FLAMING PASSION

My guest this week is the incandescent DJ Angela Flame, Manchester United fan and popular female international disc jockey who has performed in 23 countries

IT'S so hard to avoid football, says international DJ Angela Flame, now permanently back in Singapore after a three-year stint in Berlin.

"Most people know the game, but in Singapore - perhaps it is an Asian thing - we really are into the betting aspect of it. Everyone is talking about football," says Angela, who has taken her dance music to 23 countries across the globe.

You mean there isn't any betting in other countries? "Well, yes, they do bet on football, but it never is quite as intense as itis here, where there are things like, half ball, one ball, 1 1/2 ball - other places, it's like, who wins or who loses," says the Red Devils fan.

"My favourite football team is Manchester United. I have always heard and seen amazing things from them. Over the years they have also been very consistent, being one of the strongest football teams in England. They also wear red jerseys and red just happens to be my favourite colour," she says.

What does she think of the team now? "While Manchester United remain a very good team, I'm afraid that Sir AlexFerguson is losing the plot. Having been in the business for so long, I'm sorry to say his tactics are becoming too predictable. Any side can surprise him, like Blackburn did last weekend," she says.

Apart from the colour red, it was a certain David Beckham who helped spur her interest in football.

"Beckham is very handsome," she says of the England captain and former Manchester United midfielder. "He is a star, a celebrity sportsman and he is a fantastic footballer. I like his wife, too, and I think they are such matching couple."

While her travels as a DJ sometimes makes it tough for her to follow the fortunes of her beloved Manchester United quite so closely, she confesses to being aware of all that Beckham is up to.

"Beckham is not doing too badly at Real Madrid," she offers. "Real Madrid started off poorly this season but right now are in quite a comfortable position. I suppose the fact that Beckham isn't required to captain Real Madrid takes a lot of pressure off him. It has to be a whole lot different when he plays for England, where the expectations of the entire country are in the mix. There's also the added pressure of being captain of the England team.

"Whatever the case, I feel that Beckham, besides being a superb sportsman, is also an excellent role model. Family life, I'm certain, has contributed immensely to his maturity as a person. While those alleged scandalous affairs did little damage to his career, they have made him a stronger person, in my opinion," says Angela with vigour.

And what is her opinion of tomorrow's game between Liverpool and Chelsea?

"Most of my football-addicted mates are very fond of Chelsea. They rave a lot about the great wealth of this team, which have reaped the benefits of Russian oil tycoon Roman Abramovich's riches. He not only bought over the entire team but brought in many good players as well.

"And as if that isn't enough, he's gone on to hire Jose Mourinho, who must be one of the best coaches in the world today. However, I would still support Liverpool for the coming match, mostly because they are the Reds and, did Imention I love that colour?" says Angela.

"But both of them are very good teams, so I can't predict an outcome. I think it will end up a draw."

What was life like as a DJ, spinning for zee Germans? "When I first went there it was very nice. I even thought, when I first got my gig there I could live there for good. After a year and a half, I was already extremely edgy. I wouldn't say it is a very comfortable place,' says Angela.

"I still like comfort, I like to be able to go to a club and at the end ofit just get a taxi and go back home to crash. I can't do that in Berlin. It is so difficult to get a cab, and it's so expensive to call one,' laments the princess of techno-house.

"And Germany is drab, the people are cold and their faces are always moody," she adds. "Nothing is doing well in Germany. Well, maybe Bayern Munich are doing okay, but the rest of Germany is not doing quite so well," she adds. While they seemed to like her music, they had no idea where she was from.

"They always think I am from China, or Vietnam. Maybe they aren't as bad as Americans," she says, chuckling, "but their lack of knowledge of the world isreally still quite shocking."

But she did precious little on her part to educate them. "I can't speak German. Well, just a little, but language was always aproblem," she says.

Finally, in March this year, she felt she couldn't live her life like that.

"I missed home, I missed the food, I even missed the heat of Singapore," she admits. This gem of a DJ actually studied to be a jeweller at the Gemological Institute of America in Los Angeles.

"A gemologist, actually. At GIA we learned how to grade stones like diamonds, sapphires, and we studied jewellery design. But while there are good jewellery stores in Singapore, I felt in the end I was just a salesgirl pushing diamond sales," she says.

"Besides, I didn't like the working environment."

Angela's musical career started back in 1996, when she started playing at the old Liquid Room in Bussorah Street.

"A friend of mine was one of the owners and I started out there after collecting some records I had acquired while travelling overseas," she says. 'I went from this new wave, Duran Duran thing to this really, really big change to house music when I studied in Toronto in the '80s."

Now Angela Flame, who calls herself that because of her fiery passion for dance music, has released several dance albums on her Autofokus Music label, and is currently working on a new album. And instead of lugging a large bag of records to her shows, she carries adainty little laptop, which she'll be doing on her next gig at Groove360 @ HighSeas on Star Cruises' Superstar Virgo on 14 Oct.

"I've tried CDJ-ing, which is spinning music using CDs instead of vinyls. You still get to control the music, but slightly differently from the wayvinyls are used. It's got a different feel, and I don't enjoy it very much. I have this software that allows me to do a live set with my laptop.

"Besides, it is so much more presentable, rather than lugging CDs and vinyls. And it is so much easier for me because vinyls are so expensive. So nowI don't have to carry 20kg of records wherever I go. It's good if you have some manager guy who carries all these for you but that doesn't happen to everyone," she says.

What about just getting her guy to manage all the chivalrous work for the female DJ who says probably half-jokingly that she intends to retire to becomea taitai', or lady of leisure?

"There isn't one," she says. "Maybe I'm too fussy. And not only that, I only have someone who can put up with my moods, know what I want and when I want it without being told."

You have been warned.