Barrio Chino not so China Town afterall

Our friday plans were simple. A bite to eat at this quaint Japanese Tapas bar called Katanashi on boat key. Well priced and well tapped Asahi, nice food, Unagi Meshi my all time favorite and, equally important, lovely friendly staff. Reason to have our dinner at boat key is because I saw some gig announcement for 10 Feet Up some 20 doors down the quay from Katanashi.
 
One thing this blog is making me realize is that there has to be more out there, or maybe I am really still in the exploring stage rather then realization state. I decided though that I have to become more adventurous. It was a good decision! 10 Feet up, a cozy crazy little bar above Loco on boat quay, hosted Farah Erfina, 

a Final contender accompanied by one of her co-contenders. The Final 1, as you may or may not know, a American Idols knock off. Coincidently the Saturday Times had an article on the final 1, blasting the show as well as the contenders. I haven't seen the show but “yoh man, judging by the original man, I'm sure man, the article is like close to the truth man”. Blasting the contenders may have been a little bit too much of an argument to get to the point that it is a bad show. I cannot imagine that from all the people participating there is no talent at all, which is what the article claimed. Zrina of the Fungkimunkees is one of them and I think she is quite talented. That in my opinion is equally true for Farah. Although, by her own admittance, she does not have much audience exposure, she seemed to have confidence, is engaging and has nice mannerisms that go well with the feelings of the song, oh yeah I think she has a nice voice too. With time and more maturity, talent maybe undeniable! 

The other gig that my Facebook calendar brought to notice was Latin Affairs at Barrio Chino on Club street.

Alina Ramirez: Keys 

Carlos Sendros: Guitar Vocals

 
Eddy Fleitas del Sol: Guitar Vocals

Mario Lopez: Bass

Pablo Calzado: Drums

For Loco dogs and Dutchman China Town is walking distance from Boat Quay. So after one set of Sarah we decided to take a walk on the wild side and moved to Club Street. This appears to be closed for traffic with wheels (as apposed to Singapore rules I consider pedestrians traffic too) on Friday nights. I think people are still getting used to it, but it may be a great people-watching feature when the street fills up with clubbers and dinners. We arrived at Barrio Chino at the crack of the first tunes by Latin Affairs 

 as was well occupied and we were lucky enough to find a seat. The Latin grooves were filling the place from a somewhat minimalistic audio system, at least for a full band to operate on, how ever that could not kill the enthusiasm of each of the band members and even inspired Kailin 

to plug his violin into the, already overloaded amplifier and Elisa to share her vocal and dancing skills. For many it seemed a sign for "let the party begin" and soon enough the floor was filled with people trying out their latest discovered hip wagging moves. 

 Alina’s on coming birthday was not the only reason why we stayed until well after midnight. 

The great atmosphere created by a cool live band in a funky venue, the crowd spilling out into the streets in between gigs as predicted, gave a good vibe to Club Street in Singapore’s Barrio Chino.