The famous band Bee Gees. However, now everything is just a golden memory when the Gibb family band only has a single member, the oldest brother Barry Gibb. The band’s success was also accompanied by the tragedies of its members. Glorious achievements Bee Gees is an abbreviation for Brothers Gibb, which means Gibb cousins. This family band consists of 3 siblings Barry (SN 1946) and twins Robin, Maurice Gibb (same SN 1949). Born in the Isle of Man – an island between England and Ireland, the Gibb brothers moved to Australia to settle in Australia from a young age. Starting their singing career in 1958, the 3 brothers released their first album in 1963. Arriving in London (UK) since 1967, the group has impressed with the song To love somebody and for 2 consecutive years reign at the top with a series of songs such as Holiday, Massachusetts, Words and I started a Joke. Bee Gees music blends pop, soul, disco and soft rock. Bee Gees has 2 main vocalists, in which, the second brother, Robin, is considered to have a very luxurious voice, pure vibrato. With a wide range of vocals, Robin can vibrate a full needle voice, strong attachment to the highest notes without losing breath. Thanks to vocal training techniques, Robin’s voice is even more elegant, singing the main vocals or singing the part is good. He also has a very skillful, sharp-eared way to pronounce words. However, because Robin does not have good looks like his oldest brother Barry, on the album cover art, Robin is rarely placed in the middle and Barry is pushed on the head, becoming the focus of the group. In return, Barry has a talent for writing lyrics and composing melodies. In addition to being as good at writing lyrics as the oldest brother, Maurice is also a connoisseur of music theory, who knows how to play many musical instruments. Therefore, he often takes care of arranging the choreographies, choral segments and then applies the harmony to highlight solo or chorus parts. Each person has a trait, but it can be said that Bee Gees is a monolithic entity, intertwined, difficult to separate. The proof is that Robin and Barry once had a solo singing period, but not as successful as the group’s singing period. During the period of great development in the UK, Bee Gees’s hit songs were often recorded by Robin as the main vocalist. A few years later, when the disco music movement became at its peak, Barry’s singing with split-minded voice was used, and at the same time, the group’s singing style was fully promoted, both subtle and complex, alternating with main voice. with the singer, juggling is very good. All of these elements add to the sweet melodious melodies, the layered harmony created the Bee Gees phenomenon. Many consider this to be the best trio of all time. From the years 1974-1975 onwards, the Bee Gees group switched from pop to agitated music (with Jive Talking). Bee Gees is also very successful at composing music for movies. They not only set records for the number of copies sold, but also set a framework in the way the melody was composed. With this band, the level of disco music is also increased by one level, while the side singing style is raised to the artistic level, with typical examples such as extremely romantic love songs like How deep is your love. Too much heaven. In the late 1970s, Bee Gees was at the top of the international music scene. This group was the first and only group to have 5 songs in the Top 10 at the same time thanks to the album they wrote for the 1977 movie Saturday night fever. was the best-selling band for three consecutive years from 1977 to 1980 From the 1980s onwards, Bee Gees has also been quite successful with writing for many other famous artists including Barbra Streisand with Woman in Love, Diana Ross with Chain Reaction or, more recently, Celine Dion with Immortality. By the late 1980s, the group’s career began to decline, even though they quickly switched to pop-rock, back to light music in love song writing … Famous tragedy too soon Blossoming at the same time as The Beatles, The Beach Boy, The Stones; Composing great hits, Bee Gees did not make a breakthrough like other bands because he had to maintain a cheerful, comfortable image of a family in front of a crowd. On top of that, they don’t have a spiritual leader, making their image blurry in front of the crowd. The Gibb trio has had ballads for life, with an immortal tune. During a half-century singing career, Bee Gees won 9 Grammy Awards, including 3 career achievement awards and 6 awards for best album and pop vocalist in the two consecutive years 1978-1979. The band has also sold over 240 million records worldwide, including studio albums, live music and soundtracks. However, the group’s success also comes with tragedy. Growing up in poverty in the Australian city of Brisbane, Barry once confessed: “We are a poor family. Used to have to move to 20 homes across Australia, my father could not pay the rent so the family always had to leave at midnight with a lot of luggage. We are forced to make money to live. After leaving Australia for the UK, the group’s career was “like a wind”. The aura that came after a series of bad childhood days made the 3 brothers really overwhelmed. Maurice owns 6 super luxury Rolls-Royces cars at the age of 21. However, popularity has to trade with personal tragedy. Maurice was addicted to alcohol very early, and Robin was also addicted to amphetamine stimulants. Andy, another brother in the family, also died of cocaine addiction at the age of 30. Not joining Bee Gees, Andy split up to sing solo based on his brother’s reputation. Barry Gibb has also been involved in drugs. Luckily than his brothers, Barry’s partner, Linda – a former beauty of Edinburgh city – helped him overcome his addiction crisis. “There was a time when I brought drugs into the house, but in the end I threw it in the toilet. She never wanted me to fall into that quagmire. I may have been like my younger brothers, but I was really lucky, ”he once recalled. Bee Gees’s reputation almost sank after the death of Maurice from a heart attack in 2003. The sad news continued to hit when Robin Gibb discovered liver cancer in 2011 at the age of 61 and died a year later. The group’s career has ended since then.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he viewed his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as the eldest brother during his visit to China. (Source: THX)

During a recent joint press conference in Fujian province (China) with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he considered Wang Yi to be taiko (roughly translated: eldest brother) after He describes Malaysia and China as a family.

