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 Date of birth: November 7, 1974
Place of birth:
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Race: Sino-Kadazan
Nationality: Malaysian
Current
residence:
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Marital
status:
Married
Playing
and thinking out of the
box makes Roger Wang one of Malaysia's most talented and
musical solo acoustic guitar player. His unique approach to playing and
creating guitar music is truly refreshing and exciting. What sets him
apart from most guitar players is his ability to play complete musical
arrangements all on one guitar. In a typical performance you will find
Roger juggling bass, melody, rhythm, harmony and percussive parts
simultaneously. Creating an illusion that there is more than one
guitarist playing. It is spellbinding to watch his fingers fly, twist
and stretch all over the fretboard, but unlike many guitar virtuosos,
the result is always a musical experience, not a technical
demonstration.
"Playing
the guitar and making music can be two very
different things. Remember to always make music," says Roger Wang at
all his guitar seminars and workshops.
Roger's
one-man-band approach goes beyond guitar
playing. Being a qualified audio engineer and producer, Roger takes
charge of his music from arranging, recording right until the mastering
stage.
 Coming from
a musical family,
Roger's musical journey began when he was eight years old with his
father being his first guitar teacher. This led him through many formal
and informal
guitar lessons from
various instructors. In 1993, Roger
moved from his hometown Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur and enrolled in
Ocean Institute of Audio Engineering
and Guitar Institute of Malaysia
(GIM).
It
was around this time that Roger
first heard his
musical calling. Inspired by guitar players like Tommy Emmanuel, Chet
Atkins and Tuck Andress, Roger studied solo fingerstyle guitar. This
unique style of playing unaccompanied guitar
intrigued him and it also
made practical sense since it was often hard to find other musicians to
play music with. With no one to learn from, developing this style
became a challenging and lonely journey. His only
teachers were the
limited numbers of albums, books and videos he could find.
Two years
later, he graduated and decided to go back
home to Sabah to start his career in music. He worked in a
well-established recording studio as the in-house audio engineer and
music arranger. He also taught guitar and performed
regularly.
In November
1999, Roger started RAM Production Sdn
Bhd, a recording and production studio based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
With a vision to cover all aspect of music, RAM eventually expanded its
business to cover music and audio retail, education, rental and
installation. It is now one of the leading music and audio company in
East Malaysia
In April 2000, Roger had the opportunity
to meet and
perform with his guitar hero, Australian guitar legend Tommy Emmanuel,
in a concert that was held in Kota Kinabalu. The encounter was just the
boost he needed to bring his guitar playing to the next level.
The rest, they say, is history:....
1. "No Strings Attached", released in 2006 with Farid Ali
2. “Roger
Wang: Platinum Collector Series”,
released in 2004.
3. “Journey
Home”, released in January 2003.
First solo album.
4. “1
Voice, 6 Strings, 12 Days of
Christmas”, released in November 2005 with Mia Palencia as Double Take.
5.
"Double Take" re-released as
“One Voice, Six
Strings, Twelve Moods” by EQ Music (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
6.
"Double Take", released November
2000 with
Mia Palencia as Double Take.
- Malaysian endorsee for
Australian-made Maton guitars
- Malaysian endorsee for
German-manufactured AER amplifiers
- Endorsee for Yamaha acoustic guitar and silent guitar
| February 2007 |
City Day Celebration 2007, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah |
| January 2007 |
Visit Malaysia Year 2007, Tasik Titiwangsa, Kuala Lumpur |
| December 2006 |
Gaya Christmas Celebration 2006, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah |
| December 2006 |
Penang
Jazz
Festival 2006, Penang,
Malaysia |
| August 2006 |
No Black Tie's Acoustic Series 2006 |
| August 2006 |
3rd Annual Johor Arts Festival |
| July 2006 |
Equatorial Hotel KL Summer Jazz Series 2006 |
| April
2006 |
Taiwan Open Strings Guitar Concert 2006 tour |
| March
2006 |
No Strings Attached Malaysian tour with
Mr. Gambus, aka Farid Ali |
| December
2005 |
Double Take’s “Made
in Malaysia”
concert at the
Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur |
| December
2005 |
Duet with Steve White, Alexis, Kuala
Lumpur |
| September
2005 |
Johor Arts Festival, Malaysia
with Mr. Gambus aka
Farid Ali |
| January
2005 |
Akedemi Seni
Kebangsaan with Paul Ponnodurai |
| December
2004 |
Penang
Jazz
Festival 2004, Penang,
Malaysia |
| August
2004 |
Kuching Jazz
Festival 2004, Kuching, Sarawak,
Malaysia |
| June
2004 |
Yamaha Music Endorsee Concert 2004 |
| June
2004 |
Pasar Malam
Besar 2004, De Haag,
Netherlands |
| April
2004 |
Acoustic Strings Festival 2004, Netherlands |
| April
2004 |
Tommy
Emmanuel in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia |
| May
2003 |
Alex Van Voorst’s Debut Sabah
concert,
Kota Kinabalu |
| March
2003 |
Huayi Festival at the Esplanade, Singapore |
| March
2003 |
Peace Concert
organized by the Malaysian Council of
Churches |
| December
2002 |
Private
birthday function of the
Sultan of Selangor,
Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah. |
| November
2002 |
Hard Rock Café, Singapore |
| August
2002 |
Sunrise Jazz Festival 2002, Kuala
Lumpur |
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| Roger in Taiwan |
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Other noteworthy
achievements:
|
- Nominated
for the esteemed Mandarin Oriental
Fan of the Arts Award for Most Promising Artist at Malaysia’s
only performing arts awards programme, the BOH
Cameronian Arts Awards 2003.
