Destination Singapore — Experiencing Singapore through Travel

Even before mass tourism took root with the arrival of the jet age, Singapore has fascinated would be travellers from the West. The romanticised depictions of the island penned by the likes of Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham, in the late 19th and early 20th century have more often than not, made Singapore out to be an exotic destination, as have travel guide books of the day. Singapore was after all a great port city, the crossroads of the East and West in more ways than one, and a cultural melting pot in which the well-heeled traveller could travel to and be accommodated in the lap of luxury in the days when the romance of travel seemed at its height, and yet have that experience of the exotic East.

It was in fact travel guide books that provided the inspiration for the curators of Now Boarding: Experiencing Singapore through Travel, 1800s–2000s, to bring Singapore out as a travel destination. One of two exhibitions opening at the National Museum of Singapore this last weekend in May, the exhibition will offer its visitors an experience of Singapore from the perspective of a traveller to the island.

Postcards and Posters on display.

The exhibition will have visitors explore four common travel themes or chapters if you like in a (modern) travel guide book, Getting Around, Places to Stay, Eating Out and Sights and Shopping. But before all of that, as in the case of the days of mass travel, one has that small matter of getting to the “airport” at the museum’s Rotunda — where one will be greeted the all too familiar sight of a Changi Airport flight information flip board (or at least a part of the decommissioned Terminal 2 flip board), and having to collect a “boarding pass” — which serves as an entry ticket and more at the check-in (museum ticketing) counter.

Exhibition Boarding Pass.

The former Changi Airport flip board.

Exploring the exhibition — especially in the first two sections, one is struck by how much getting here and its associated experiences — even today, has an emphasis that is placed very much on luxury. In Getting Around, depictions of long, luxurious and somewhat leisurely voyages on the passenger liners of old or even train journeys on the Malayan Railway seen in posters on display confronts the visitor. It seems no different when it comes to the modern day, with a unmissable Singapore Airlines’ A380 Suites Cabin in plain sight.

SQ A380 Cabin Suites

Once one is in Singapore however, there options of getting around the island that are on offer are a lot more down to earth. A trishaw on display, which has a rather interesting backstory to it, was an affordable means of conveyance for the person-on-the-street, as was its predecessor the rickshaw. It was also popular as a means to move around for tourists, for whom the trishaw was not only cheap, but a novelty!

A Trishaw.

In Places to Stay, the lure of the Raffles — an enduring Singaporean icon and the epitome of luxurious stays in Singapore — seems unescapable even in a museum setting. There are also other luxurious names of the past that will pop up such as the Adelphi (there is a small glass on display that tells yet another interesting story), and the Hotel de L’Europe.

Uniforms on loan from Raffles Hotel.

Eating Out at Singapore’s coffee shops, outdoor eateries and hawker stalls has undoubtedly been one of the must-dos for a visitor. It may not always have been the case given the issues we faced with hygiene in the past but this caught on in the 1950s and 1960s when street fare came to the fore. From a range of tools and kitchen utensils to kopitiam cups, drinking glasses, soft drink bottles and serving trays carrying advertisements of popular brands, to photographs and postcards featuring hawkers, visitors will get that sense of what the experience of eating out may have been like. In addition to this, there is an assortment of restaurant menus that can be viewed through an interactive display. The menus include one from A&W — the first fast food restaurant chain to set up shop in Singapore when it opened its first outlet at MSA (later SIA) Building in 1968.

Kopitiam memories.

Besides shopping at Orchard Road, a tourist draw since C K Tang opened its store in 1958 even if the shopping destinations then were at High Street and Raffles Place, Sights and Shopping also explores areas such the cabaret, night club and more recent clubbing scene. One popular and rather famous (or some say infamous) tourist spot — at least until the early 1980s, Bugis Street, is glaringly missing in the mix.

Recalling the club and cabaret scene.

To complete the exhibition experience, visitors can reflect on the portrayal of Singapore over the years and add personal impressions home at digital kiosks located within the gallery. Limited edition postcards featuring what’s on display from the National Museum’s collection are available with a donation to the museum. These can be sent to any address across the world by dropping them in at the Singapore Post mailbox placed just outside the exhibition gallery. Also, playing an accompanying Now Boarding mobile game will also yield a bonus digital gift. And if you have some energy left, there will also be pop-up rooms — with a disco room opening with the exhibition. In August, there are two other rooms to look out for that will feature transportation and a hotel-themed room.

The pop-up disco themed room.

The exhibition opens on 27 May 2023 and runs until 19 Nov 2023. For more information, including ticketing, please visit https://www.nhb.gov.sg/nationalmuseum/our-exhibitions/exhibition-list/now-boarding.

A second exhibition opening on 27 May 2023, Get Curious: All About Food! is aimed at families with kids. More information on this can be found at: https://www.nhb.gov.sg/nationalmuseum/cs2023.

All at sea

The launch on Saturday of Singapore HeritageFest 2014, bring us to focus on one of the key reasons for Singapore’s being, the sea. This year’s festival much of which revolves around a maritime based theme, “Our Islands, Our Home” has us looking at our maritime past as well as our present as a maritime nation.

HeritageFest 2014 opens a window to Singapore’s island heritage.

It is to raise the profile of this heritage, one that goes back to times well before the arrival of Raffles, that is in fact what the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) and the National Heritage Board (NHB) hopes to achieve with the establishment of the S$500,000 Maritime Heritage Fund, which the two agencies will administer – for which a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by the two agencies at Saturday’s launch.

One of the highlights of this year’s HeritageFest is a lighthouse trail that includes a stop on Pulau Satumu, Singapore’s southernmost island, on top of which Raffles’ Lighthouse is perched.

Once a common scene in the waters off the Southern Islands. Boats such as the kolek on the right, are very much part of our maritime heritage (a similar kolek is on display at the Balik Pulau Exhibition at the National Museum).

The focus of the fund, which complements the NHB’s S$5 million Heritage Grant Scheme launched last year, will be on developing community-initiated projects related to Singapore’s maritime heritage that will promote a greater understanding and appreciation of Singapore’s maritime connections, as was touched on by Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for Community, Culture and Youth, in his speech at the festival’s launch.

Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Mr Ong Yew Huat, Chairman of NHB launching Singapore HeritageFest 2014.

Mr Wong also spoke of the transformation that will soon take place at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), where the launch event was held. Besides a revamp of the museum with expanded galleries that will include a space allocated for the Tang Cargo and see new shops and dining outlets, the museum will be given a new entrance that will open it up to the river and give it a direct connection into the historic heart of Singapore.

Another lighthouse – the very pretty Sultan Shoal Lighthouse at the western extremities of Singapore’s waters seen during the lighthouse trail as part of Singapore HeritageFest 2014.

The revamp is part of the ongoing effort to develop a civic and cultural belt around Singapore’s colonial civic district (see: The Old Vic’s ticking again) that involves also the newly refurbished Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and the conversion of the Old Supreme Court and City Hall into National Gallery – due for completion in 2015.

The newly refurbished Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall.

A cultural performance at the launch of Singapore HeritageFest2014.

The launch also coincided with the first evening of a two-night series of programmes taking place around the ACM and the river, River Nights. The event, brought much life and colour to the river, and celebrated its changing identity over the years – in the same way the well received series of activities  for Singapore HeritageFest 2014 celebrates the islands.

A dragon dance performance at the start of River Nights at the ACM’s front lawn.

