(below, from left) Aaron, Zainal and Janet … raising their voices for Mother Nature.

IMAGINE sitting on a mat in the midst of a forest at night. The cool breeze brushes against your skin and hair. There is the soft calling of crickets and other sounds of the forest.

Such was the setting at the Mega Earth Day: Voices in the Forest concert last Saturday, held in conjunction with World Earth Day 2010, which fell on April 22.

Jointly organised by Friends of Kota Damansara (FoKD), Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) and Global ­Environment Facility (GEF), the event featured performances by local singers Zainal Abidin, Ida Mariana, Zalina Lee, Nicole Ann Thomas and friends.

The venue was the rustic Kota ­Damansara ­Community Forest which ­provided a perfect ­ambience for the concert, making it a very memorable affair for the 800 or so people who ­attended the show.

Host for the night was TV presenter and a very pregnant Aishah Sinclair.

First to present their act were the three members of the ­Diplomats of Drums who took to the stage with their ­powerful ­percussion grooves, prompting the ­audience to stand up and move to the beat with them.

Next up was the Choir of the ­Philharmonic Society of Selangor, which serenaded the crowd with What a ­Wonderful World and That’s What Friends Are For, in perfect harmony. 

Next was 2006 DiGi Celebriteen ­winner Ray Cheong, who sang John Mayer’s Waiting for the World to Change and two of his self-written songs, Dark Skies (written just for this event) and Just a While.

Theatre actress and animal rights advocate Nicole Ann Thomas crooned Julian Lennon’s Saltwater and Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, accompanied by Nish Tham on piano with background vocals provided by Janet Lee, Zalina Lee, Aaron Khaled and Ida Mariana.

Janet and pianist Nish also rendered Vanessa William’s Colours of the Wind and Judy Garland’s signature tune ­Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which sounded ­interestingly jazzy.

The Tree Theatre Group took to the stage next with its own original ­compositions, Heal Our World and Let’s Save the Fireflies. The group also gave a very memorable rendition of Empty Earth, ­accompanied by a really cute shadow puppet play performance. It ended its performance with a gentle  reminder to the audience to save trees, water, fuel, electricity and practise the 3Rs – recycle, reduce and reuse.

Singer Aaron Khaled came on with Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi and ­Charlie Chaplin’s Smile while ­Zalina gave a jazz rendition of Corner of the Earth.

The star of the show was ­veteran singer and environmentalist ­Zainal ­Abidin who sang a Malay a capella version of Phil Collin’s You’ll Be in My Heart which he renamed Kau Di Hati Ku. He also sang Hijau, his ­major hit, which was most ­appropriate for this event, accompanied by the Choir of the Philharmonic Society of Selangor.

The finale saw all the singers ­performing Michael Jackson’s Heal the World and Man in the Mirror.

Meanwhile, Anplas Bag which ­sponsored the backdrop made of natural canvas material, intend to turn it into into bags and donate them to charity ­after the Mega Earth Day 2010 celebration.

For more on the bags, log on to www.anplas-bag.com.