- Finalist
at the Japan Fingerpicking Contest 2003, Yokohama,
Japan (5
April 2003)
- Produced
music soundtracks for Hong Kong
movie “Looking for Mister Perfect”
(Released in
March 2003)
-
 Live
appearance on Malaysia’s
morning talk show, Malaysia Hari Ini,
TV3 (13
February 2003)
- Participated
in a charity Christmas album entitled “A
Christmas Gift” which featured top Malaysian Christian
musicians.
- Regular
performances at one of Kuala Lumpur’s
top jazz club, No Black Tie.
- Regular
live interviews and performances on all major
radio stations in Malaysia and Singapore (WowFM, Light &
Easy, Hitz.FM, Radio 4, RedFM, UFM100.3,
Passion99.5, Gold90)
- Roger Wang is a jazz guitar
virtuoso, amazing
technique, fiery improvisations and a keen sense of the melody - Raymond Goh, 8 Days Magazine (Singapore)
- A tastefully crafted album, musically and
technically - Sujesh
Pavinthran, The STAR
- Brilliant! The sun shines on traditional
music as Roger Wang transforms 12 dry and dreary standards into catchy,
bright
and breezy delights and makes them immediately accessible to a new
generation. - Errol de Cruz,
the Malay Mail
- On stage with just his guitar, Roger Wang is
cool. He’s good, he knows it and – what really
comes across- he loves playing
for you. - Errol de Cruz, Business Times
- Impeccable techniques, imaginative and bold
arrangement, the virtuoso in Wang cooks up a tasteful and eclectic mix
of
familiar tunes improvised to varying degrees to suit his already
familiar
fingerstyle guitar-playing...... Great melody & smart pop
sensibility,
Journey Home is the kind of album that even your dad or mum or
girlfriend can
enjoy. - Leslie Loh,
www.music-matters.net
- Roger is a fine player
– Tommy
Emmanuel, CGP
- Every once in a long while, from
out of
nowhere, someone will come along who will remove the bar from it's
present
position and nail it back a full metre or so higher. Such a person is
ROGER
WANG...... You will see technical mastery married to a genuine passion
for the
guitar. Roger Wang will blow you away!
– Rafique Rashid, No Black Tie
- ….. always very tasteful and inspiring.
His
is the sort of talent that will appeal to layman listeners as much as
it will
to hardened guitar aficionados. – Sujesh
Pavithran, The Star
- The sounds of Roger Wang have always been and
will always continue to be a listening pleasure.
– Shamini Darshni, New Straits Times
- If the recent
concert was anything to do by, Wang and his friends have shown that
they are
passionate about music. – Jazwinder Kaur, New
Straits Times
- Roger's technical prowess enables him
to
incorporate bass lines, melody, solo parts and even percussive parts
into his playing, leaving Mia to dazzle with her mature vocal styling.
- Mcities.com
-
The man plays
the acoustic
guitar as it meant to be played. Really - in my opinion one of the best
solo acoustic guitarist in the country . - Pete Teo, Singer /
Songwriter
-
Playing a set
of rearranged blues and
instrumental rock standards, the six-string maestro was able to keep
his fret burning as tasteful as possible. - Adrian Yap CK
(www.klue.com)
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| Journey Home album
cover |
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