Now I believe I understand enough from the
must read book Subliminal, I am careful with anything that could just be my
perception. I was thinking of starting this post with a question but then I
hesitated and wandered!
My blogging hobby and people’s responses
to, mostly the photos, give me an exposure to the music scene that is not
comparable to what it was, let’s say, a year after I arrived in Singapore.
It would be silly to continue with this
thing and not have a little bit of pride in it, so I do mention it off and on,
in conversation, to get reactions and raise curiosity. That way I built up a
network of musicians and organizers and other audience that inform me about
gigs in the city. By that comparison it may be dangerous to say that the
Singapore music scene is expanding rapidly at the moment. It may have been so 7
years ago, but I just didn’t pay as much attention.
Therefore my question to you would be. Is
the Singapore music scene, and probably the whole art scene, boiling off cool
stuff at the moment, or am I imagining?
It is only now that I see newspapers filling
page after page with some new found heroes. Some of my
musician-Facebook-friends, like the lovely Ginny and Joshua, I see suddenly appear
in television interviews!
A couple of years ago even, I was not aware
of names like Aliwal, Goodman, Off the Rails, Rooftop Sessions? From CHOPPA to
opera of any culture, from absolutely free to exclusively expensive, there is a
continuous flow of a wide, wide range of offerings.
Therefore, my answer… yes it’s boiling but
not boiling over. There is space for more I am sure, if not more bands; more development,
more and more focused audience, more people to talk about it and of course more
advertisement.
Because of my contacts I do have sometimes
3 gigs to choose from on a weekend evening and yet I don’t know about many fun
things happening at the same time.
This blog grew out of the idea that
Singapore needed a weekly events calendar for all the stuff that is going on. I
am a bit lazy, plus I had a day job so could not deal with the weekly pressure
of gathering it all. I figured I’d do these write ups after the fact. Not
having the weekly calendar though is still a huge gap. I am still hoping for a nice
addendum to the skinny Monday Today with all venues and gigs for the next 2
weeks or so.
But enough of that, thanks to my lovely
network, last Saturday, we found ourselves, as part of an exclusive 45 head
audience on a rooftop overlooking the Lorongs of Geylang, listening to:
Timothy De Cotta:
BittyMacBeth
And a 6-piece band that I did not catch the
name of. (Some of the members)
The theme was Bass!
All this had been organized under the
banner of Rooftop Sessions! A small-scale initiative by some very enthusiastic
music lovers!
A small stage, a bar serving plenty, 45 seats and a donation for
the cause was all it took. I don’t even
remember how exactly I got on the guest-list, in any case for a setup like this
the organization was perfect.
We were provided with detailed information on
what to expect and what not, well in advance. For instance, come early bring
food. So with the doors opening at 7 we were there on the dot with an
assortment of Sushi that we brought along. We were on a rooftop, in what may be called
Singapore’s red light district.
The night was beautiful, with a starry sky that
was occasionally interrupted by a police helicopter hovering over Geylang. Above it all, we were safe!
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