More information on the Maritime Heritage Fund, Singapore HeritageFest 2014, River Nights and on Balik Pulau: Stories from Singapore’s Islands (an exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore held in conjunction with HeritageFest 2014) can be found in the following links:

• Maritime Heritage Fund (NHB website)
• Maritime Heritage Fund application guidelines
• Singapore HeritageFest 2014
• River Nights
• Balik Pulau: Stories from Singapore’s Islands

Now you can get yourself printed in 3D

It does seem as if there is no limit to what is possible with technology these days and it is now possible to get yourself printed in three dimensions! The 3D scanning and printing technology already widely employed in industrial uses such as rapid prototyping now sees itself being used to create life-like figurines with sufficient detail to “immortalise” a person in 3D.

A 3D ‘print’ of model Rebecca Tan on display at the Uu 3D studio.

Now, for a limited time, you can get a 3D figurine of yourself created right here in Singapore at the Uu 3D studio in Scotts Square, where you can get yourself scanned in just 30 minutes. The studio is a collaboration between a home grown creative agency, Kinetic Singapore and Mikanbako, a 3D imaging studio from Japan, with Scotts Square acting as the venue sponsor.

And one of celebrity hairstylist David Gan.

The cutting edge scanning equipment and software employed, the latest from Japan, allows an amazing degree of detail to be captured. It takes six scans of five minutes each to capture sufficient detail. The data will then be sent to Mikanbako’s lab in Japan for processing and printing which due to the complex nature of the processes will require a wait of three months from the scan for the customer to receive the figurine. The data collected I understand will be erased after 6 months.

Figurines of Kinetic co-found Pann Lim and his family – the brick being s symbol of family unity.

Figurines can be ordered in 3 sizes – small (15 cm) costing S$850, medium (20 cm) costing S$1,000 and large (25 cm) costing S$1,500. The Uu studio will be opened from 21 September to 6 October 2013, from 10 am to 10 pm and is located at #01-06/07 Scotts Square. More information can be found at https://uu.com.sg and also on the Facebook page.

The figurines can be ordered in 3 sizes – the extra small sized one seen is only available with an order for a larger figurine.

Staff of Kinetic Singapore.

CEO of Mikanbako, Wataru Hida doing a demonstration of the scanning process.

The data being captured by the software.

Playing with fire

Photographs taken at last evening’s media preview of the Singapore Night Festival of a performance, Redux, by Starlight Alchemy – one of the highlights of the annual festival which be held over two weekends in the Bras Basah precinct this year which will see a nocturnal extravaganza of performances over four days.

Describing themselves as “a constellation of international artists orbiting around Singapore that manipulate light, fire and skill toys to bring a sense of wonder to the performing arts” it was indeed with much wonder that a sneak peek of their performance – set against the façade of the National Museum, Redux, was greeted last evening.  Their performances will take place during the first weekend on 23 and 24 August 2013 at 8.45 pm, 10 pm and 11.15 pm. The last performance of each night will allow some interactivity with a free jam-and-play session at the end during which visitors will get to play with LED manipulation tools the group will use in their performances along with fire.

Interactivity will be a feature of this year’s edition of the festival – the Night Lights segment of it will see several projections which will permit interaction.  The festival also promises to be bigger and better with the participation of an increased number of stakeholders and partners from the area – more than twice that of 2012. It will also see the addition of several more venues stretching from Plaza Singapura to Raffles City. New venues this year include the two malls mentioned, as well CHIJMES, 222 Queen Street and Sculpture Square. This year will also see lots of food on offer with Hawker Food Alley set up at the alleyway between The Substation and Armenian Street and So Sedap at the SMRT Walkway along Stamford Road.

Re-branded from “Night Festival” to the “Singapore Night Festival” to reflect it being a platform to highlight and showcase local talents, this year’s festival runs over two weekends on the evenings of 23 and 24 August 2013 and 30 and 31 August 2013. There is also late night free admission to the participating museums to look out for during the festival. These museums are the National Museum of Singapore, the Peranakan Museum, and the Singapore Art Museum and will be on the festival nights from 7 pm to 2 am.  Do stay tuned for more festival highlights see at the preview for the first weekend. More information on the Singapore Night Festival can be obtained from the festival’s website.

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Information on Singapore Night Festival

• Singapore Night Festival website
• Download Festival Guide (pdf)
• Download Official Map (pdf)

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Essentially Eames

A rather compelling exhibition currently running at the ArtScience Museum which I was able to visit at the kind invitation of the museum is one which takes an in-depth look into the creative geniuses that are Charles and Ray Eames, long considered to be the first couple of design. The exhibition, Essential Eames: A Herman Miller Exhibition, which runs from 29 June 2013 to 5 January 2014 and is co-presented by renowned furniture maker Herman Miller and the ArtScience Museum in collaboration with the Eames Office, is one curated by the couple’s grandson Eames Demetrios based on a book he wrote, An Eames Primer.

From the Eames collection – the Eames were known to be collectors of many objects.

The Eameses are well known for their furniture design.

The exhibition, which  is certainly a must visit for anyone with a keen interest in the art of creative design, and for anyone else who takes delight in seeing and gaining insights into well-designed everyday objects and design concepts, includes a showcase of very recognisable furniture pieces designed by the couple – one which also provides an appreciation of the couple’s keen sense in the exploitation of the properties of different materials for use in their designs. The materials used range from fabrics, metals to moulded plywood – a technique Charles Eames himself developed and perfected in making moulded plywood splints in 1942 for the U.S. Navy during World War II. The technique was employed in the making of the iconic Lounge Chair Wood originally designed in 1945 for the Barclays Hotel in New York.

Moulded stackable plywood splints made for the U.S. Navy.

The iconic moulded plywood Lounge Chair Wood.

One moulded wood piece which did also catch my eye was a moulded plywood glider seat – designed in 1943 for the U.S. Navy, which was also to help the Eameses master the moulding of plywood. The seat on display we were told is currently valued at US $1 million.

The moulded plywood glider seat.

Besides the moulded plywood chairs – of which I am a huge fan of for the eye-catching and clean forms, there are also furniture made of other materials including metals  such as the wire-chair, designed to be lightweight and for outdoor use.

A mock-up of an advertising window with the Eames Wire Chair and bird sculpture.

Interestingly, there also are several timeless furniture pieces from the Herman Miller furniture collection including the Nelson Marshmallow Sofa which was designed in 1956 by George Nelson and Irving Harper, using injection plastic discs which an inventor thought could be produced inexpensively and was durable. Nelson, who  was the Director of Design at Herman Miller under whose supervision Charles and Ray Eames was to come under,arranged 18 of the discs on a steel frame to create the Marshmallow sofa which Herman Miller was to manufacture.

The Nelson Marshmallow Sofa.

Beyond furniture, there is also much to discover at the exhibition’s other galleries about the range of the creative genius of the couple – who met while Charles was teaching at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and Ray was a student, inlcuding what they applied in architecture, exhibition design, toy making, photography, film and philosophy.  In architecture, we are able to have a look at the “Eames House” or “Case Study House No. 8” – designed by the couple as part of the Case Study House programme for John Entenza’s Arts & Architecture magazine. The couple was, in 1949, to build the house they designed – for use as their home and studio – designed “for a married couple working in design and graphic arts, whose children were no longer living at home” which “would serve as a background for life in work and with nature as a shock absorber.”

