FRI., MARCH 09, 2007
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eMusic Q&A: Minni K. Ang
by Michael Azerrad
Here at eMusic, we have the opportunity to delve deep into the literally millions of tracks available on the site. Sometimes, something unusual catches our eye, music that perhaps most of the world has passed by in the mad rush to jump on the speeding bandwagon better known as The Next Big Thing. When I first started at eMusic, a member of our crackerjack Engineering department called my attention to a remarkable album called Peace Through Basketball. No offense to my conservative friends, but I'm in favor of peace, and if basketball is what it takes, I'm all ears. I checked it out.
All I could figure out was that Peace Through Basketball was recorded by someone named Minni K. Ang and that it commemorated some momentous event in the sport. True to an album with such a lofty and auspicious title, the instrumental opening track reaches for synth-pop grandeur, with faux-harp arpeggios and shades of '80s electro-pop. "ABC, Asian Basketball Championship" reminds of Eurythmics, although I don't think Annie Lennox would ever sing "We love playing basketball." But this album covers all the bases, if that's not a mixed metaphor in this case: there's finger-snapping doo-wop on "Basketball Is No. 1," the Disneyesque "Basketball Is for Everyone," and get-down-funky electro-hop sounds on "Ain't Cool If You Ain't There (World Basketball Championship)." There's even the power ballad "Play for Peace," which proudly states the album's overarching theme: "Play for peace, solidarity, through basketball."
I tracked down Minni K. Ang, who happens to live in Malaysia, so I could find out more about this heartfelt paean to roundball. It turns out that Minni, as she likes to be called, is a trained musician and a very accomplished academic with a Ph.D. I asked her a few questions about her music, her inspiration and how putting a round orange ball into a round metal hoop can bring about the cessation of war.
eMusic: What was the inspiration for Peace Through Basketball?
Minni K. Ang: The album was commissioned by Dato' Yeoh Choo Hock, on behalf of FIBA [Fédération Internationale de Basketball] Asia. "Peace through Basketball" was their theme for that year, coined by Dato' Yeoh.
The World Basketball Championship for Junior Men was scheduled to be held in Malaysia in that year (2003) and in an open contest, my song ("Ain't Cool If You Ain't There") was selected as the theme song for that. The commission for the album Peace Through Basketball followed on from there. The championship games were sadly canceled in the end due to the scare caused by the bird flu epidemic at the time.
eMusic: How can peace be achieved through basketball?
MKA: I think the lyrics from my songs say this best:
From "Play for Peace":
On the court in the heat of the game
No one cares that you bear a diff'rent name
What matters is we feel as One, standing side by side
As we pass the ball our hearts unite
There is no great divide…
From "Basketball the Asian Way":
Playing the game together, you're ever my friend
Playing for peace, love binds us, unites us, and then
With the game that we all love we spread the word of peace...
Joining hands and hearts across our diff'rent nations
We play the game we love together
eMusic: What is "basketball the Asian way"?
MKA: I guess the concept that young and old participate in it together, if not on the ball, from the stands. Asians are very big on familial relationships...
eMusic: Can peace be achieved through other sports? Or is basketball uniquely suited to this purpose? If so, how?
MKA: I think any popular team sport has the potential for this. Having said that, the popularity and pervasiveness of basketball (including the fact that you don't need lots of expensive gear to play it) make it a stellar candidate for this purpose.
eMusic: How, when and where did you record PTB?
MKA: It was recorded in the little music studio that I set up that I was running at the time, "Ain't Cool" was recorded in my home studio a few months before the rest of the songs were even written. The entire album took several months to complete. Basically, I wrote the original songs first. The songs were arranged using Cakewalk Sonar, either by me or by my collaborator, Law Shih Ming. Then live instrumental overdubs were put in (for those songs that used them) and finally we recorded the vocal tracks, using the TC Helicon Vocal Prism Plus voice processor for certain songs (explains why my voice sounds really different on some of the songs!).
eMusic: Virtually all the Asian basketball teams were eliminated early on in the 2004 Olympics. Do you think eventually Asia will become a force in the sport?
