Zhanbin in 13th XQRJ (the highest boy)

It is a year since his performance in XQRJ

Zhou Zijian, 1^st runner up in the 12^th XQRJ, has signed a Malaysian music company, leading a successful music career. Recently, Zijian has launched his own album, “Just wish you can hear”. Let’s see how he introduced his own album -
“Just wish you can hear” DEMO album was released in August 2011, through FACEBOOK order and friends’ introduction and recommendation. Until this October we have sold 150 albums. For me, sales record is not the major concern, what I care most is how everyone think of our music. Has anyone been touched by it? “Just wish you can hear” DEMO album is a simple DIY album, which contains 15 original works. Although it’s not beautifully packaged, we have done our best. We are not professional musicians, but just a group of enthusiastic and realistic dream chasers. We cannot put down our work, but we still love music, that’s why we chose this way to pursue our dream…….. Many many thanks  to friends for their support and help …… thank you .
Interested students can get access the album facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/%E5%AD%90%E6%83%B3%E4%BD%A0%E8%81%BD%E5%81%A5/165655680172133   We also attach here the youtube link to one song, Dear John, in “Just wish you can hear” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGu22TPByCw

Zijian's new album "Just wish you can hear"

XQRJ wishes all the previous contestants continue a bright future! Let dreams set sail from here.

The banner

Our first photo shooting

When the design team is celebrating their outstanding victory, marketing team and program team were not idle. Marketing team continued to work diligently for sponsorship, some enterprises have expressed strong interest in our event, but specific issues are still under discussion. Program team already had the first approach to schools, colleges, universities, radio stations, newspapers and magazines, looking for support and promotion of our event. Some of the schools and the media had shown positive response that they would support us.  XQRJ Organizing Committee would like to take this opportunity to give them our most sincere thanks!

Interested and talented boys and girls may have been eager to participate. But since our official website www.xqrj.com is still busily under construction, for enquiries please contact xqrj.enquiry@gmail.com

Online submission is the most important way XQRJ committee receives entries from candidates. However, there is an alternative, which is sending the DEMO CD, lyrics, a copy of your student id, passport sized photo and application form to:

National University of Singapore

King Edward VII Hall

14th XQRJ Regional Chinese Song Writing Competition Organising Committee

1A Kent Ridge Road

Singapore 119224

The application form can be obtained at NUS King Edward VII Hall office, or you can send your request to xqrj.enquiry@gmail.com

This year, we still prepare very generous prizes.

Category A winner: S$800+Certificate+Prize

Category A 1^st runner up: S$600+Certificate+Prize

Category A 2^nd runner up: S$400+Certificate+Prize

Category A best song lyrics award: S$100+Certificate+Prize

Category A best song composition award: S$100+Certificate+Prize

Category B best lyrics writing award: S$100+Certificate

Category C best music composition award: S$100+Certificate

Other awards include best song arrangement, best stage performance, and most popular original song.

Last and foremost, contracts may be offered by Touch Music Publishing Pte Ltd to song entries qualified for the grand final, which may be your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Why waiting? Come and join XQRJ and take away the prize belong to you!

It’s been fourteen years, and XQRJ has gradually grown from a child into a young adult. This year, XQRJ organizing committee has modified and improved the content of the contest, the purpose of which is to attract more talented participants to showcase their gift of composition or lyrics writing.

Participants will have three categories to choose from. Category A, song composition which has been successfully conducted by previous XQRJ, requires participants to create a full song, including music and lyrics. Besides that, we add Category B: lyrics writing, and Category C: music composition. As the name suggests, Cat B participants will write lyrics based on the music provided by our official publishing house:  Touch Music Publishing Pte Ltd., while Cat C participants will write music based on the lyrics provided by Touch.

Needless to say, the modifications to the competition rules are made to open a window for talented students who specialize in whichever area of composition. As such, we expect more entries this year to make XQRJ a best show ever! We are ready, what about you?

Submission was open the day before yesterday, and it is only 62 days before the submission deadline: December 11, 2011! Preliminary Date: December 15, 2011, Grand Final Date: February 12, 2012. To make it an excellent show, XQRJ program team, design team, and marketing team are currently working in full swing.

As an old saying goes, hunger breeds discontent. For us, sponsorship is our bread. Fortunately, XQRJ organizing committee has recently signed contract with our official website sponsor: Register the World.

Official web sponsor with our three department heads

Forever XQRJ!