The Eames House or Case Study House No. 8.

A peek into the Eames House.

The range of toys the Eames produced include the well-known House of Cards for which visitors can try their hands at. Other interactive activities at the exhibition include Essential Play where visitors can create their own small scale furniture, a Materials Trail, and a animal mask making activity for the young.

House of Cards.

An interactive activity for the young.

More from the Eames collection.

One exhibit which will certainly catch the attention of the visitor is at the Mathematica gallery where based on the original 1961 exhibit at the California Museum of Science and Industry where it remained on continuous display for 37 years are exhibits which explains complex mathematical concepts through simple forms. Here the visitor will find the mathematical concept of the Moebius band – a one-sided surface with only one side.

The Moebius Band.

The Eames design philosophy.

Vitra dolls designed by a close associate of Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard.

Fabrics designed by the Eameses.

Of the exhibits which I must say shows the range that the creative genius of the couple extended to, my personal favourite was the photographic work of Charles Eames. He certainly is one with a keen eye for photography and in the gallery – we see the clean and uncluttered images which is of great appeal to me. More information on the exhibition can be found at the ArtScience Museum’s website.

Photographs by Charles Eames.

Besides the visit to Essential Eames, the programme also included a visit to another must-see exhibition Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb, for which I already had the pleasure of seeing. Details of my previous visit to that exhibition can be found in a previous post. Another part of the programme I should not forget to mention was lunch – which was most kindly provided by SweetSpot Deli, which serves New York style deli sandwiches generously packed with fillings. My favourite was the corned beef. SweetSpot Deli opens from 8 am to 11 pm Sundays to Thursdays, and 8 am to 12 am Fridays, Saturdays and on the eve of public holidays and is located the Bay Level #01-30 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.

The mummy of Nesperennub at Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb.

Getting kicks on KIX

Making its premiere this evening on KIX, the ultimate channel for action entertainment in Asia, is ladies (American) football. Featuring games from the United States (US) Legends Football League (LFL) touted as the ‘fastest growing pro sports league in the United States’ by NBC Sports, drawing record television ratings for its U.S. broadcaster, the 7 on 7 full contact ladies football games will be shown on Starhub Cable TV Channel 518 at 10.30 pm. The games will also be shown on KIX HD which will be available on SingTel MioTV Channel 308 from May.

Three professional LFL players were in Singapore to promote the launch of the LFL on KIX.

Liz Gorman, a Wide Receiver from LA Temptation.

Natalie Jahnke, a Linebacker from LA Temptation.

Angela Rypien, a Quarterback from Baltimore Charm.

Three professional American football star players, Liz Gorman (LA Temptation), Angela Rypien (Baltimore Charm) and Natalie Jahnke (LA Temptation), were in Singapore, as part of a tour of various Asian cities, to celebrate the launch of LFL on KIX. The lovely ladies made an appearance yesterday afternoon at Bugis Junction, showing off some of their positions and moves, as well as engaging members of would-be fan who had braved the afternoon’s downpour to catch the three in action.

Three FHM models were taught the various positions used by the three LFL players and were also asked to show some of their own touchdown celebrations.

A member of the audience showing off his touchdown move.

And off came his shirt.

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About the Legends Football League

Since its premiere in 2009, LFL has been touted as the ‘fastest growing pro sports league in the United States’ by NBC Sports and has drawn record television ratings for its U.S. broadcaster. The athletes, dressed in their lingerie-inspired uniform tops and bottoms, along with customised helmet and shoulder pads, have played to sold-out crowds across America. The 12 US franchises include teams such as the three-time champion, Los Angeles Temptation and the, Las Vegas Sin and Atlanta Steam, all of whom have built an incredible international fan base.

 “We are excited to bring America’s fastest growing sports league to Asia. The LFL is not about models attempting to play football. The LFL presents tough, sexy, and talented female athletes playing full-contact, American football. At KIX, we promise our viewers the hottest action from around the world, and action does not get any hotter than this,” said Betty Tsui, Vice President, Programme, KIX and Thrill, Celestial Tiger Entertainment.

LFL (Legends Football League) USA will be shown exclusively every Sunday at 10.30pm on action channel KIX (StarHub Cable TV Channel 518) starting from April 28, and on KIX HD On Demand (SingTel mioTV Channel 308) from May.

 

Open up a box full of memories at the library

As part of the Singapore Memory Project (SMP), an exhibition, “My Home, My Library” is being held at the Public Libraries. The exhibition which runs from 25 March to 29 April showcases many precious memories which have contributed by residents of each of the neighbourhoods the libraries are in, with the aim of serving as memory triggers to help more Singaporeans to add to the 830,000 pledges and contributions made thus far to the SMP.

The My Home, My Library exhibition offers visitors a chance to take a photo at the exhibition or of themselves at a photo wall and to share it on Twitter or Instagram to stand a chance of winning up to $200 weekly.

The biscuit tin of keepsakes and memories at the library@esplanade.

At the exhibition, visitors will open a biscuit tin of memories, in the way that their parents or grandparents might have opened their tins and boxes with their mementos and keepsakes stashed in them, through a huge human height biscuit tin (which resembles a popular brand of biscuits many would have been familiar with). There are some 500 memories in the tinboxes found across all the libraries and in them, there may perhaps be some which could evoke a memory stashed away somewhere.

My own tinbox of keepsakes includes a book bought from the bookshops along Bras Basah Road.

The exhibition offers visitors a chance not just to relive precious moments but also to win attractive prizes every week in the Snap & Share social media contest. All that is needed is for visitors to take a photograph of an interesting exhibit or of themselves at the photo wall (which has on its backdrop an image of the respective neighbourhood in days past), and share it via Twitter or Instagram hash-tagged with #sgmemory to stand a chance to win up to $200 in shopping vouchers on a weekly basis. What’s more, the most retweeted tweet will win a prize of $50 in shopping vouchers!

The Memory Submission Stand.

Visitors will also have a chance to submit their memories at the Memory Submission Stand – fashioned from a large scale version of the all familiar Carnation Milk tin. Kids will also have a chance to stamp their mark at the at the Kids’ Stamping Station – I know stamping was one of my favourite activities as a child. There are 6 different locally inspired rubber stamp designs and kids can either bring that stamping work home or contribute their work towards the SMP.

The Kids’ Stamping Station – surely a hit with kids.

In conjunction with My Home, My Library,  the libraries also organised a couple of tours involving small groups of bloggers. I got a chance to bore a few bloggers all of whom were a lot younger than me, taking them to places in and around the library@esplanade in a nostalgia tour last Saturday. The places involved some which were close to  my heart and some in which I am still able to find memories of times which would otherwise have been forgotten. The places were ones which I hoped could also trigger the memories of the four bloggers who came along.

A stop on the nostalgia tour – the Children Little Museum.

The first stop on the tour was at the NParks roving exhibition “Playsets of Yesteryears” currently at Raffles Place. In spite of the rain, we spotted a little girl in a raincoat determined to have a go at one of the swing sets. That brought back not just memories of playing in many similar playgrounds in my swinging sixties (and seventies), but also of times looking forward to the rain so as to play in the falling rain, splashing in the puddles and wading in the flood waters (I still sometimes look forward to doing some of that!). The installation has been organised by the National Parks Board (NParks) for the commemoration of 50 years of Greening Singapore and is in collaboration with the SMP. More on the installation and where it can be seen at can be found in a previous post The 1970s playground reinterpreted.