MKA: To be honest with you, I think that is going to be really hard. Firstly, physique stands in the way, as it does for most other sports, but I think especially for basketball — Asians just aren't as tall as other races! Also, there are no pro leagues like in the US, so players don't have the possibility to continue at the highest levels on a sustained basis like that but have instead to balance their game with work commitments, etc.
eMusic: Do you play basketball? Are you good?
MKA: Err... nope, for both questions.
eMusic: What musicians influenced your work on Peace Through Basketball?
MKA: There honestly wasn't anyone specific that I was consciously trying to emulate or imitate or even looked to for inspiration. The only other musicians I can honestly say that affected how the final album turned out was my fellow arranger, Law Shih Ming, who did a brilliant job (I think) on the arrangement and sequencing for "Basketball the Asian Way" and "Play for Peace," and who wrote the initial tracks for "Let the Games Begin"; and the singers on the album, who sometimes contributed to their own specific vocal interpretations on the songs. In this regard, the one that made the biggest difference to a particular song was Frank Englis on "Basketball Is No.1" — he suggested the addition of the backing bass vocal (initially I didn't have one) and sang the part himself.
eMusic: Tell us about your musical training.
MKA: Well, I am a conservatory-trained musician (Birmingham Conservatoire, UK), but in timpani and percussion performance. Writing music and songs is something I've done on my own since I was a kid. I picked up the arranging and sequencing and production skills on my own as well. I also play many other musical instruments, including drums, piano, keyboards, trumpet, french horn, acoustic guitar, cello, plus dabbling in most others as well.
eMusic: You're not just a musician. What else do you do? You have several educational degrees, yes?
MKA: I have a first degree in physics and a Ph.D. in computer applications in music. I have done a load of different things during the course of my career, including youth work, academia, running my own music production company and since late 2004, being a full-time stay-at-home parent. I am currently working from home as a consultant for curriculum development at a local private university.
eMusic: You've done a lot of studies about music technology, music education and the perception of music. How did you apply what you've learned about music perception to the music on Peace Through Basketball?
MKA: In some of the songs you can hear an electronic bass drum that sounds just like someone is bouncing a basketball in the background — that was done intentionally to create a subconscious link between the song and the game. But nothing really specific other than that, I guess.
eMusic: Are you still making music?
MKA: Sadly, not really, other than still playing my instruments at home. This isn't really by choice, but through circumstance. I have been a musician all my life and that's not something that ever leaves you, is it?
All I could figure out was that Peace Through Basketball was recorded by someone named Minni K. Ang and that it commemorated some momentous event in the sport. True to an album with such a lofty and auspicious title, the instrumental opening track reaches for synth-pop grandeur, with faux-harp arpeggios and shades of '80s electro-pop. "ABC, Asian Basketball Championship" reminds of Eurythmics, although I don't think Annie Lennox would ever sing "We love playing basketball." But this album covers all the bases, if that's not a mixed metaphor in this case: there's finger-snapping doo-wop on "Basketball Is No. 1," the Disneyesque "Basketball Is for Everyone," and get-down-funky electro-hop sounds on "Ain't Cool If You Ain't There (World Basketball Championship)." There's even the power ballad "Play for Peace," which proudly states the album's overarching theme: "Play for peace, solidarity, through basketball."
I tracked down Minni K. Ang, who happens to live in Malaysia, so I could find out more about this heartfelt paean to roundball. It turns out that Minni, as she likes to be called, is a trained musician and a very accomplished academic with a Ph.D. I asked her a few questions about her music, her inspiration and how putting a round orange ball into a round metal hoop can bring about the cessation of war.
eMusic: What was the inspiration for Peace Through Basketball?
Minni K. Ang: The album was commissioned by Dato' Yeoh Choo Hock, on behalf of FIBA [Fédération Internationale de Basketball] Asia. "Peace through Basketball" was their theme for that year, coined by Dato' Yeoh.
The World Basketball Championship for Junior Men was scheduled to be held in Malaysia in that year (2003) and in an open contest, my song ("Ain't Cool If You Ain't There") was selected as the theme song for that. The commission for the album Peace Through Basketball followed on from there. The championship games were sadly canceled in the end due to the scare caused by the bird flu epidemic at the time.
eMusic: How can peace be achieved through basketball?
