So stop looking at me with those puppy dog eyes. And why are your arms outstretched like that? Are you saying I’m fat?

Now… where was I? Ah yes, there was a point to that introduction. And it all centres around this question, which has been milling around in my little head the past few days:

To what extent do I bring my music to Malaysian audiences, and to what extent am I dictated by their musical tastes?

Obviously, there’s a crossover - and one look at this early set list here shows you what it is. I brought my pad of 130+ songs over here, and our starting point has been the tunes in it that they know and like. That’s also been pretty much the case ever since as we’ve added more and more songs (10 more in the past few days of rehearsals, for instance). But I’m also becoming aware, through both the band and the audience, of just what songs are Malaysian favourites - and wondering whether I should sing them.

The way I’m learning which songs are well-known and loved in Malaysia is through a) the tunes the band play during their instrumental sets; and b) the songs the audience request via the ‘Song Dedication’ cards.

Basically, they have this great little system in the bar whereby people can fill in one of these little cards and hand it to a waiter, who then hands it to you. Or rather: me.

I am quickly learning, through these requests, that Malaysians like:

‘Autumn Leaves’
‘I Love You For Sentimental Reasons’
‘Besame Mucho’
‘Something by Norah Jones’

Any of the above can, alternatively, be replaced by ‘Sway’, ‘Home’ or anything else which has ever been sung by Michael Buble.

Did I mention that Michael Buble is very, very popular over here?

Oh yes, I did.

In fact, I’ve realised through these requests, and by talking to the band about the songs we’re doing, that Malaysians tend to know these standards just as most of us know them - ie through famous recordings. And for the younger generation that means Michael Buble, Norah Jones, Diana Krall or Rod Stewart. But surprisingly - as far as the musicians go, at least - it seems that that’s exactly how they see them: recordings by these artists, songs which are somehow ‘owned’ by them. So even when you’re talking to jazz musicians they’re still thinking of these songs in terms of Nat King Cole or Frank Sinatra, say - even if plenty of other people have recorded them. As a result, I’m finding myself talking a lot to the trio and the audience about who wrote these songs, and trying to put them in context somehow.

This liking for specific recordings and not wanting to delve much deeper could go hand-in-hand with another phenomenon I’ve noticed: namely, that Malaysians like a nice sound. You find compilation CDs in the shops here called things like ‘The Beautiful Female Voice’, ‘Women Voices’ and ‘Arias’ (which surprisingly features Sting). I wonder if this is anything to do with English not being the first language of many people over here: they don’t really know what someone’s saying, so what matters is that it sounds nice when they’re saying it. Whatever the reason, I do know that the recording you’re most likely to hear being played on entering any music store in Malaysia is ‘Starry Starry Night’ by A Random Woman. And that there is a real statistic.

But back to my quandry: or rather, not so much a quandry as a quandry-I’ve-already-worked-through. But it was a quandry once.

Which is/was: do I take on board all the music I’m finding out that they love, and perform that (in brief, play to the crowd)? Or do I stick to my musical tastes and bring that music to them?

In brief (again): I’ve decided on the latter.

In not so brief: as far as I can see, that’s sort of the point of me being here. If they want to hear all the old Malaysian favourites, they could have hired any old Malaysian singer. And taking this approach also helps me to get something out of this gig which I really wanted to do - which is using the fact that I’m singing six nights a week to add lots of standards I’ve had my eye on to my repertoire.

Obviously, I’m not actively going to spite my audience. And of course there are plenty of songs that they love here which I like too, and have started to sing as a result (’Route 66, ‘Sunny’, ‘Unforgettable’). I may even attempt ‘You Are The Sunshine Of My Life’ and ‘Just The Way You Are’… provided I take a deep metaphorical breath before doing so. But I do draw the line at ‘Copacabana’, ‘Brazil’, and ‘Home By Michael Buble’. Did I mention that he’s very popular over here?

Lost my heart/But what of it?

It’s just occurred to me that ‘If God Will Send His Angels’ by U2 is cover-able.

Is it? Am I mad for thinking that this could be done by a jazz trio? Or even beautifully with just voice and piano?