By Evelyn Len

SINGER-SONGWRITER Ng Wah Lok has one clear vision; to bring Malaysian Gospel Music to an international audience. In 1999, he left his successful career as a Senior General Manager of a large steel company to focus on church related work. Having more time in his hands, he quickly released 2 albums Every Time I Pray and Shining Stars making an immediate impact in the local scene.

However, it was his Gospel Music website www.tabernaclemusic.net that surprised him. To date, the website has recorded 500,000 hits and 75,000 visits. It has become an important resource for those in the local gospel music industry. More than 50% of these visitors are from other countries.

In an e mail interview, Ng says "My website has become one of the most important promoting tools for local gospel music. People releasing albums will be the first to contact me and I feature all their albums free of charge" If you survey his website, you will find this to be true. Ng has collected gospel albums from across Malaysia and featured them. Many of these albums are not available in the local book shops. Some of the artistes are almost unknown.

Over the last 23 years, Ng has written more than 100 songs. He now writes and teaches extensively on areas related to music and worship. His songs have made a significant impact in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

Ng's debut album Every Time I Pray was released in April 2001. It comprises 12 songs, 11 of which were written by him. The title song has been translated into Mandarin, and has touched millions of lives in Asia. The second album, Shining Stars, contains 12 of Ng's original songs.

Releases by several other artistes, such as Patrick Leong, Geoffrey Woo and Michelle Tan, are also featured in the website. Patrick Leong is no stranger in the Malaysian music scene, having provided back-up vocals for artistes like Siti Nurhaliza and Sheila Majid. He shared the stage with world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti at Concert for Peace in Pangkor Laut Resort in 2002. Leong has launched his own solo gospel album, For Your Love.

Woo is a singer-composer who has been in the music ministry for 20 years. He has released five albums and three singles. The latest album, Reprise, is a retrospective album culled from his previous work and is also a commemoration of 25 years of songwriting.

One of the country's youngest and emerging gospel musicians is Tan. She released her debut solo album, Better Days, in 2001. She wrote all the songs in the album.

Ng says' "Malaysian Gospel Music has come a long way and the quality of albums is improving rapidly. For example, the band Altered Frequency just released their album Exalt and sold 1000 copies in one month. My dream is that within a few years, some of our Malaysian artistes will go international . Our local music will then be exported to the United States which holds the biggest market. That is my dream and I will use my website to promote the local artistes".

Available for downloading at the website www.tabernaclemusic.net, are full versions of some of WahLok's songs, music scores, lyrics with chords for his first two albums, and teaching materials.