The morning karaoke

Posted by noelbynature under Lifestyle, Traditions
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Here’s a talent contest you don’t see every day - in fact, it only happens once every four months, and only at the Link Hotel in Tiong Bahru. The event is a Merbak (Merbah?) Jambul, or a bird-singing contest - that’s right, the contestants are birds! Motochan was on hand to see why they twitter so.

After satiating our hunger with a hearty breakfast of chwee-kueh, chee cheong fan and grass jelly soy bean drink at the Tiong Bahru Market earlier this morning, we decided to join the crowds at the songbird gallery next to the Link Hotel to see what the commotion was all about.

To my surprise, every member of the crowd was male, and all their attention were directed upwards at the songbirds on display. A Link Hotel representative shared with me that this Merbak Jambul, or bird singing competition, is held once every 4 months. I put the massive display of caged songbirds down to the perennial case of one male ego trying to one-up another, and went about documenting the event with my iPhone.

The bird song competition is quite serious stuff - as you can see, the competitors look to be mainly men and the birds are judged on a number of criteria such as their song repertoire, volume and stamina. Bird Idol, anyone?

Check out more pictures of the Merbak Jambul here.