Official website: www.xqrj.com will open soon, so stay tuned!
More news will be updated weekly.

We began to set our booth which was located outside LT27(Faculty of Science) at 9am. The committees were actively publicizing about XQRJ. Past year events booklets and CDs were also put up to serve as a reference for students who are interested. The chorus of the finalist’s songs was also played to enable the passer-by to have a snapshot of the finalist’s songs. In addition, visitors who wanted to attend our grand final concert could also buy tickets at our booth.

Colorful banner, wonderful song, beautiful poster~ welcome to our booth! ^^

Cheerful smile! Welcome to our booth! ^^

Do you like our brochure? I like it! Haha~

We began to distribute the brochures and introduced our events to the people pass by. Even though our event was new to some, many took the interest in listening to the friendly introduction made by our very own awesome committees.

Miss, this is the information about the events J

Let’s go to XQRJ Grand Final concert!

After hearing the melodious songs by the current XQ finalists, passer-bys could not help but stopped by our booth. Upon knowing the our mission of wanting to provide a platform for students to shine in Chinese song-writing, many were very supportive of our competition, and did not hesitate further to purchase the tickets for XQRJ Grand Final concert and most importantly to support the finalists.

The booklet is impressive~~~

I want to buy ticket and vote for my favorite song!

What to do next?

If you haven’t visited our booth, and are curious about the top 10 songs?

Do visit the MediaEcho website to listen to the chorus of the songs and vote for your favorite song. You can also go to our Grand Final Concert to support your favorite song.http://www.mediaecho.com.sg/battleground2/index_showcase.php?bgcID=9b0d22f87bd3e16182fcd61b2fab3a53

AND Grab your tickets! J

Here are the details of the event:

Date: 13^th Feb 2011

Time: 6.30pm

Venue: NUS University Cultural Centre Hall, Kent Ridge Crescent

Ticket Price: $13

Emcee: DJ from YES933FM

Judges   

1.Zennon Goh 吴剑泓

He is the music production director of 海蝶(Ocean Butterflies) in Singapore. It has been 20 years since he first embarked on the journey as a music producer. The 150 music albums, which he produced, is a testimony of his hard work and talents. His fortes include rock, popular songs, folk songs and urban songs. In addition to that, in spite of his achievements in the above-mentioned categories, his adventurous spirit spurs him to learn mixing & mastering as well.

 His works include:

《坚持到底》by 阿杜（Andy）;

《曹操》and《小酒窝》by林俊杰（JJ Lin）;

《爱丫爱丫》and《我知道》by By2；

《他和她》by蔡淳佳

2.David Koon 庄蔚义

Currently, David Koon is the director of music production in马来西亚海螺 (Halo Forest Company of Malaysia). Since 1996, he has accumulated 15 years of experience as a music producer. He is an expert in popular and urban music.

His works include:

《无能为力》by阿杜（Andy）；

《木乃伊》by林俊杰（JJ）;

《旋律》by林宇中；

《妹妹背着洋娃娃》by江美琪;

《量身定做》by张杰；

《唱响世界》by海蝶群星

3. Wong Hong Mok 黄宏墨

He was awarded “The Best Lyrics Award” in the 新谣节 of 1999. In June 2004, Wong Hong Mok was the first to represent Singapore in the 2^nd Asia Music Concert(第二届中新歌会). Since 1984, he has been publishing his works through 歌韵新声 ( Radio Channel of Singapore). In 1990, his first music album (野人的梦) was well-received by music lovers. Till date, he remains the all-time-favourite Guest Performer of MediaCorp Channel 8. His works include:

《万种风情》

《童言故乡》  

《野人的梦》

《笨鸟的表白》

《夕阳湖色》

《山情》

《最后的惦记》

《如果你不曾来过》

《惜缘》

《不能回头》

《沉默》

4. Cheng Lee 李志清

On top of that, a renowned song-writer, Cheng Lee 李志清 will be our judges and guest performer to grace the event. The former has produced songs which remain popular across Asia.  His works include:

阿杜 – 他一定很爱你 (best composer awards of 2009) 

張智成 - 保佑我  

He, too, has been collaborating with JJ Lin 林俊傑 (well-known singer cum composer) very closely. It is not surprising why his songs are highly respected in the music industry!

In addition, be enthralled by Guest performers such as Azure Band 天蓝乐团, NUS’ 泡泡茶乐团as well as energetic dance performances in an eclectic showcase of talents on this entertaining evening!

