their thing and just keep
continuing what they are doing. I mean, yeah.
This is what it's about, right? This is what
it's about. Just keep on doing it. Continue loving
what you do. Because I was quite crappy at the
start when I first met Vin Chai. Yeah, he's the
only guy. He's one of the few musicians that
actually, like the older musicians that actually
encouraged me. Yeah. To get to where I am today.
You see? You're responsible for one already.
My rubber duck. You're a rubber duck. You're
a rubber duckie. You're the one. Rubber duckie.
You're the one. You're squeaky and so much fun.
But there was this time when we were very close
and we sort of trust each other. And then I actually
received some feedback about Gabriel's playing.
So I waited for the time when we were close.
And I told him, can I get some feedback with
you? Is it okay? Because I received mine many
years ago and very often. And that's how we learn.
But you need to have someone that you trust.
Because there are a lot of people out there that
are also full of noise. So, we had that talk.
It was nice. And I told him everything and he
took it and okay, I'll change. So, change ah?
Change, change, change. I hope so. Yeah. But
ask him for report card lah. So, Boon Chai, if
you had to describe what music is to you in one
single sentence, what would you say? Wow. Music.
I guess. It got story on it. Can I say story?
Sure, please. In the 90s, 80s, 90s, there are
many good players, saxophone players. Right.
But they have too much sometimes when they don't
get satisfaction from gigs and then they get
very frustrated. Right. And then they turn away.
from music and do other things. And I saw that
when I was young. I said, I'm not going to do
that. So when you tell me, when you ask me that,
I just feel as long as I'm playing the saxophone,
I'm happy. Even on a bad day, with bad gigs,
I'll still enjoy it. As long as I can play my
instrument. So what you're saying is that your
description of music is basically through your
instrument. Whatever it is, you pick up an instrument,
love that instrument. Yeah, I love it. Okay.
What's a common misconception about the saxophone
that you'd like to clear up? Are there any misconceptions
people have? Common, usual misconceptions of
the instrument? There's a trumpet. I do get that.
Whoever thinks there's a trumpet is a kotik,
bro. No, no, no. But it's true, it's true. How
can people think a saxophone is a trumpet? No.
Some people don't know. Dingbat. Dingbat. Yeah.
I thought you answered that. Dingbat. People
actually mistake a saxophone for a freaking trumpet.
Your trumpet very good. Just now your song. Yeah.
Oh my God. But you said thank you. Yeah. Because
you don't get many compliment in gigs, you know.
Yeah. Trumpet okay. Yeah. Okay, right. Okay,
everybody, you heard that? It's... Saxophones
are not trumpets, yeah? Trumpets are not saxophones,
okay? So please go Google it if you're still
blur about it. Don't be a sotong. Okay, what
do you think is the biggest challenge today for
young aspiring musicians in Singapore? You said
earlier that to prove that gigging, you can survive
gigging, right? You can earn a living through
gigging. I only can think of one thing compared
from my time when I'm learning and now, because
now you have the resources is really in front
of you by a phone. You get any Google and everything,
you can get a minus one, you can get everything.
But from my day, no. We have to actually go.
to the place where people are playing, your favorite
player, and during their break time, you go there
and ask, I have a list of questions. Hey, how
you do that? What's the fingering for this? Did
you do that? Yes, I did that. Everyone do that.
It's a norm. Right. It's a norm. Are these people
willing to give advice? Yes, they will. And many
of them are, I think one of my mentors is Steven
Rufus. Oh, wow. Shout out to you, Steven Rufus.
Steven Rufus. All right, man. And in those days,
there are many Filipino jazz musicians. Eddie
Sankar. And he really loved to share. Yeah, Eddie
Sankar passed away recently. Yeah, he's a great
guy. I played with Eddie Sankar. It was amazing.
He's so cool. All of them. They love to share.
So now, for the younger musicians, you're saying
that with technology in their hands, it's easier
for them to get the job done. If I would like
to say anything about this, I would encourage
them to actually talk to musicians rather than
Google. It's a bit different. And actually watch
more live music than YouTube. YouTube is not
dimensional. I just feel the dimension thing.
It's funny you say that because my next question
actually is something to do with that. A lot
of people now say that I'd rather stay home and
listen to my Spotify playlist than to go out
and listen to live music. Numbnuts. Along the
same vein as what you just mentioned, we go watching
live rather than learning off YouTube and all
that. Your opinion, since we are talking on that
topic, how has the live music and nightlife scene
in Singapore changed over the years? And what
do you hope to see in the future? Oh, it's very
vibrant. What? Vibrant. The regular scene, like,
Mandopop, right? Mandopop. Mandopop is vibrant.