The temporary Playsets of Yesteryears installation at Raffles Place.

From Raffles Place, a place which holds a lot more memories of days shopping at Robinson’s and John Little’s and having chicken pies around the corner, we boarded a bus which took us to the next stop, Albert Centre. There we had a look at a wet market and at some street traders along the pedestrian mall at Waterloo Street. The market isn’t one that I had my main wet market experiences at, but as all wet markets are, they are (or at least the used to be) where life revolves around, as well as providing a multi-sensory experience with their sights, colours, sounds and even smells. The market at Albert Centre is one which probably carries with it the memories of what the streets around used to hold, the original vendors having moved into the residential cum commercial Housing and Development Board (HDB) complex when it was completed in 1980, having been displaced from the street markets at Queen Street  and Albert Street by urban redevelopment efforts which swept across the area at the end of the 1970s.

A vegetable vendor at the wet market.

Markets were always fascinating places for me, until that is, when a vendor’s daughter pushed me into a basin of salted vegetables. It is in the markets that I find many of the memories I have of my childhood, although the sights, sounds (one particular sound was that of the cha-kiak – wooden clogs on the wet floor) and smells may now be a little different. Many revolved around live chickens, seeing them in cages, being chosen, weighed, slaughtered and de-feathered and occasionally being carried home alive, struggling in brown paper bags with red and white strings. There are many more memories I have which I do have some posts previously written on.

One particular memory I have of is mutton butchers towering over their huge log chopping blocks at Tekka Market (photograph taken with LG Optimus G).

Just next to Albert Centre is a concentration of street traders at the end of  Waterloo Street and Albert Mall. The area sees high pedestrian traffic because of the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho and the Sri Krishnan Temples in the area which attracts a lot of devotees. Their presence there harks back to days when similar traders were commonly found on many other streets and one can find Chinese medicine men (that were especially common at pasar malams), fortune tellers, cobblers, as well as what one might expect, food, devotional objects and flower vendors.

A fortune teller’s stand along Waterloo Street.

From Albert Centre, we headed to Bras Basah Complex, another HDB residential cum commercial that came up in 1980 – this without a wet market. The complex was also one which took in many traders from the area it is in. This included the many watch dealers, book, optician and stationery shops that occupied the shophouses that were cleared on North Bridge Road and the bookshops that the shophouses at Bras Basah Road between Waterloo and Bencoolen Streets were well visited for. Those bookshops were where I got my textbooks and revision books such as the ever so popular “ten-year-series” from and their move in 1980s drew many of us who went to school in the area to Bras Basah Complex. While many of the original bookshops have moved out, there are some of the other original stores that remain including some old school stationery shops (where we could get not just stationery but calculators, sports goods and harmonicas) and watch shops which take us back to its early days. Of the watch shops – it was from a similar one in Katong Shopping Centre where I obtained my very first wrist watch, an Otis for $70 back in 1976.

An old school watch dealer at Bras Basah Complex.

The next stop we had was Esplanade Park, better known as Esplanade or Queen Elizabeth Walk in the days when it was a popular outing spot to catch the sea breeze and indulge after in some satay and chendol. Back then walks in the evening were always interesting, not just for the sea breeze, the flicker of lights of the ships in the distance, or the beam of light from Fullerton Light that swept across the harbour, but also for the many traders scattered around the promenade. There were the usual kacang putih man, the balloon vendor who supported his colourful air-filled balloons with long tubular ones, and the snake charmer.

Bloggers +1 in search of the satay club at the Esplanade.

No longer there are the satay club which was at the location from 1971 to 1995, having moved from its original spot at Hoi How Road where we would sit at low tables on low stools and where satay would be piled up on a plate and charging was by the number of sticks consumed, as well as the semi-circular laid out Esplanade Food Centre which went in 1980 and which was possibly Singapore’s first built hawker centre coming up in the 1950s, which had been well known for its chendol. However, there are several memories including the Tan Kim Seng Fountain which used to serve as a marker of the former Satay Club, as well as another first – Singapore’s very first pedestrian underpass (as well as non surface pedestrian crossing) built in 1964 which connects Empress Place with the Esplanade.

Composite photograph of the Satay Club (and Esplanade Food Centre) and Esplanade Park today.

From Esplanade Park, we moved next to the library@esplanade for the My Home, My Library exhibition there – that provided not just a look at the tinbox of memories but also provided some welcome relief for what was an extremely hot and sweaty morning. From that it was a drive by of the former site of the New Seventh Storey Hotel, and the DHL Balloon, which some may remember as landmarks (the DHL Balloon for a short while) in the Bugis/Rochor area, enroute to the Children Little Museum on Bussorah Street which holds in its toy shop full of old school toys and its museum of many full memories, many reminders of my (if not the other bloggers’) childhood. The toy shop and museum does also provide an appreciation perhaps of childhood toys and games over the generations – from simple cheap to make toys and low cost games, many a result of invention and improvisation, to more expensive and sophisticated ones, to the handheld electronic games which made an appearance in the late 1970s – the predecessors of the handheld video game consoles of today.

There was time at the end of the tour and before the heavy downpour that was to come, to have lunch nearby. That was at the Seow Choon Hua Restaurant at Sultan Gate, popular for its Fuzhou (Foochow) dishes including Foochow fish ball noodles – which I had. There was also some time for me to share my experiences accompanying my maternal grandmother on a trishaw to the area nearby – Arab Street to be precise, an area she referred to a “Kampong Jawa” (as the area hosted a Javanese community), to do her shopping for items such as batik sarongs and bedak sejuk (powder sold in tablet  form). The street then as it is now, plays hosts to many textile shops – a reminder of a time it was common to have clothes made-to-measure. While such shops in other areas have gone – the popularity of ready-to-wear clothes from the late 1970s onwards meant that demand for textiles fell. Many such shops, especially those found in Toa Payoh Central, turned to selling ready-to-wear clothes and a large concentrations of them are now found only on Arab Street.

Foochow Fishball Noodles at Seow Choon Hua.

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About My Home, My Library:

The Singapore Memory Project presents “My Home, My Library” – a nationwide exhibition showcasing personal memories contributed by residents of each neighbourhood. From library romances to tok-tok noodle carts and kampong life, each memory tells a unique story that forms a portrait of our home and our libraries. Take a peek into our treasure trove of stories and share some of your own precious memories with your fellow residents. For more information, please click here. My Home, My Library runs at all public libraries (except for Geylang East which is under renovation) until 29 April 2013.

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About the Singapore Memory Project (SMP):

The SMP is a national initiative started in 2011 to collect, preserve and provide access to Singapore’s knowledge materials, so as to tell the Singapore Story. It aims to build a national collection of content in diverse formats (including print, audio and video), to preserve them in digital form, and make them available for discovery and research.

Currently, members of the public can submit their memories for the project by”

• Sharing memories at the Singapore Memory Portal
• Via a free SG Memory iOS application available from the iTunes app store

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Do also read about the impressions My Home, My Library left on some of the other bloggers:

• Moonberry
• Alvinology
• AspirantSG

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And if you have not LOLed …

An evening of good fun and entertainment awaits the audience at recordings sessions of Mediacorp’s Toggle’s talkshow, LOL, which is recorded in from of a live audience. The recordings also present an opportunity to get up close to your favourite celeb, as well one in which the audience can learn great make-up tips from the creator of Fashion Forward, stylist Marcus AC, the show’s co-host. The most recent session saw the appearance of model and actress Jaymee Ong and hunk, model and TV host, Paul Foster – who was urged by the audience (and host Judee Tan) to show-off his nipple rings.  Also making an appearance was singer, songwriter, and yoga instructor, Alicia Pan – who certainly showed off the wonderful vocals she’s blessed with. Just three more recording sessions are left for Season 1 of LOL – next week on 18, 19, and 20 March 2013 and limited seats are available. Details on how you can be part of the audience (ladies only) can be found at this link.

