Road To Finale: Festival Wind Orchestra

There's nothing else we can say 'cept praises to the Almighty Lord. Alhamdulillah.

From early of January until the almost end of April, the MC White Knights fought and struggled fervently to gain a place to the finale of Wind Orchestra SBP 2011. Led by the eminent (yeke haha) conductor, best friend of mine, Azri Rosni a.k.a Ayie, motivated president, Hasnun Zafran @ Aran and the other 7 form 5 dudes, I witnessed the hardship of how they sacrificed every minutes and hours of their student life to provide an ample time for practices till the wee hours at night. Nevertheless, they still can manage their time to study and such.

Agreed with Mr Anand, andalah antara team yang paling komited di koleq.

The guys departed to Sekolah Alam Shah (SAS) at Thursday's afternoon in hope for a ticket to the finale. I was with them, alongside with Harith, the offficial photographer, maybe in the term of menyibuk but not much, I still got works to do for them actually. Of love to koleq, prayers, and hardcore practices, these last two days before the red-letter day, they practised and practised, aimed for the perfection, hoped for smiles of the judges and satistification among the audience.

“Korang janganlah mengharap sangat”
“What's wrong with harapan? It is also a prayer, right?”

The day, 23 April 2011,

Before the wrap-up of the second division performances, the boys already woke up and tuned a bit at SAS to stabilize the momentum before entering the stage. In front of the main entrance of SAS's admin building, they had a last practice before the saringan and there, Ayie, Aran and our beloved orchestra teacher, Mr Rosman gave their speeches, of how they really hoped everyone to give their best shot for an awed performance on stage. They should be motivated this way somehow, for a team that consists of mainly juniors and some of them maybe never feel butterflies flying in their stomach when performing in a tremendous space like Auditorium Cempaka Sari.

2.00 pm to be exact, we left for the saringan at the Auditorium Cempaka Sari, Putrajaya.

"10 bowtie hilang and 16 kena repair!"

Kudos to kind-hearted Kak Shaayyum, now we had a smooth run to the competition with all the accessories were all well-prepared. Koleq would perform after the SSPians. On the verge of the performance time, the boys gathered, wishing luck to each other and also shaking hands with Mr Rosman.

After that, show time!

Ayie conducted Lagenda and Ross Roy, the two songs that would determine their fate for the finale. Tears dropping, heart thumping, the boys played the instruments lively. Maybe there were some flaws, but everybody should know the vibrant and terrifying feeling on stage. Everyone feels that, don't worry. Ignore the vexing comments of others, just do your best :)

Upon finishing the last melody of Lagenda, the saringan for koleq eventually ended. All we could do was to pray and tawakkal to Him, the Hearer of Prayers. Ask for His blessings to fulfill our doas.

We went to Makan Malam Perdana at Dewan Putera SAS. That night was the annoucement night. At that moment of truth, we shall know which teams would proceed to the finale at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC). Of course, we were all trembling with fear and expectation. The results were highly anticipated by all the SBP teams. And alhamdulillah, God answered our prayers. We got the golden award, an improvement from last year's result which only obtained bronze and a chance to perform at Wind Orchestra SBP 2011's finale in July. Koleq succeed in putting a halt for the longing of a comeback. MC White Knights will be vying with SAS, SSP, TKC, SMS Machang, SMS Selangor, SERATAS and SDAR at PICC. Godspeed guys! If I'll be given a chance (again :D) to watch your performance, I will surely bertandang ke PICC nanti, amin~

"Gemilang"

Thank you Allah, thanks Mr Rosman, Mr Chan, Uncle Spice, Miss Su, Kak Shaayyum, Abg Hasnul, Dato Latt and his wife and all those who're supporting us directly and indirectly. At last, we can all be in the state of euphoria.

Tahniah korang, koranglah lagenda :D

Best of luck to all the finalists! May the best music win :)

P/S- Enough with the orchestra festival, now what's next? PPM AND MID-YEAR SBP EXAM!! arrrghhhh!!

All photos are subjected to copyright to Harith Hamdan. Thus, no reproduction of the photos without permission of the photographer. Any use of these pictures without the appoved permission is forbidden.