PRESS RELEASE - "Featured on Asian Wall Street Journal as one of the top 20 Asian World Fusion from around the world (www.newasiarecords.com/awsj_2003.htm)"

PRESS RELEASE - "One of the title tracks, New Asia, was awarded Top 10 Finalist in the world music category of the 2003 USA International Songwriting Competition"

PRESS RELEASE - "You may have heard of the highly successful 12 Girls Band (Jyoshi Jyuni Gakubou) which sold more than 2mil copies in Japan and worldwide, now hear the original versions by the composer Andrew Lum in his debut project Matter of Time"

It was only a matter of time before someone with the requisite talent and vision could meld Asian music artistry with international engineering expertise into a groundbreaking album to propel Asian music into international arena.

In a record-breaking feat that cost $250,000 and more than two grueling years of setbacks and hurdles to achieve, a Singapore-based record label - New Asia Records - is releasing a stunning ethnic music album featuring top talent from India, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, USA and Singapore.

The album is engineered by Grammy Award-winning New York-based mixing engineer Goh Hotoda, who is responsible for the chart topping releases from Madonna, Janet Jackson, Prince, Chaka Khan, Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sanborn & Hikaru Utada.

Singapore's own local talent - award-winning composer, producer, arranger Andrew Lum - is the man with the relentless vision, drive and passion to bring this life's dream to fruition. "With this release I hope to introduce to the world, a fresh genre of music that fuses the ethnic diversity of Asian instruments and music styles, with the timeless international flavours of jazz, new age, classical, pop and soul. The sound is unique, pungent and truly something that the new Asia can call its own. It's high time someone gave it the exposure it so deserves."

The recording process itself spanned the globe from Singapore to Malaysia, India, China and USA; mixed at the world-class Hit Factory Studios in New York by Hotoda, and mastered at the Gateway Mastering Studios of the legendary Bob Ludwig.

Featuring:

PRODUCER, ARRANGER, COMPOSER
Andrew Lum (Singapore) - An award-winning composer, arranger and producer from Singapore, and founder of New Asia Records, one of the most progressive labels in the region. In 15 years of his career, he has worked in Taipei, Hong Kong, London, India, China, Malaysia and Vancouver, and has collaborated with the renowned in the international music industry including Ryuichi Sakamoto, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jorge Callendrelli, Kenny Wen, John Kaizan Neptune, V Selvaganesh, Goh Hotoda and many others. He scored for the TV mini-series AlterAsians, which won the Finalist Award in the prestigious New York Festivals and one of his compositions, New Asia, was the Top 10 in the World Music Category of the International Songwriting Competition. His compositions have also been used by the currently highly successful 12 Girls Band (Jyoshi Jyuni Gakubou) in Japan, Asia and US

MIXING ENGINEER
Goh Hotoda (NY, USA) - A world-class mixing engineer who hailed from Tokyo and currently based in New York, Goh is also a producer and Remix Producer, and has worked with the top names including Madonna, Janet Jackson, Prince, David Sanborn, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Duran Duran, Marcus Miller, Chaka Khan, Hikaru Utada and many more

SANXIAN ARTISTE
Jessica (Singapore) - One of the finest Sanxian player in China & currently an artiste under the New Asia Records label, she has performed worldwide including in Sweden, France, China and Malaysia, and is the first to revolutionise the playing of this instrument standing

SUONA ARTISTE
YZ (China) - A maestro of the Suona & Guanzi, YZ is the first Chinese musician to perform a solo concert at the Lincoln hall besides performing worldwide in various international festivals and for numerous heads of states including Jiang Zhe Ming & Bill Clinton

SHAKUHACHI ARTISTE
John Kaizan Neptune (Japan) - Having performed & recorded with numerous international artistes including Don Grusin, Robben Ford, Nathan East, Abraham Laboriel, Alex Acuna, Kenny Kirkland & Many others, his significant contribution and mastery of the Shakuhachi has earned him the honorary title of "Kaizan" from the Japanese government

GANJIRA ARTISTE
V Selvaganesh (India) - Part of the World Music Grammy Nominee Super Group "Shakti" with Guitarist John McLaughlin and Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain, he is an astounding Ganjira player that can adapt any styles of music

SITAR ARTISTE
Janardan Mitta (India) - A disciple of the legendary Sitarist Ravi Shankar, Janardan has performed around the world and collaborated with top producers including the prolific A R Rahman

SANTOOR ARTISTE
C Visweswaran (India) - The only Kashmiri Santoor player in South India, his mastery of the instrument puts him as one of the finest Santoor musician in India

MRIDANGAM ARTISTE
D A Srinivas (India) - An accomplished Mridangam player adept in many styles, he can be heard on more than 1,500 recordings and soundtracks

PERCUSSIONS ARTISTE
Lewis Pragasam (Malaysia) - Founder of the legendary jazz fusion group AsiaBeat, he is regarded as one of the top jazz drummers in Asia

SERULING ARTISTE
Mohar (Malaysia) - One of the most sought after musicians in the recording industry of Malaysia for his consummate virtuosity of the Javanese Flute, the Seruling