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Photographs from the last recording session on 8 March 2013:

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The faces of Chingay 2013

If anyone reading this appears in any of the photographs below (or in this album), I would be pleased to extend a higher resolution copy of the photograph to you if you can drop me an email.

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Photographs from what was certainly a feast for the senses, Chingay 2013, which was held at the F1 Pit Building over two evenings on 22 and 23 February 2013. The annual event, touted as “Asia’s Grandest Street Parade”  is organised the People’s Association. In its current incarnation, Singapore’s Chingay was conceived as a street parade to celebrate the Chinese New Year in 1973 in the wake of the ban on the tradition of letting off fireworks, the parade has evolved over the years into the spectacular celebration of Singapore’s rich multi-ethnic mix and includes participants from many other countries. The event wouldn’t have been a success if it wasn’t also for the efforts of many participants and volunteers, to whom this post is dedicated to:

Ladies need only apply

Guaranteed to have its audience in stitches at the rate of a laugh a minute is Mediacorp’s brand new talkshow, LOL, which is scheduled to be launched in early April. Recordings which are being done with live audiences for what promises to be a show packed with loads of fun and laughter – one which will have you “laughing out loud at the edge of your seat”, has in fact already begun with the producers of the show looking for participants to be part of the audience (which I am afraid is open to ladies only).

Tracie and Adrian Pang with host Judee Tan.

Ming Bridges singing at the session.

The talkshow is recorded in front of a ladies only live audience.

The talk show, hosted by the extremely humourous and, if I may add, vivacious, Judee Tan – best known perhaps for her role in The Noose and the suave Marcus AC a stylist and creator of Fashion Forward, aims to showcase the latest happenings, the hottest music artists and celebrities, and the very latest in fashions and style. Guests at the inaugural recording session were husband and wife theatre team Adrian and Tracie Pang of Pangdemonium! who spoke about their upcoming production Rabbit Hole, with Singapore based Mandopop sensation, the gorgeous Ming Bridges, performing.

Mandopop sensation had Judee Tan moving to her beat.

The hosts and last evening audience.

The audience can also expect styling demos by co-host Marcus AC.

Ming Bridges accompanied on guitar by producer and songwriter Eric Ng.

Upcoming recording dates are 21, 22, 25 and 27 February. Sessions take place at s at *Scape Orchard and start with refreshments at 6.30 pm (audience would need to be seated by 7.15 pm). To be a part of the audience do drop an email to jolynkhew@mediacorp.com.sg and include your name, age, occupation, contact no. and email address, with the preferred date of attendance. Limited seats are available and the production team would contact those selected. Exclusive goodie bags will also be given to all guests. Guests for the upcoming recordings include Yvette King, Shane Pow, Daddy O’s, Jade Seah, BobbyTonelli, George Young and Andayoma. More information on LOL and Toggle is available at http://www.toggle.sg.

Adrian and Tracie.

A back view of the studio and the audience.

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Update 21 Feb 2013

The Guys Don’t Get it!

Ooooooh Ladies! Look who we have coming up on LOL! Jade Seah, George Young, Bobby Tonelli, Pierre Png, Andrea De Cruz, Rebecca Lim, Tay Peng Hui!!!!!!!! SCREAM!!!

Catch them and be part of the audience for the brand new fun and happening talk show in town – LOL! Hosted by Judee Tan and Marcus A.C., we guarantee you 2 hours of entertainment, fun, laughter, fashion, celebrities and more!

So how do you get to be part of the LOL fun?

RSVP Quickly to : jolynkhew@mediacorp.com.sg

Provide the names, age, occupation , contact nos. and email addresses of you and your gal pals (sorry, only the girls get it!)

Tell us which of these dates: Feb 25, Feb 27, Mar 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 you prefer (Yes, you can come for more than one show and yes, it’s FREE!)

We film Live at:

Venue: The Gallery, Level 5, Scape, 2 Orchard Link.
Time: 6.30pm from refreshments from Dr Cafe
To be seated by: 7.15pm
Ends: About 9pm

And who are some of our upcoming guests?

Tay Peng Hui, Rebecca Lim, Chou Enlai, Hossan Leong, Paul Foster, Jaymee Ong, Glenda Chong, Timothy Goh, Alicia Pan, Jack and Rai, Vanessa Fernandez, Siti Zahidah.

We’ve also got a very special guest band coming in from the States, so look out for them!

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The transformation of Chingay over the years

The Chingay Parade in Singapore as we know it today had its beginnings in the wake of the total ban on firecrackers which once were a must-have at any Chinese New Year celebration.

That was back in 1973 – the parade was a relatively simple one which had been put together by the People’s Association and the Singapore National Pugilistic Federation, and it saw a procession of lion dancers, giant flag bearers, dragon dancers, stilt walkers, clowns and juggling acts down a 3 kilometre route from old Victoria School to Outram Park.

An early Chingay Parade through the streets. Chingay was revived as a street parade for everyone in 1973 following a total ban on firecrackers.

Being very much connected with Chinese New Year, it was a Chinese-centric procession and passed through some of the streets of Chinatown. The first procession was a resounding success, prompting the decision to make it an annual affair and the four decades of it, saw a transformation that had it move into the housing estates (starting with Toa Payoh in its second year), before it was moved to Orchard Road in 1985.

In that time, the parade also took on first a multi-cultural flavour and then an international flavour – moving from being a street parade not just for the man on the street but also for visitors to the island.

The carnival -like street parade Chingay is today. A less than traditional looking stilt-walker seen during the rehearsal for Chingay 2013.

More traditional stilt-walkers from a Chingay Parade in the 1980s seen along Orchard Road.

The origins of Chingay were actually not in the carnival-like street parade that we are treated to today.

Chingay in its original form was what had been described as a Hokkien Chinese tradition, held in conjunction with religious festivals with a parade of deities. It is this form that it the celebrations of Chingay across the causeway still take. One example of this takes place in Johor Bahru on the 21st day of the Chinese New Year. The parades were held in Singapore as far back as in the 1880s, and saw the participation not just by the Hokkiens, but also by members of the main Chinese dialect groups.

The annual event has over the years taken on a multi-cultural and more international appearance.

The Japanese community in Singapore has been well represented over the years.

A Straits Times report of 1 February 1902 gives us an idea of the Chingays of the early days. It describes the parade as “being accompanied by all the usual banners, flags, toms toms, bands, magnificently and grotesquely made out individuals, and figures”.

The report further describes the parade: “barbaric splendour was manifested to extravagance and thousands of spectators flocked to all points to witness it. Numbers of pretty Chinese girls brilliantly and richly dressed sat on perches ten feet high, surrounded by flowers, and borne on the shoulders of bearers”.

The early parades would typically feature traditional performers such as flag bearers.

Chingay in 1985 seen passing Peranakan Place along Orchard Road.