So, what are you waiting for? Grab your tickets now!

*Each ticket comes with a goodie bag containing our event programme booklet!

To purchase your tickets, please contact us through:

Jasper – 9641 3199

Yong Jun – 9166 0982

**For every 7 tickets purchased, there will be 1 complimentary ticket! Grab your friends and come on down together!!

(submission name + entry submitted, in no particular order):

Loh Zhan Bin 罗展斌 – sunny day

Yong Soo Yung 杨书荣 – 晴天娃娃

Jordan 方韦国 – 一个人旅行

(Moon) Ng Siew Mee 吴秀媚 – 天天

Lau Yu Ching 刘雨晴 – break free

Yeoh Jung chin 杨荣勤 – 廿一

Jiang Hongchuan 姜宏川 – 星期天的下午

Lee Hui Min 李慧敏 – 冬天的雪花

Goh Kee Hoe 吳啓豪 – Just Leave it away

Tiu Kim Kok 张金国 – 时光

We will be in contact with the finalists. Thank you to all who have supported our competition, and do extend support to our finalists too! Be there for our Road Show and Grand Finals to see our finalists in action!

The 13^th XQRJ Photo Shoot

The deadline for the submission of song pieces by our aspiring finalists is approaching (13th December 2010), and this means that XQRJ will soon be shifting into another phase of work commitments.

But wait!

XQRJ is not only about organizing the competition, but also involves bonding and fun together as a team of enthusiastic and passionate Hall residents. On the 6^th of November, we had our very own XQRJ PSCD (Photo Shoot cum Cohesion Day)!

The purpose of PSCD is to create an opportunity for better bonding, interaction and building up of our overall team effectiveness. Naturally, we are also out to dispel the notion that XQ is all about work; we do have fun, joy and laughter too!

The location where PSCD was held this year serves more than 90 international airlines flying to some 200 cities in 60 countries, and handles about 5,000 arrivals and departures every week and over 37 million passengers a year (that’s more than 7 times the size of Singapore’s population!).  Yes, you got that right! We left our mark at the Singapore Changi Airport this year!

We chose Changi Airport because it is one of the physical landmarks that symbolises Singapore (the ubiquitous control tower that can be seen from everywhere at Changi), and is considered to be one of the top airports in Asia. Singapore only possess a limited land area and was able to attain her proud achievements only through determination and hard work. That resembles us at XQRJ too, as we are just a small student body group, but we want to work towards a goal of making XQRJ the best Chinese song writing competition in Singapore!

On the day of PSCD, we gathered with excitement at King Edward VII Hall. The bus journey was rather long, but we took the opportunity to enjoy the scenery along the way. It was also a great time  for us to catch up with one another (and some caught up on their sleep!). 

     Are we there yet??

 The first activity of PSCD was the XQRJ Photo Shoot! We took our individual photos first, where our “handsome and beautiful” faces will now officially enter the XQ’s Big Book of illustrious members and cement ourselves as part of the large XQ family. We then took groups photos as well as departmental photos. May I proudly introduce to you our XQRJ Marketing, Design and Programme Department! 

   Design Department

                  Marketing Department 

     Programme Department

We never knew that Photo taking could be tiring too! After the Photo Shoot, it was time to RE-CHARGE! FOOD! LUNCH! And…

Sleep?

Recharge by sleeping…(Must be deep in thoughts planning for XQ)

After a leisurely lunch, we began our cohesion day activities. These activities serve to improve bonding and better introduce our members to one another, since we had been focused on our departmental jobs over the past weeks. Hence our fantastic Cohesion Team came up with our very own “XQ Amazing Race”! 

The Amazing team of 32 members was broken down into 4 smaller teams, and each team was required to work together to complete a number of missions in the Airport.

Remember to hydrate yourself first…..

 Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3:

    Pictue with working staff in the Airport    

     Picture with tourists  

               Picture with Children

Through the games, we had a new understanding about the Airport and we definitely had lots of fun doing all the “crazy” stuff together! Once we had successfully completed the missions, we headed off to our next destination: Vivocity.

At Vivocity, we had our last 2 activities. To improve on our chemistry and have a deeper impression of the 13^th XQRJ members, each team was tasked to sketch out some members of another team, and everyone has to try to guess who the person drawn was.               

 Is that me?! i am more handsome than that!!!

Finally, our last activity was to write a note of encouragement into each member’s personal card.