Mentioning this phrase, Mr. Hishammuddin spoke in Mandarin before translating himself into English. In response, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also emphasized: “We are brothers”.

Malaysian public opinion responded

Immediately, this “big brother” diplomacy “stormed” Chinese social networks because that claim was seen as Malaysia’s strong respect for China, the second largest economy. gender.

However, it has caused a lot of controversy in Malaysia because many people believe that Mr. Hishammuddin seems to be “marrying” Beijing and downplaying Kuala Lumpur’s status.

In response to criticism from domestic public opinion, the Malaysian Foreign Minister explained that it was a way of showing respect to his Chinese counterpart, as Wang Yi was older (67 years old) Mr. Hishamuddin (59 years old). and a more veteran diplomat.

During his first visit as foreign minister, Mr. Hishammuddin chose China as a way to express his appreciation to Beijing for its help in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before that, when the Covid-19 epidemic was seriously spreading in Malaysia, China sent masks and other medical protective equipment to assist this country, and at the same time shared its epidemic prevention experience.

Although Malaysia’s Foreign Minister has voiced his opinion that this is a way of showing respect and thanks, his explanation still cannot calm domestic public opinion.

Led by the attackers were former Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. They commented that Mr. Hishammuddin had made an elementary mistake in diplomacy, leaving his personal feelings overwhelmed and possibly unintentionally “putting Malaysia in a position as a puppet” of a major country and asking for an apology.

Meanwhile, the Chinese side highly appreciated the desire for cooperation and the sincerity in the words of Mr. Hishammuddin, who has always had goodwill in relations with China and hopes a positive future for the two countries’ relations.

The Chinese daily newspaper in Malaysia Sin Chew Jit Poh commented that the word “taiko” did not show inferiority and turned the issue over: “Does Mr. Hishammuddin sign any treaty that could destroy Malaysian interests? Did Mr. Hishammuddin give up national sovereignty to China? What is diplomacy? It is the clever use of language to smooth the process of achieving its goals in international negotiations ”.

Two angles of politics and economics

For the political observer, Professor Dr. Chin Yew Sin, Mr. Hishammuddin’s statement can be explained from two perspectives on politics and economics.

From a political perspective, with the Malaysian general election (GE15) approaching, Mr. Hishammuddin wants to express his goodwill to China to attract Chinese-American votes in Malaysia. According to the survey, about 30% of Chinese voters have not decided which party to support in GE15.

From an economic perspective, Malaysia’s economy is facing many difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so it is very necessary for big partners like China in the context that Beijing is facing many “obstacles” in relations with the West. In addition, after the Covid-19 epidemic, Malaysia also needs to attract Chinese tourists to revive the tourism industry.

“Did Hishammuddin suddenly call China ‘taiko’?”, Professor Chin Yew Sin emphasized.

Some have suggested that Foreign Minister Hishammuddin is looking to use his personal capacity to achieve the national goals for Malaysia. As the Chinese economy is thriving when it recovers rapidly from the pandemic, Kuala Lumpur needs to strengthen economic cooperation with Beijing.

China is Malaysia’s largest trading partner for the past 12 years. Despite the pandemic, China’s imports of goods hit a record high in 2020. This brings many economic and commercial benefits to Malaysia.

From this trip, Malaysia has achieved a number of breakthroughs in trade. In particular, Beijing agreed to allow imports of red palm oil from Kuala Lumpur, which previously did not meet China’s color specification standards.

This is an important turning point for the Malaysian economy because palm oil is a major export item and foreign currency earnings for Malaysia. The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) recently forecast that China would import about 6.8 million tons of palm oil this year. Of which, about 42% of palm oil will come from Malaysia.

In addition, during the visit, Mr. Wang Yi also said that China was ready to work with Malaysia to continue promoting cooperation in the post-Covid-19 high quality Belt and Road initiative.

At the same time, the Chinese side also expressed its readiness to strengthen cooperation in Covid-19 vaccine and treatment research with Malaysia. In addition, the two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in digital technology areas such as 5G, the digital economy and modern agriculture.

Malaysia’s foreign minister’s visit to China is part of a series of foreign ministers’ visits to Beijing from March 31 to April 2, at the invitation of the Chinese Foreign Minister. The foreign ministers of the remaining three Southeast Asian countries are Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

(According to The Star)