Parades in their original form were ones, which perhaps were an expression of identity and on which no expense was spared, were discontinued after December 1906. That was when at a meeting of the Hokkien clan, it was decided that the raising of public funds would better serve the promotion of children’s education instead.

The colourful celebration that is today’s Chingay.

Chingay these days has perhaps come a full circle – at least in the sense of the extravagance.

Each parade is now one to look forward to and involves preparations that begin as early as some fifteen months ahead and are no longer the spontaneous street celebration it once had been. Many rehearsals are required so that the delivery is made “perfect” and what can be seen to be more of a staged performance – much like our National Day Parades.

For photographs of a preview of Chingay 2013 – please visit my previous post on Chingay 2013.

Stilt-walkers resting along the Orchard Road route in 1985.

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Some highlights of Chingay 2013:

• Grandest Cultural Opening – 文天祥之“正气歌” Song of Righteousness by renowned Wen Tian Xiang, Song Dynasty (Cultural collaboration between artistes from Singapore and Fuzhou), with Chingay Taichi Sword Showcase
• World’s Biggest Peach Blossoms, “桃夭” Performance
• First-Ever Combined Chinese Opera Performance of Lady Generals of The Yang “杨门女将” jointly presented by Teochew, Hokkien and Cantonese Opera Groups in Singapore
• Programme will involve at least 5,000 students and Singaporeans to write calligraphy based on the poem “Song of Righteousness” 五言诗：正气歌

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Fire in snow lights up the Lunar New Year

While many in Singapore feel that the annual Chingay parade, now in its 41st year, has moved away from its original purpose of a street parade for the masses first celebrated in 1973 to make up for a total ban on the long held tradition of letting off fireworks during the Lunar New Year, the parade is without a doubt still very much a celebration of what Singapore is and what perhaps Singapore has become. The parade has in its recent editions become a show of the spectacular, combining a street-like parade in which the people from all major races and from all walks of life participate, with a well-orchestrated show of lights, music and effects which never fail to dazzle the audience. The theme of this year’s parade, “Fire in Snow”, will on the evidence of Saturday’s rehearsal, no doubt be as dramatic, if not more so, than last year’s water show was, with the opening scene seeing some 3000 performers light pots of fire, which turns the 360 metre parade route at the F1 Pit Building into a spectacular sea of light. The parade’s dramatic opening is matched by an equally staggering finale during which the parade’s audience and participants will be showered in falling “snow”, in which falling soap and pieces of paper brings the parade to a sensational close.

Chingay brings together members of the various communities in Singapore in an annual street celebration.

The opening scene sees the lighting of pots of fire.

The spectacular closing sees “snow” falling on the parade.

Saturday’s rehearsal, which was opened to members of the media, also had some 8,000 students in its audience. The students, representing some 56 schools, were there to participate in a National Education (NE) show to educate students about multicultural harmony. This is the first time students an NE show, usually associated with National Day Parade rehearsals, is being held in conjunction with the Chingay Parade rehearsals. The six-part parade will see some 10,000 performers representing some 120 organizations and will include a Chinese classical featuring 450 young performers from Singapore and China; a combined Chinese Opera Show with 300 members of local Teochew, Hokkien and Cantonese opera troupes who will perform to the strains of Phantom of the Opera; Tai-chi Swordmasters; and the participation of a 1,000 strong PAssion Zumba Community which includes the youngest participant in the parade who is only 4.

The largest Chinese Classical Dance in the show’s history sees 450 young dancers from both Singapore and China peform.

A close up of the Chinese Classical Dance segment.

Tai-chi swordmasters.

The parade will be held on Friday 22 February and Saturday 23 February this year. More information including that on ticketing can be found at the Chingay 2013 website.

Members of the Queenstown CC Cantonese Opera troupe pose for a photograph before the rehearsal.

Student performers dressed in Chinese Opera costumes practicing before the parade.

The youngest participant who is 4.

Ms Elaine Tjon a member of the PAssion Zumba Community sharing her experience at the media conference.

Student participants at the media conference.

Mr Nah Juay Hng, Chairman of the Chingay Parade Exco speaking.

Members of the Japanese community.

Float carrying more participants from Singapore’s Japanese Community.

The NE Show audience – schoolchildren expanded a lot of energy during the parade.

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More photographs from Saturday’s rehearsal:

A world I would love to be trapped in

One current exhibition that is certainly well worth a visit to is one that is devoted entirely to building bricks most of us would have been familiar with from our childhoods. ‘The Art of The Brick’ at the ArtScience Museum which opened on 17 November 2012 and will run until 14 April 2013, takes visitors into the world of 39 year old Nathan Sawaya, whose life-long obsession with Lego building bricks has seen him abandon his job as an attorney to devote himself to the ‘art of the brick’.

Trapped, one of the brick pieces that offers a look into the world of Nathan Sawaya at the ArtScience Museum. Trapped is inspired by the artist’s feelings of being trapped. Speaking of being trapped – Sawaya’s world is one I certainly wouldn’t mind being trapped in.

I was provided with the opportunity to visit the exhibition recently by good people of the ArtScience Museum. The visit provided me not only with the opportunity to see the artist’s work, but also step into the artist’s own world seen through some of his work which includes both representative brick sculptures as well as one which explore surrealist themes in what is some of the more fascinating pieces. Sawaya’s obsession with what is indeed a very popular and timeless toy we were told began at the age of five. Not being able to get that pet dog he had wanted, Sawaya did the next best thing – he dismantled his Lego city brick set and built a dog with it which he named Boxer.

The entrance to the exhibition. The exhitbition runs until 14 April 2013.

Sawaya decided to turn what had in his working years become a means to blow off steam. It was when he realised that his sharing of his hobby on his website brickartist.com was receiving quite a fair bit of attention that he decided to dedicate his life to being a ‘brick artist’ first joining Lego before setting up his own art gallery in New York City.

A giant FaceMask.

The 52 large-scale brick pieces at the exhibition are displayed across eight galleries. In the first gallery, we are introduced to the artist himself, with several pieces through which Sawaya reveals some of his personal take on himself. The gallery includes several ‘iconic’ pieces including ‘Yellow’ and ‘Swimmer’. My personal favourite among the works in the gallery is Yellow which depicts a human torso tearing its chest open. Thousands of toy bricks can be seen to spill out from the gap. The work represents the artist’s personal metamorphosis and transitions and is said to capture his emotional journey in which the artist opened himself up to the world.

Yellow – which represents Sawaya’s personal metamorphosis and transitions, and captures his emotional journey.

Another piece in the Introduction Gallery – ‘Hands’ which depicts a dream Sawaya had in which he loses his hands.

The seven other galleries are no less interesting. The next one we come to is the Catwalk Gallery where works are displayed on a runway like platform. Works here that caught my eye were Circle, Triangle, Square and Everlasting. Another interesting gallery is the Portrait Gallery, where there are some familiar faces in 2D – all made again from Lego bricks which I thought was rather amazing. Among the portraits are those of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin. What is interesting to learn about is the approach that the artist takes when creating a 2D portrait is that he starts off with the eyes – after which he says everything falls into place. The choice of colour is also important we are told. Sawaya, despite his talent in creating 2D likenesses of famous personalities with Lego bricks, we are also told, does not like to take on commercial commissions for 2D portraits for fear that he may offend clients should the work not come out right.

Circle, Trangle, Square in the Catwalk Gallery.

Everlasting.

