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and the winner is.... by Ken Yu
On November 12, 2009,
the Chinese Association at Stony
Brook (CASB) hosted its annual
singing contest in the SAC
auditorium. The twelve contestants
were prescreened through sessions
beforehand to ensure a profound
display of musical talent on contest
night. The show was structured into
successive rounds where the twelve
contestants were whittled down to
six for Round 2.
Judges for the event were Dr.
Dongmei Zeng, professor in Asian and
Asian American Studies, Dr. Suzanne
Velasquez, Executive Assistant to
the Vice President for Student
Affairs, Derrick Tan, CASB
President 07-08, Maria Patestas,
Senior Program Advisor for Student
Activities, and Special Guest Judge
Dr. Ellen Li, a world renowned
gastroenterologist married to Stony
Brook President Stanley. Dr. Li
attended with her youngest son, Sam,
and remarked through the Master of
Ceremonies about her lifelong
encouragement of the musical arts
that has extended to her children.
The Masters Of Ceremonies (Misters
Chens) were David Chen, Kevin Chen,
and Angel Wu. After each group of
three singers there were breaks for
the MC's and Cabinet to throw out
t-shirts to the crowd.
Round 1 started off with
Dunchen Yao, an international
student from China and junior in
Applied Mathematics and Statistics,
who sang a Chinese song. This was
not his first contest - he had won a
singing contest back home in high
school. He was accompanied by his
fans in the audience holding
placards that said they loved him.
Eight of the twelve contestants sang
in their native tongue. Next,
Candy Wong, a Biology junior,
sang a Chinese song.
Peter Kim, an Information
Systems sophomore and Ambassador of
Computer Science, sang a Korean
song.
Huan Wei, wearing a formal black
gown, is an undecided freshman from
Singapore. She sang If I Ain't
Got You by Alicia Keys and was
chosen to proceed to Round 2.
Misato Watanabe, a Journalism
junior and exchange student from
Waseda University, sang a Japanese
song with the English lyrics. I
believe it was First Love by
Hikaru Utada. The sixth singer,
Matthew Kao, a senior in
Chemical Engineering, sang a
swooning tune to bring him into the
second round and eventually second
place.
Rhaven McIver, a sophomore in
Nursing, sang Love in Slow Motion
by Angela Bofill and successfully
hit all the notes in this
challenging piece to eventually win
the contest.
Yu Ting Lin, a.k.a. Nemo
for his resemblance to the adorable
Pixar fish, brought out his guitar
and unique vocal aptitude to also
gain passage to the next stage.
Sheryn Hu, a sophomore in
Business Management, wore red boots
and a hat to help her stand out but
it did not enable her to pass into
the next round.
Andy Pu, a senior in Electrical
Engineering, came prepared with a
glow stick waving fan club but
he also failed to muster an edge in
this pool of highly skilled artists.
Yulin Huang, a 3rd
year graduate student in
Biochemistry and Structural Biology,
tried a rhythmic pop tune and kick
dancing on stage to go along with
her song. The final singer of Round
1,
Jessica Huang, a Journalism
freshman, successfully pulled off
the popular My Heart Will Go On
by Celine Dion to advance to the
second round.
During intermission,
the CASB Cabinet served egg custard
and boxed drinks. While food was
passed out, the projector played a
CASB short video and a member
performed. During the two breaks
where the judges were making their
decisions, volunteers from the
audience, including President
Stanley's son, came onstage to try
their hand at Name That Tune in the
hopes of winning a t-shirt too.
The six finalists came back to sing
another song for the judge's to make
their final decisions and then
everyone was brought onstage for the
trophies to be given out to the top
three - .
One year a contestant later went on
to win a recording contract. Stony
Brook has a lot of great talent and
this is not like some karoake or
open mic event where the good
compete with the untalented. CASB’s
highly enjoyable annual singing
contest brought young gifted
vocalists to the attention of the
student body and will hopefully
encourage aspiring participants to
try out next year for what has
always been a great night of song,
food, and more song.
Photos of the event are at
http://aasquared.org/gallery/CASBSinging09
Apologies to
everyone. The AA E-Zine
photographers who know how to take
photos in dim light without getting
red eye have classes on Thursday
nights.
