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Double Take is a jazz duo comprising finger-stylist Roger Wang and torch singer Mia-Germain Palencia.
They came together in 2000, when Roger, an accomplished guitarist and owner of a Kota Kinabalu-based recording studio, was looking for 'the paint' to fill his canvas of melodies, and chose singer Mia, who was then only 16.
Mia's mature, breathy voice harks back to the days of Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole when the singer made the song, and not vice versa, in true jazz tradition.
Double Take's eponymous 12-track album released in November 2000 was a hot-seller at their shows and captured the spirit of the duo with six original numbers including two Malay numbers and one Tagalog song.
Mia and Roger have a beautiful chemistry on stage which has been described by one reviewer as a "marriage of heart and virtuosic technique".
Roger juggles chords, bass lines, melody and even percussive beats to complement Mia's rich, expressive and endearing voice on stage. Their ability to enhance each other's performance is what a successful musical partnership is all about.
ROGER WANG PROFILE
 Roger Wang started playing the guitar at the tender age of eight. Coming from a musical family, his father and uncles became his early guitar teachers. This was followed by two years of classical guitar lessons in a local music school. Inspired by the sound and energy of rock 'n roll music and early guitar music by bands like The Beatles, The Shadows and The Ventures, Roger got his first electric guitar for his twelfth birthday.
Growing up in a time where other teenagers were more interested in forming dance groups than musical bands, Roger found himself hanging around musicians much older than him and playing music that were hits long before he was born. By the age of 17, he played his first paying gig in his uncle's band called "Good Company".
Roger's interest in music covered more than just playing the guitar. He was fascinated with composing, arranging, recording and producing music. He started writing music when he was 12, because he felt that sometimes it was "hard to find songs that could say exactly what he wanted to say". This lead to very basic production projects using simple tools and techniques. He read about "sound on sound" recording techniques where it was possible to create layers of sound using two cassette recorders. The result was raw, but it fed his passion to do more.
In order to be a complete musician and producer, it is important to understand everything that is involved in making music. With this in mind, Roger studied vocals and music arranging from various instructors, taught himself to play keyboard, bass and drums.
When it came time to choose a career, music was actually not his first choice. Music is always encouraged as a hobby, but is rarely presented as a career option. It was only while Roger was doing research, that he discovered that there are a lot more opportunities available in music than what is normally perceived. The idea of making a career out of something that he had so much passion and talent for inspired him to concentrate on music full-time.
He moved to Kuala Lumpur and enrolled in Ocean Institute of Audio Engineering and Guitar Institute of Malaysia (GIM). 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 continued performing for various functions.
After a year, Roger felt he had enough confidence and experience to be on his own. He started RAM Production, a recording studio based in his house. He invested in some basic digital recording equipment. It was not much, but it was enough to start. Business was slow in the beginning, but slowly the number of clients and projects grew and so did the studio.
In November 1999, RAM was ready to move out of the house and is now located at the center of a commercial area. With a vision to cover all aspect of music, RAM has expanded its business to cover music and audio retail, education, rental and installation.
Despite all this, Roger has never lost his passion for the guitar. Inspired by guitar players like Tommy Emmanuel and Tuck Andress, Roger studied solo finger-style 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. Developing this style was a challenging and lonely journey. His only reference were albums, books and videos.
In April 2000, Roger had the opportunity to meet and perform with his guitar hero, Tommy Emmanuel, in a concert that was held in Kota Kinabalu. The experience gave him enough confidence to bring his guitar playing to the next level.
Having produced a number of albums for other people, Roger felt that it was time for him to make his own musical statement. Together with Mia, work on the Double Take album started in June 2000.
PERSONAL PARTICULARS
Name: Roger Daniel Wong Voon @ Roger Wang
Date of Birth: 7th November, 1974
Place of Birth: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Race: Sino-Kadazan
Nationality: Malaysian
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Music Producer and Guitarist.
Owner of RAM PRODUCTION SDN BHD, a leading Sabah-based Audio and Music Company.
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION
1995 Ocean Institute of Audio Technology, Kuala Lumpur
Diploma in Audio Engineering
University of Wales, United Kingdom
Diploma in Audio Technology
1994 Guitar Institute of Malaysia
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Musical Influences: Tommy Emmanuel, Tuck Andress, Chet Atkins and Martin Taylor.
Personal Musical Inclination: Fingerstyle guitar, Jazz and Blues.
Additional Musical Skills: Vocals, Musical Arrangement, Musical Composition
Musical Goals: To achieve a higher standard of guitar playing as a fingerstyle guitarist; to gain exposure in the guitar playing arena (and music in general) - nationally, regionally and internationally; to be commercially and artistically successful in performing and recording music as a guitarist / producer.
MIA-GERMAIN PALENCIA PROFILE
 Mia started singing when she was two years old. At age three, her favourite influences were Whitney Houston and Sheila Majid. Her first debut on stage was a kindergarten state-wide competition, which she performed a Chinese song called "Butterfly" and won first prize for her school at our local Yayasan Auditorium, Sabah. She was 4 years old.
Musically inclined, she loved to participate in plays, concerts, choir and caroling. In 1998 for the first time in our local church history, on Christmas Eve, Mia was privileged to sing Mariah Carey's "Oh Holy Night" solo.
Mia attended vocal lessons at a local music academy and private lessons for fitness training and jazz dancing. She occasionally performs solo with minus one singing and dancing variations of Broadway, jazz, pop and R & B for private functions only.
Mia completed her secondary education at St. Francis Secondary School, Sabah. During the course of her years there, she was a member of the Sabah debate team, which created history for Sabah by emerging as the champions at the National English Debate finals held in Pahang.
She was a choir leader, music arranger and conductor for her school choir which competed for Sabah at the national levels in Penang. She was awarded best conductor for the state of Sabah. She was also Sabah State Public Speaker and competed in Langkawi at National level, August 2000 and again in Kundasang, Sabah at National level, 2001 where she claimed the trophy.
Mia went on to represent the country at the Asia-Pacific Plain Speaking Award Competition in Melbourne, Australia, 2001. She also championed the solo category representing her school at the Interact talent time competition. Her hobbies are reading, writing stories and poetry, dancing and most of all singing.
Mia's recent interests have focused on singer/musician/songwriters, a combination of skills not very commonly found, yet fast becoming a trend in the recent music scene. This latest discovery has lead her to explore her own creativity in writing songs and lyrics. Her music is centred around the guitar, working with folkish tunes and bossa nova moods.
Her lyrics are always story-based, relating her personal experiences with the people and places around her. She show-cased her songs in August 2002, at a show called the 'Music Circus KL'. The show, which is held every two months, is a local attempt made by producer Hardesh Singh and The Actor's Studio, Dataran Merdeka to give local songwriters a boost in the public eye.
PERSONAL PARTICULARS
Name: Mia-Germain Palencia
Date of Birth: 8th September 1984
Place of Birth: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Race: Eurasian
Nationality: Malaysian
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Student
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Musical Influences: Frank Sinatra, Diana Krall, Natalie & Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Lisa Loeb, Mariah Carey, John Mayer, Norah Jones
Personal Musical Inclination: Jazz, R & B, Folk
Additional Musical Skills: Piano, Keyboard, Guitar, Choir Arranging, Songwriter/Lyricist
Musical Goals: To be an accomplished world class singer; To make a tribute to Frank Sinatra; to perform with at least one of my musical influences; to contribute to the development of the musical standards in Malaysia, especially in Sabah; to accomplish playing and singing jazz with the piano.
Catch them at Backyard Pub on Saturday, Oct 29th, 9pm.
Contact: Roger Wang at ger@pc.jaring.my
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