Close-up of a portrait of Janis Joplin.

Close-up of a portrait of Bob Dylan.

And one of Jimi Hendrix.

Our very able guide Dina, speaking on Courtney Yellow – a portrait of Sawaya’s then girlfriend (and now wife) Courtney Simmons.

Another gallery which I did take my time to look at was The Emotion Box which has pieces all of which seemed to have a deeper meaning in them. Stepping into the gallery one encounters works that are mesmerisingly fascinating such as Mask, Ascension, Grasp and Trapped. There certainly are deeper meanings that one will discover in the works. Ascension depicts the artists desire to ascend to a higher place without experiencing death, whereas, Grasp refers to the many people telling the artist ‘no’ – people he would like to rid his life of.

Mask.

Ascension.

Grasp.

One work that will certainly impress is a six metre long one – a T-Rex skeleton at the Art of Play. The last gallery is where you will find a brick sculpture of a familiar sight – that of the ArtScience Museum itself. The piece was specially commissioned by the ArtScience Museum and was created without the artist having actually visited the museum, and purely from 2D images.

The six metre long T-Rex skeleton.

One of the ArtScience Museum.

Peace.

The exhibition also has several areas which allow visitor interaction, including light and sound displays, a photobooth, a Play and Build area and an area where visitors can attempt to recreate Sawaya’s rain. The exhibtion is open from 10 am to 10 pm daily (last entry is at 9 pm). More information on the exhibition and ticket prices can be found at the ArtScience Museum’s website.

Writer in The Drawing Board gallery.

Interacting with light.

Photobooth.

Marina Bay in the pink

Three landmarks, the ArtScience Museum, the Helix Bridge, and Marina Bay Sands Hotel, in the Marina Bay area, turned bright pink on Friday evening, coloured in a global effort that has seen some 200 well-known landmarks and monuments across the world such as the Taj Mahal, the Empire State Building and Harrods take on the same pink glow. All this is part of an initiative by Estée Lauder, the Breast Cancer Awareness (BCA) Campaign, intended to promote breast health and early detection in an effort to defeat breast cancer through education and medical research.

The ArtScience Museum awash in pink for the Global Illumination Initiative.

In its 20th year, the BCA Campaign was initiated by the late Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder of The Estée Lauder Companies in 1992. It aims at creating a global impact to motivate women all around the world to see doctors regularly, perform monthly breast self examinations, and get an annual mammogram if they’re over the age of 40. Together with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as the official venue partner, the landmarks were illuminated at a ceremony at the ArtScience Museum which was graced by Guest-of-Honour Dr. Amy Khor, Minister of State for Ministry of Health and Manpower, Ms Grace Ban, Managing Director of The Estée Lauder Companies, and Mrs. Noor Quek, President of the Breast Cancer Foundation (Singapore).

The ever lovely Sharon Au was the host for the evening.

Ms Grace Ban, Dr Amy Khor, Mrs Noor Quek with host Sharon Au, launching the illumination.

Watching the illumination of the Helix Bridge.

A toast to the campaign.

Host Sharon Au was her usual animated self.

The ceremony with the ever beautiful Sharon Au as host had guests turning the area under the fingers of the ArtScience Museum into a sea of pink, and saw a fashion show segment in which ten breast cancer survivors including Singapore Woman of the Year 2012, Ms Theresa Tan, take to the catwalk. Also on hand was Japanese artist, Takeshi Sato, wowing the crowd by painting a likeness of Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder on stage whilst moving in sync to music that was being played, as a tribute to her.

Takeshi Sato at work.

Ms Theresa Tan and daughter down the catwalk.

This year’s message, is Courage, Believe in a world without breast cancer. Know we’re here until its true. It highlights The Estée Lauder Companies’ 20-Year commitment to defeating breast cancer through education and medical research and celebrates the life and legacy of BCA Campaign Founder and Pink Ribbon co-creator, Mrs Evelyn H. Lauder.

The Helix Bridge lit up in pink.

The campaign this year also sees for the very first time, an online charity auction, which was launched on 26 September to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation, Singapore. For the auction, many local celebrities have donated personal items. One is Michelle Chong, who donated a dress her character wore in Already Famous. The items also includes those donated by Andrea de Cruz, socialite Leonika Kei, model Serena Adsit and popular mandarin radio DJ Lim Peifen. Bids for the items can be placed online via The Estēe Lauder Companies’ microsite at www.bca2012auction.com. Bidding will close on 31st October 2012. Apart from celebrity donated items, the auction will also feature various luxury items and services donated to raise more money for the charity.

The Russians have landed

It is always nice to discover a rare gem. One that I had the great pleasure of finding just last week is certainly a rarity – a group of dedicated musicians who produce strains that would seem more at home in the jazz clubs of New York City, than in Russia where they ply their trade in. Here for a one evening only performance at the School of the Arts (SOTA) concert hall, ‘Jazz Encounters of the Russian Kind’, the group included the esteemed Yakov Okun on piano, Sergey Golovnya on sax, bassist Makar Novikov, Alexander Mashin on drums and with Anna Buturlina on vocals.

Jazz Encounters of the Russian Kind.

Yakov Okun being introduced – although classically trained, his father boasts of a father which was a renowned jazz pianist from the Soviet-era.

It is indeed rare to find jazz musicians in Russia, I discover from a brief chat with Yakov Okun at the end of the concert that there are only a handful of jazz practitioners in the country. Although trained in classical music, Yakov Okun can boast of a pedigree in Russian jazz – his jazz pianist father Mikhail can perhaps be seen as a pioneer in the Soviet-era Russian jazz scene. The spirit of the early Russian jazz scene during a time when the only way to learn to play jazz required trying to replicate what was heard over American radio broadcasts, does live on in Yakov and the new generation of jazz musicians represented by the talented group that he brought along on what was a first excursion to Asia. Among the group, the highly talented Alexander Mashin does perhaps embody the spirit of the Soviet-era musicians, having learned much of the amazing skills he demonstrates on drums in his late teens all on his own.

Alexander Mashin who is a member of the MosGorTrio an extremely talented self-taught drummer.

Makar Novikov on bass and Sergey Golovnya playing the saxophone.

Attending a jazz concert is always a foot-tapping encounter for me, and it was no different through the thoroughly enjoyable concert, which I am sure the thin audience it attracted must have also done. The 75 minute concert started with a repertoire of Soviet-era pieces which Okun, Novikov and Mashin – the original members of the MosGorTrio, combined to good effect with Golovnya who gave a masterly performance on saxophone. The second part of the concert brought Anna Buturlina to the stage during which she lent her delightfully smooth voice to familiar American jazz favourites.

Anna Buturlina a leading Russian jazz vocalist lent her voice to the second part of the concert.

This first fleeting encounter with Russian jazz was one that certainly deserved a much bigger audience than it attracted. It does however promise more. The two men who brought the group in, Mr Michael Tay, Executive Director of the Russia-Singapore Business Forum and Singapore’s former ambassador to Russia; and Mr Evgeny Tugolukov, Managing Director of RusSing Holdings, have a shared passion for jazz. It is also their hope that this can serve as a platform to develop Singapore’s jazz scene. With the increased visibility for a genre of music that is hard to tire of that the efforts would certainly bring, it can perhaps also be that platform that will help the two fulfill a vision of seeing a regional jazz festival take root in Singapore.

Another of Anna Buturlina and Makar Novikov.

