Passion - Juwita Suwito's launch, Jaclyn Victor, & The Cammies

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

I was going to write about what I had for breakfast, but on second thoughts, even I don't find that to be very interesting. Except when the photo has been taken with my new phone. But that's another post for another day. Today its about...

Passion.

How can one live without it?

Passion for life. It's like the salt in Salt baked chicken. The Kahlua in Tiramisu. The food lab in Feran Adria's El Bulli. Let's face it! Salt baked chicken would be very bland without the salt!

You can make a VERY GOOD living and maybe even get wealthy pursuing a passion. Richard Branson did it. People like Anita Roddick of Body Shop fame did it. Many stars of the art and business world did it.

But then again, if you're pursuing your passion, money is not the final goal is it?

It's the satisfaction, the fulfillment of being able to do what you set out to do well. To do it to the best of YOUR ability.

Juwita Suwito is a very good friend who is a singer and performer. We had the honour and privilege of sponsoring the desserts for her album launch.

When she performs, she wears her heart on her sleeve, in her voice, and in her face. It's what drove her to independently produce her own album. And she IS a musician worth following. In this country we always hear, "oh, they're very good...for a Malaysian." Well, she IS Malaysian but that fact shouldn't be the reason why you buy her album. She's just...Plain...Good! Listen to her.
Kieran Kuek is another man with a passion. We met this unassuming gent at Juwita's launch and he mentioned that he composed songs for Juwita. Me being the "blur sotong" that I can be at times did not put 2 and 2 together and just nodded and smiled! I didn't even congratulate him! Turns out he composed 2 of the songs on Juwita's album. Listen to them.

Then, there was Jaclyn Victor. It was lovely to have the opportunity to meet her. That voice. You'd never think that a petite little thing like that would be able to produce that HUGE sound. But she does.
Passion. Just Heavenly, our company, was started out of passion. The passion for good food and desserts and for making dreams come true for wedding couples. Hence our tag line, "Designing Dreams, Serving Pleasure."

The Boh Cameronian Art's Awards (The Cammies), which held their nominations party for the 5th Boh Cameronian Arts Awards 2006 today, were established by people who had the heart and a passion to promote the arts in Malaysia. And we've been fortunate to be a part of it in the form of our acappella group; The Wicked Pitches.
A passion for singing brought us together more than 5 years ago. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves in for when we began this journey. 5 and a bit years, some tears, long hours, lots of arguments, frayed nerves, and joyous moments later, we've been nominated (you may need to register for kakiseni to see what's on the link) in 4 out of 6 categories for The Cammies. Best group performance (voice), Best production values, Best solo, and Best musical direction. This is our 3rd time being nominated but our 1st time for so many categories. The winners will be announced on 29th April.

Passion. Live it.