At the end of day, everyone was tired out, but it was undeniable that everyone had tons of fun! This would not have been possible without the good planning by the XQRJ cohesion team comprising Yong Jun, Jasper, Liu Zhen, Audrey, Jianan and Wang Dan. Many, many thanks to them!

XQRJ is a big family with members of different backgrounds. However, all of us have a common goal: to seek to promote the Chinese culture, as well as appreciation of original Chinese music compositions among the youth. Due to this very fact, the 32 of us are brought together and we will work towards making the 13^th edition of XQRJ a successful one.

The flowers (and thorns) of the 13 th XQRJ

We all believe that with the better understanding of our friends in XQRJ as well as with better team cohesiveness, we can make 13^th XQRJ the best one ever in the annals of XQRJ!!

加油13^th XQRJ!

We <3 (love) XQRJ!

P.S. The Grand Finals of 13^th XQRJ is on 13^th Feb 2011, do make that day free, and come down to UCC to support us!!!!  

Criteria of Contestant:
1. Contestants must be a student in either a Singapore-registered or Malaysia-registered educational institution or music school. Contestants may also be full-time national servicemen in Singapore or Malaysia.
2. Song entry(s) can be either an individual or group composition, contestants can have more than one (1) composer or lyricist, however contestants can only nominate one official composer and one official lyrist for the competition.
3. The song entry must be written in Chinese language, and must not be officially published by or bound in contract with any recording company. It must also not be a winning entry from any other competition(s). The composer and lyricist must not be under any contract of recording company(s).
4. The song entry must not be publicised or released before the Grand Final of the competition without permission from the Organiser.

Requirements for the Song Entry:
1. Song entry(s) can be of any music genre; however it must not contain any expletives, political agenda or propagate any religious or racial discords.
2. Contestants may submit multiple song entries; each song entry must not exceed six (6) minutes.
3. The song lyrics must consist of at least 80% Chinese language, while the remaining 20% can be of other languages.
4. Contestants have to fill up one (1) application form for each song entry submitted.

Details of Competition:
1. The competition consists of 2 phases, the Preliminaries and Grand Final.
2. To participate in the Preliminaries, you may send in your song entry(s) via 2 methods.
i. Online Submission
Contestants may submit soft copy of DEMO (mp3 or wma format), soft copy of song lyrics, scanned copy of student identification, a passport-sized photo of lyricist and composer, and filled application form via email to xqrj.submission@gmail.com
ii. Manual Submission
Contestants may also submit DEMO (mp3 or wma format) and lyrics in a CD, photocopy of student identification, a passport-sized photo of lyricist and composer and filled application form by post to
“National University of Singapore”
13th XQRJ Regional Chinese Song Writing Competition Organising Committee
King Edward VII Hall
1A Kent Ridge Road
Singapore 119224

Application form can be downloaded from www.xqrj.com or obtained from King Edward VII Hall office at National University of Singapore.
3. Contestants should indicate names of both the lyricist and composer in the song lyrics document.
4. The song DEMO must have at least one (1) musical instrument as song accompaniment, or recorded a cappella style.
5. All song entries must reach the Organiser by 13th December 2010.
6. The results of the Preliminaries will be announced one (1) week after the closing date.
7. The Grand Final will be held on 13th February 2011 at NUS University Cultural Center. During the Grand Final, there will be no limit to the types of musical instruments contestants may use. The Organiser will only provide a keyboard, digital piano, drum set and acoustic guitar during the Grand Final.
8. During the Grand Final contestants are expected to perform live and a maximum of eight (8) performers will be allowed on stage.
9. The decision of the competition’s panel of judges on the Grand Final results is final.

Judging Criteria:

Prizes:

1st prize S$ 1000 Cash + Prize + Certificate
2nd prize S$ 700 Cash + Prize + Certificate
3rd prize S$ 500 Cash + Trophy + Certificate
Best Song Composition Award S$ 200 Cash + Prize + Certificate
Best Song Lyricist Award S$ 200 Cash + Prize + Certificate
Other awards include Best Arrangement Award, Best Stage Performance Award, Most Popular Original Song Award.

Copyrights of Entries:
1. Contracts may be offered by Touch Music Publishing Pte Ltd to song entries qualified for the Grand Final; in the event of such an offer, the Organiser shall not be involved in any contractual matters between contestants and Touch Music Publishing Pte Ltd.
2. The Organiser reserves the rights to publish all Grand Final song entries in an XQRJ album, or for any publicity purposes for the competition.
3. The Organiser will not publish or publicly release song entries that did not qualify for the Grand Final, to safeguard the interest of contestants.