The Merlion at 40

A few more photographs of the Merlion during its 40th birthday celebrations, taken on the last evening of the light, sound and pyrotechnic display, Merlion & I: An Inspiring Journey on 16 September 2012. More information on the event can be found on my previous post ‘Looking sexy at 40‘.

Looking sexy at 40

A Singapore icon that has for much of its life been an instantly recognisable one is the Merlion, a creature which, much like Singapore, combines the best of two worlds. Conceptualised in the early 1970s for use in the promotion of tourism in what was a Singapore that was beginning to find its feet as an independent nation, the Merlion has become much more than that, becoming a well-loved symbol of Singapore and perhaps one that can be seen to have heralded the remaking of Singapore into what it is today.

An icon of a developing and newly independent Singapore, the Merlion, stares at the icons of the new Singapore across a body of water that played an important role in Singapore’s development.

Originally located at the mouth of the Singapore River, the Merlion was certainly one that was much photographed, including serving as a backdrop for the bevy of beauties that graced our shores during the Miss Universe pageant that Singapore hosted in 1987. And as it celebrates it 40th birthday, having been unveiled by Singapore’s elder statesman and first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, on 15 September 1972, the Merlion provides an opportunity for Singaporeans to celebrate it and be photographed in a new light. A 7 minute light, sound and pyrotechnic show, Merlion & I: An Inspiring Journey, presented jointly by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and event sponsor Far East Organization (FEO), will come on six times a night up until 16 September 2012 (Sunday). The show which was launched yesterday evening includes spectacular 3D projections on the icon, fresh from a 2 month long makeover, as well as a musical segment, and a video segment shown on a 8m by 4m LED screen set on a floating pontoon facing the Merlion, which includes a nostalgic element in the form of photographs of past encounters both Singaporeans and visitors have had with the Merlion over its 40 years.

A look back: the Merlion at its original location at the mouth of the river in 1976.

The music and lyrics of An Inspiring Journey is the work of music director, Mr Kenn Chua, who has been behind concerts for local artistes such as Corinne May, Kit Chan and Stefanie Sun. The song is performed by Mr Jim Lim, a member of the popular local group Dreamz FM (a MTV version of the song has also been recorded by Ms Serene Koong). The light projections are the work of Mr Andrew Gardner who has worked extensively in South East Asia, and is behind the lighting of Singapore’s Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. The show will also see an energetic street dance, choreographed by Mr Ryan Tan to accompany the song. Showtimes (13 to 16 September) are 7:15pm, 7:45pm, 8:30pm, 9:15pm, 10.00pm and 10:30pm. For more information, do visit YourSingapore.com.

Photographs from the launch of the Merlion’s 40th Birthday Celebrations

The celebrations are launched ….

There was also a birthday cake in the shape of the Merlion.

First Journeys, Last Goodbyes at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

For anyone interested in visiting Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, you will be glad to know that it will be opened for a motoring heritage exhibition this weekend (8 / 9 September 2012). Beside the vintage car display that will be put up by the Malaysia Singapore Vintage Car Register (MSVCR), there will also be a chance to take rides on vintage mini-buses and scooters as well as revisit one of the main reasons why many visited the station before its closure – food. As part of the event, there will be an exhibition along the wider theme of transportation heritage for which the National Heritage Board (NHB) which has organised this event has invited me to help put together an exhibition of photographs from the community on the railway and the station. For this, I have got a group of various people that have an interest in the railway and the station to reflect on the journeys made and the last goodbyes that were said in a small exhibition ‘First Journeys, Last Goodbyes’. The exhibition will be opened from 10 am to 5 pm on both days and there will be free shuttle buses at half hour intervals from Tanjong Pagar MRT Station through the day. For those interested in learning more about the station’s history and architecture, guided tours of the station will also be conducted on both days.

A last goodbye on 30 June 2011.

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About First Journeys, Last Goodbyes

For close to five decades after Singapore’s independence, the Malaysian railway continued to operate through Singapore on a piece of Malaysia that cut a path into the heart of Singapore. It was perhaps one of the last physical reminders of the common history that the two countries shared.

The southern terminal at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station completed in 1932, was modelled after Helsinki’s Central Station to give it a grand appearance for its intended role. That role, the grand southern terminal of a pan-Asian railway and a gateway to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, was one it never got to play, serving instead as a focal point of any rail journey into or out of Singapore.

The station best remembered for the high vaulted ceiling with huge panels of batik styled mosaic murals of its main hall was one that saw many visitors over the years. That, the experience of the station, as well as the many personal journeys taken through the station would have left a deep impression.

First Journeys, Last Goodbyes brings a few travellers each with a personal story to share of their journeys, journeys on railway or through the station … journeys that will take a long time to be forgotten …

Contributors to the community photo exhibition are Zinkie Aw, Francis Siew, Loke Man Kai, Tan Geng Hui and myself.

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Information received on 7 Sep 2012 on the weekend public tours of the station:

The tours will be conducted by PMB’s Volunteer Guides. No sign-ups are required for the tours. Public tours will be:
• Sat, 8 Sep: 2pm, 3pm and 4pm.
• Sun, 9 Sep: 2pm and 3pm

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They only come at night!

The second installment of the Night Festival which will be on this evening and tomorrow evening will be an exhilarating one on the basis of what was on show during a media preview of it on Wednesday. The highlight of it would most certainly be La Argentina for which Armenian Street will be closed to traffic. La Argentina, by Ozono Producciones of Argentina, features a dancer supported and at times suspended at the end of a boom of a crane, gyrating and swinging in a hail of confetti and to live music that will certainly have everyone on the street tapping their feet, if not, dancing.

They only come at night – performances for Night Fest that is …

La Argentina sees a dancer at the end of a boom of a crane that makes its way down Armenian Street.

The dancer is at times supported by the boom …

… and at times suspended …

The thrilling part of the performance is when the dancer, in a hail of confetti, is swung around by the crane’s boom.

The band that accompanies the La Argentina performance has not just the performer, but everyone else tapping their feet, if not dancing.

The very dynamic performance, which can be seen at 8.30 pm, 9.30 pm and 10.30 pm on each of the two evenings, is one of three parts of Fuerzabruta. The other two parts, Corredoras and Mylar, are no less interesting. Corredoras features dancers somersaulting and diving at immense speed to a backdrop of a huge foil curtain painted by shimmering blue and purple lights. Mylar features a 15 metre pool that is suspended overhead with dancers slipping and sliding along its see-through bottom to the changing hues and tints of the rippling puddle of water sloshing across the pool’s surface. Both Mylar and Corredoras will be performed at SMU Green. Corredoras will come on at 8.30 pm, 9.30 pm and 10.30 pm each evening, while Mylar will be on at 8.45 pm, 9.45 pm and 10.45 pm.

The corredoras from Argentina who will be performing in Corredoras and Mylar.

SMU Green will also feature several other acts including local bands. For the second installment, there will also be an act at the Vanguard Building (former MPH Building) – two performers will feature in Night Painting and Cast In Light – one in darkness and one in Light. More information on Night Festival can be found at the festival’s website (click here).

At the Vanguard Building.

A drummer from Dunman High School.

Cross cultural cross dressing

Spotted last week at a void deck in one of Singapore’s housing estates – an ang mo man in a nonya kebaya. And, if you are as puzzled as the little girl in the photograph is as to what this is all about, do stay tuned … all will soon be revealed …