Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Mutual Acceptance Key To Success - Tuanku Mizan

Thanks, Malaysian National News Agency.

The King of Malaysia Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin says Malaysians should accept each other's cultural and religious differences and not harbour prejudiced thoughts.

Failure to do so, he says, results in a deadly social cancer.

“We must not destroy the unity and harmony that we have built all this while for short-term gains," he said in his recent Maulud message.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Gary Moore - Gifted Guitar Man

Thanks, Wikipedia.

The sudden death of British guitarist Gary Moore has robbed the music world of a brilliant genius.

Moore, who died of a heart attack on February 6 at the age of 59, was a versatile guitarist who excelled in rock, pop, jazz, country, blues and folk music.

Born on April 4, 1952 in Belfast, he played with various musicians since his teens, and they included Phil Lynott and Brian Downey, who later inducted him into their group Thin Lizzy, BB King, Albert King, Colosseum II, Greg Lake, Skid Row (not to be confused with the glam metal band of the same name), Jimmy Nail, Jack Bruce, The Beach Boys, Ozzy Osbourne, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Traveling Wilburys.

Moore learnt the guitar at eight and when he was 14, he learnt the play the instrument with his right hand despite being left-handed.

At 16, he moved to Dublin, Ireland, and watched Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall perform. He also joined the group Skid Row, which was formed by Lynott.

Moore's early influences included Elvis, The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac whose guitarist Peter Green became his mentor.

Moore released his first solo album in 1973, Grinding Stone.

In 1978 his collaboration with Lynott, Parisienne Walkways, reached the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart.

In 1987, he collaborated on the UK charity record Let It Be, a cover of The Beatles' track.

After a series of rock records, Moore returned to blues music with Still Got The Blues in 1990.

He stayed with the blues format until 1997, when he decided to experiment with modern dance beats on Dark Days In Paradise.

With Back To The Blues, Moore return to his tried and tested blues format in 2001.

He continued with this style on Power Of The Blues (2004), Old New Ballads Blues (2006), Close As You Get (2007) and Bad For You Baby (2008).

Moore was twice married and is survived by three children.