MKA: I think the lyrics from my songs say this best:
From "Play for Peace":
On the court in the heat of the game
No one cares that you bear a diff'rent name
What matters is we feel as One, standing side by side
As we pass the ball our hearts unite
There is no great divide…
From "Basketball the Asian Way":
Playing the game together, you're ever my friend
Playing for peace, love binds us, unites us, and then
With the game that we all love we spread the word of peace...
Joining hands and hearts across our diff'rent nations
We play the game we love together
eMusic: What is "basketball the Asian way"?
MKA: I guess the concept that young and old participate in it together, if not on the ball, from the stands. Asians are very big on familial relationships...
eMusic: Can peace be achieved through other sports? Or is basketball uniquely suited to this purpose? If so, how?
MKA: I think any popular team sport has the potential for this. Having said that, the popularity and pervasiveness of basketball (including the fact that you don't need lots of expensive gear to play it) make it a stellar candidate for this purpose.
eMusic: How, when and where did you record PTB?
MKA: It was recorded in the little music studio that I set up that I was running at the time, "Ain't Cool" was recorded in my home studio a few months before the rest of the songs were even written. The entire album took several months to complete. Basically, I wrote the original songs first. The songs were arranged using Cakewalk Sonar, either by me or by my collaborator, Law Shih Ming. Then live instrumental overdubs were put in (for those songs that used them) and finally we recorded the vocal tracks, using the TC Helicon Vocal Prism Plus voice processor for certain songs (explains why my voice sounds really different on some of the songs!).
eMusic: Virtually all the Asian basketball teams were eliminated early on in the 2004 Olympics. Do you think eventually Asia will become a force in the sport?
MKA: To be honest with you, I think that is going to be really hard. Firstly, physique stands in the way, as it does for most other sports, but I think especially for basketball — Asians just aren't as tall as other races! Also, there are no pro leagues like in the US, so players don't have the possibility to continue at the highest levels on a sustained basis like that but have instead to balance their game with work commitments, etc.
eMusic: Do you play basketball? Are you good?
MKA: Err... nope, for both questions.
eMusic: What musicians influenced your work on Peace Through Basketball?
MKA: There honestly wasn't anyone specific that I was consciously trying to emulate or imitate or even looked to for inspiration. The only other musicians I can honestly say that affected how the final album turned out was my fellow arranger, Law Shih Ming, who did a brilliant job (I think) on the arrangement and sequencing for "Basketball the Asian Way" and "Play for Peace," and who wrote the initial tracks for "Let the Games Begin"; and the singers on the album, who sometimes contributed to their own specific vocal interpretations on the songs. In this regard, the one that made the biggest difference to a particular song was Frank Englis on "Basketball Is No.1" — he suggested the addition of the backing bass vocal (initially I didn't have one) and sang the part himself.
eMusic: Tell us about your musical training.
MKA: Well, I am a conservatory-trained musician (Birmingham Conservatoire, UK), but in timpani and percussion performance. Writing music and songs is something I've done on my own since I was a kid. I picked up the arranging and sequencing and production skills on my own as well. I also play many other musical instruments, including drums, piano, keyboards, trumpet, french horn, acoustic guitar, cello, plus dabbling in most others as well.
eMusic: You're not just a musician. What else do you do? You have several educational degrees, yes?
MKA: I have a first degree in physics and a Ph.D. in computer applications in music. I have done a load of different things during the course of my career, including youth work, academia, running my own music production company and since late 2004, being a full-time stay-at-home parent. I am currently working from home as a consultant for curriculum development at a local private university.
eMusic: You've done a lot of studies about music technology, music education and the perception of music. How did you apply what you've learned about music perception to the music on Peace Through Basketball?
MKA: In some of the songs you can hear an electronic bass drum that sounds just like someone is bouncing a basketball in the background — that was done intentionally to create a subconscious link between the song and the game. But nothing really specific other than that, I guess.
eMusic: Are you still making music?
MKA: Sadly, not really, other than still playing my instruments at home. This isn't really by choice, but through circumstance. I have been a musician all my life and that's not something that ever leaves you, is it?
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