Everyone says that. There's two, the English
scene, there is, right? There's one, what? Tonight
we're gigging. Tonight. The new place, Mars Bar.
Okay. Yeah. So you're saying that, you are saying
it's vibrant. What do you think? Do you think
it's becoming vibrant again, or? Are bands being
hired now? I would say you have to get the right
contacts and you have to know the right people
and you have to be of certain quality. If not,
I think events might a bit drop. Yeah. If not,
I mean, funny because even Dennis will agree
that, you know, in my first episode, my season
premiere just launched. And he himself said that
he agrees that nightlife is always dead. And
we also agree that the mando pop scene is very
vibrant. I think it's better than after COVID.
You're thinking it's recovering? Again? You're
thinking that it's recovering? Yeah, I think
it's slowly coming back. Really? Yeah, yeah.
I really hope so. Because there's so many people
out there who still don't want. Obviously it's
not like before. Don't hire DJs and don't hire
bands. We talked about this before. Oh, but the
downsizing of like events and wedding gigs. Yeah.
The downsizing is quite sad lah. Really, yeah.
Yeah, in those days in the 90s, 80s lah. You
go for a wedding gig lah. Yeah. It's always four
piece, five piece lah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Clubs
and bass. I don't see anything less than four
piece. Yeah, to a point that when you see it's
like a duo. Yeah. You get. It's weird, no? Yeah.
What thing is this? Yeah, correct. Even my weddings,
when I used to, you know, some of the weddings
I actually produce, if we get a ban on, it's
never anything less than a fault piece. There's
no way. It's a waste of money and time. Yeah.
So, anyway, I'm glad to see some optimism from
the two of you about nightlife. Yeah. Well, I'm
yet to be convinced. I really hope, I want to
see it happen. I really do. This is one of my
wishes. I want to see Nightlife come back to
what it used to be in terms of its vibrancy.
Okay, you've been a Yamaha win artist since 2005.
And an official endorser of Yamaha's X -Phone
since 2011. I do. What does that long -term partnership
mean to you? And what can we expect from your
upcoming Yamaha performance this year? It started
when I was like 21. I've been actually been helping
Yamaha, like giving workshop or what. But they
didn't give me any official title until it was
2011. And then later part, it was, they gave
me the artist. What do you call them? They named
me artist lah. Then later on. That's a Yamaha
artist. Yamaha artist. And then, then it became
more official. Right. That's where the endorsement
came in where I get a free instrument. Yeah.
But, it didn't last long. After, it went back
to the artist thing again. Right. So, the difference
between artist and the endorsement is endorsement,
you have free instrument. You're like an ambassador
then, right? Yeah. Somewhat. Okay. But you'll
be performing for them this year, is it? I've
done it. Done already? Okay, okay. So what's
next for Boon Chai? Any big project collaborations
you're dreaming about? Wow, I don't dream big.
I'm just waiting for places to jam. Like, you
know, when they have Bellingham goes on on like
some Friday at Asia Square. Yeah. You don't even
ask me come or come and jam. You just tell Boon
Chai I'll be there on this Friday. And then I
turn out and then I see them. Yeah. Yeah. I think
this is the best. It's even better than cake.
Yeah. You know, like some doctors. Yeah. To,
to, to, to, to, to, what do you call that? As
a hobby. Yeah. They will sometimes take sabbatical
leave. Yeah. And go to third world. Yeah. I think
that's fantastic because. Like the mouths will
smile. Yes. And then when you come back, you
are. you know refresh and you're doing things
when you're jamming it's like going on a retreat
yeah and I'm not you know when you're not paid
you're doing things that you like and you're
not paid correct psychologically it's great I
know what you mean man I know what you mean man
alright man Wu Jai and Gabe thank you very much
for being with me today we've been we've been
at it for a while already and I wish you all
the best my friend this is my tribute to you
Yeah, you're an icon in our books. Okay. I fame
you. And thanks again, Squeaky Toy, for being
around. Yeah. Rubber Duckie, you're the one.
You're so squeaky and so much fun. Oh, no. Okay,
everybody. Don't go away yet. I mentioned it
earlier. I'm going to say it one more time. We're
ending the show with a full performance by Boon
Chai. And we'd like to credit High Notes Music
Solutions, the Summertime's big band, for the
videos. So here is Kyo Boon Chai playing solo
for Phil Collins against all odds. This is Chris
Hansen saying, I'll see you again, same time,
same place, next Friday. Bye -bye. Thank you.
The Chris Hansen Conversation. Real talk, no
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