Singapore Arts & Culture - and My Travels: Clumsy Compass

Monday, 9 April 2012

Penang, Malaysia: Day 1

I boarded the 3:20 pm Jetstar flight to Penang. It was not a full flight and thus I was able to get an aisle seat. The Malaysian immigration ran out of “white” visitor arrival card so we entered Penang without any documentation requirements. There was a long queue at the taxi stand as people were coming back from the Easter Holiday. Public bus took an hour (RM 2.70) to reach Komtar (the central bus area, see picture left).

Arts events held in Singapore: What I liked, Jan - Mar 2012

Attended slightly more than 10 arts events in the first quarter. I would say there are more misses than hits. Here are the 4 that appealed to me in one way or another:

I caught her first performance in Singapore in the 90s. I remembered Ah Mei being an energetic performer and could wow the crowd. In 2012, the magic is still there, though she took a while to do it. Her voice is still amazing. A great way to start the new year for the arts.

I was curious to hear a solo sheng performance. And this performance, by virtuoso Mr Er Chiang Song and his students, did not disappoint. According to Er, the aim of the concert was to showcase the traditional sheng instrument. Enjoyable concert, pity that Er played only 2 solo pieces.

Oh, just a fun fact. This concert was held on the day of Taiwan Presidential Election. A lot of audience was talking about the results when they strolled out of the DBS Auditorium.

Bukit Brown Cemetery

Entrance

The Bukit Brown Cemetery generated a lot of attention as there are plans to build an expressway over it, and part of it have to makeway. I joined a guided tour to know more about the history.

i Light Marina Bay

Was walking along the Esplanade waterfront and remembered that there was a light installation event happening the Marina Bay. i Light Marina Bay was billed as Asia's first and only sustainable light art festival.

2012 was the second edition (first being 2010) and the theme was "Light Meets Asia". It was curated by Mary Anne Kyriakou and co-curated by Charmaine Toh and FARM. From the website, the exhibition featured "30 innovative and environmentally sustainable light art installations, with a strong focus on works from Asia".

The one at the floating platform area attracted lots of visitors:

And of course, the Art Science Museum of the Marina Bay Sands was beautifully lit up.

There were some installation indoors but unfortunately the photos did not turn out well.

Monday, 20 February 2012

Dreams and Reality Exhibition at National Museum of Singapore

Was at the last few daya of the exhibition and there was a huge crowd at the National Museum of Singapore. The exhibtion Dreams and Reality featured works from the Musee D'Orsay Paris.

70th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore

15 Feb 2012 marked the 70th Anniversary of Singapore. 70 years ago, the surrender came during the Chinese New Year period and few months of battle in and around Singapore since December 1941. Lives changed for everyone for the next 3 over years.

2012 Johore Temple Festival: The Procession

Having attended the previous 2 editions, we knew that the procession would come to City Square at around 10 pm. So we arrived in JB at 9:30 pm, had coffee and waited. The Malaysia Prime Minister was the Guest of Honour this year, and we could vaguely hear him from afar. There were special performances at the main stage, the 24-season drums, the lion dances etc, but we could not really see it clearly. Imagine you are looking at this photo.

2012 Johore Temple Festival: Deities leaving the temple

The 2012 Johor Bahru Temple Festival had a special significance: it was given the status of intangible heritage of Malaysia. It was my third consecutive visit to the procession of the deities, held on the 21st day of the first Lunar Month (12 Feb 2012).

The day before the procuession of the deities, the deities would leave the temples and would go on a procession to a gathering place called Xing Gong 行宫 (next to a crematorium). I just attended the gathering at Xing Gong. You would need to take a cab from the city centre as it was a few kilomentres away. Imagine the devotees who walked the distance.

The place was crowded and followers were offering prayers to the Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka and Hainan deities.

While I was there, the Hokkien community were starting their praying session:

Other deities were also congregated at the Xing Gong:

There were of course Chinese wanyang performances at the venue, but no one really paid attention.

I managed to find a taxi back after a while. The ceremony was interesting, but finding transportation back would be a challenge.

Next time round, I would go early to catch the deities leaving the temple.

The 2011 Johor Bahru Temple Festival could be found at Johore Temple Festival 2011

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Huayi Festival 2012

Attended my first event, the chinese version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 谁怕吴尔芙？ written by Edward Albee and performed by 4 local actors and directed by Nelson Chia. The main attraction for me would be the actors, especially Johnny Ng and Leanne Ong, the latter whose performance I haven't seen in a while. Realistic set, good directing, and the ensemble has good chemistry. The chinese translation was good, which enabled the actors to deliver the lines smoothly. A good start for our local theatre scene. ...but can we have a better production poster?

I had high expectations for Stan Lai's Crosstalk Travellers 那一夜在旅途中说相声 (Taiwan). Sadly, while the performance is strong on laughs, it is lacking in depth. Unlike in the past productions that use the skits to dig at politics and social situation in Taiwan, this production is more variety show like. The cast however is still strong.