Others:
1. The Organiser will not be deemed responsible for the loss or damage of song entry(s).
2. The Organiser reserves the rights to retain the DEMO file or CD of all song entries.
3. The Organiser reserves the right to amend the Rules and Regulations of the competition if necessary. All rights reserved by the Organiser.

For any Enquiries:
Please Contact Jasper (+65) 96413199 Jean (+65) 93402884

Or Email xqrj.enquiries@gmail.com Or visit our Official Website: www.xqrj.comThe “Organiser”refers to 13th XQRJ Regional Song Writing Competition Organising Committee
In the event of any discrepancies between the English and Chinese versions of the Rules and Regulations, the Chinese version shall prevail.

To many, the notion of learning what a stage production entails may sound extremely intimidating at the beginning! However, most of the participants actually find this course fascinating. They were given ample time to consolidate the various techniques taught by the instructor. There were also hands-on activities which allowed the participants to get familiarised with the different audio systems and equipment. You may be surprised to know that there exist terminologies behind lighting during a production process. It enables us to signal to the audience the focus, situations or even emotions of the actors during the show!

In addition, this workshop also imparted to us the skills required during the planning stage of a production. The instructor repeatedly emphasised the points of having good interpersonal skills. This is especially needed for a stage manager. (If you think you are bad-tempered and impatient, maybe you could just forget about it… Just kidding!) Even if you are rather poor at interpersonal skills, joining stage productions will enable you to hone these skills which are of utmost important in your future endeavours, and such equipped soft skills are something that differentiate you from others, apart from paper qualifications. Stage production is really exhilarating!

Another important aspect of stage production involves scheduling. This would not only better prepare the main personnel involved in the actual show, but would also provide more time for the organiser to identify the possible flaws of the productions and thus make it more plausible to coordinate the shows in a desired way. Naturally, an excellent control in budgeting the cost of production is also necessary.

In a nutshell, countless techniques and skills have been taught during the workshop. For those who were unable to attend, it’s really a pity! If any incoming Freshmen are interested to know more about stage management and production, hesitate no longer and JOIN KING EDWARD VII HALL’S XIN QING RONG JI committee during our recruitment next year!

 On the night of 1^st Oct, aside from having the usual departmental meeting, X13 had their first group event of the official work year – the symbolic banner hanging session.  With the help of our seniors (affectionately known as laorens), a successful and meaningful session of banner hanging went on smoothly without a hitch.

 Before we set off to the Central Library at National University of Singapore (where our banner will reside for the next 2 months), the banner was unrolled in King Edward VII Hall for the first time ever. Everybody was excited to take a first glimpse at the banner, and after seeing the splendid job done by our Design Department, both juniors and laorens alike were so proud that they could not wait to have their photograph taken with the wonderful banner to record this special moment in digital memory.

X13 and laorens~ Thanks to all the laorens for coming down to extend your support!

Some of our X13 members (our Departmental Heads are somehow very ‘tall’ here)

The walk to Central Library was a long one, but good company made us forget about the tiredness that was wearing us out. The trip was full of laughter and happiness, with our laorens sharing many of their experiences and their amazing memories of being part of the XQ family. Though it was rather late at night, we were still very energetic and reached the Central Library in good time. 

Everybody had a good night workout!

      
           
Almost there… Just a bit more…

Everyone got down to work straight away upon reaching the Central Library. Excited to showcase our banner to the whole of NUS, the guys brought the banner to the fifth floor and unrolled it. We held the banner in the right places and tied ropes to fix it to the façade of the building. After about half-an-hour of hard work, our banner finally hung proudly above all at the Central Library.

And we are finally done! Programme Head Edward was so happy!

Kudos to our Design Department for the design of such an eye-catching and trendy banner! Do keep a look out for this wonderful banner that is hung right in front of Central Library if you do visit NUS!

Presenting to you: Banner of X13!

Singing the XQRJ song together

As with our age-long tradition to mark the end of this symbolic event, X13 gathered alongside the laorens to sing the XQRJ Theme Song. Though we, the “young ones”, needed to improve on our singing of the XQRJ Theme Song (thus far there hasn’t been a batch where the “young ones” were able to meet the laorens’ high standards), all of us really enjoyed this momentous night. This Banner Hanging Session is a symbol of more great things to come from our committee, and there still lies a long journey ahead of us. ~~Jiayou X13!~~