Highlights from the Night Festival

Posted by Gavin under Museums/Heritage Galleries, Personal
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A balmy friday evening, well, what’s new in these hot humid times? You could almost forgive me for being reluctant on stepping out of the cinema after the movie. Moreover, a little heat was not going to deter me, after all, I promised to bring the Lady to the Night Festival.

I remember last year’s inaugural Night Festival in one word. ‘Sardines’. Yes, yours truly didn’t manage to catch the bulk of the performances last year because the crowd was quite overwhelming. I was determined to make amends this year.

Night Festival 2009

The Night Festival, as the name suggests, consisted of events all through the night over a several venues. This year’s line-up included movie screenings at the National Museum and the Peranakan Museum, dance performances, light sculptures, light displays, and the highlight, a pyrotechnics display.

Squeezing our way through the crowd, the Lady and I managed to catch glimpses of the “Bersama Hijau” performance. A series of cross-cultural performance, including Malay, Chinese and Indian segments entertained the audience with an assortment of dance, incorporating ribbons, drums, cello performances, and even drums ran the whole night

Bersama Hijau combined different cultures to create a audio-visual spectacle.

It was an extraordinary blend of past and present, a fusion of the diverse cultures of Singapore into a captivating performance. The images of the modern and the classical merge and interact to assault the senses with a series of sights and sounds that are vaguely familiar.

In that way, it presents what is essentially “Singaporean”, we take a little something from each culture and history, absorbing it to generate a unique identity that whilst apparently made up of disparate components, is a beautiful masterpiece greater than the sum of its parts.

Combining Western and Asian insturments to create a unique identity

By adopting this performance as part of the Night Festival, and with the National Museum as the backdrop, it reminds me that the cultural roots and the heritage of our forefathers had been the essential ingredient in the creation of the modern Singapore, and the source of our identity.

Much as some of us like to lament the banality of the Malay dances, the Chinese music or the Indian costumes, Bersama Hijau takes them out of the common and repackages them in an avant-garde presentation that accentuates the artistry and nuances that is neglected through constant exposure.

Dancing with the red ribbons

Being able to identify with specific components of a fusion act makes me appreciate the significance of something that I would have otherwise taken for granted.

And of course, the highlight of the night was the Loop of Fortune by German group, Action Theatre PAN.OPTIKUM. Loop of Fortune, an act comprising of acrobatics, acting, live vocals and a pyrotechnics display chronicling the surreal journey of the protagonist.

The performance moved from the SMU grounds to the grand façade of the National Museum, which was illuminated with scenes of colours and gorgeous patterns. I was lulled into a psychedelic trance by the mesmerizing performance and the play of their shadows on the stone face of the National Museum.

The usually grey walls of teh stoic Museum turned colourful canvass during the night Festival

The Museum light up in a kaleidoscope of rainbow hues, providing the spectre-like performers clad in white perched upon the “Hamster Wheel” the stage to shine.

And shine, they did, quite very literally.

Inching towards the magnificent finale, the tension building and the smell of anticipation in the air, the show of light exploded into a shower of liquid fire.

Molten flowers illuminating the night were so tantalizingly close that the Lady and I could almost reach out and grasp them in our palms. It was the most powerful and romantic display of fireworks that I had the privilege of experiencing at such proximity.

And as we watched the closing moments of the act, I couldn’t help but forget that I wasn’t in some fantasy dreamscape.

As the last sparks faded into the inky darkness of the night sky, I couldn’t help but look forward to a vibrant art and heritage scene in Singapore in future. It’s a heartening and exciting fact taking away these sights and memories from the compound of a “decrepit old building”.

Of course, I jest, it’s not a run-down relic of the past; on contrary, it is fast turning into a symbol of the modern and fashionable. At the same time, the Museum(s) are transforming into a venue for social gatherings, the latest talk of the town and ‘must-see’ event. Perhaps, they are not as redundant as popular perception might put them up to be.

Me, I am just glad that I had a great evening to spend together with my loved one.

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