Leone blogs about getting a backstage peek at the opera – not just any opera, mind you, but the Thau Yong Amateur Musical Association – one of Singapore’s few Teochew Opera groups. The troupe gave a performance at the Singapore Food Trail last month, and it was there that Leone had a peek backstage.
Leone writes:
the invite mentioned a ‘night at the opera” …… and my first reaction was not to go as I do not like opera music in any form, it is probably the only music genre I do not enjoy.
But I looked at the invite again “would like to invite you to dinner + a Teochew Opera performance at the Singapore Food Trail” …. not sure what won me over …. the dinner at the Food Trail or the chance of witnessing something very different …. the opera performance! We had moved to Singapore to be part of the local scene and explore as many cultural events as we could. What an opportunity!
anyway, I accepted.
The next day came a message asking if I would like to go backstage and see the performers applying their makeup and getting their costumes on for the actual Opera Performance. Now that was certainly going to be very interesting.
Check out some of the backstage photos here. You can find out more about the Thau Yong Amateur Musical Association here.
4 Responses
hi, anyone know where I can contact teochew opera in singapore? Love to document this old performance with my lens.
Posted on August 24th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Today there is no professional Teochew opera company in Singapore. The Thau Yong Amateur Musical Association that features in this article has its address at 68 Geylang Lorong 24A, according to the link above.
Another active amateur Teochew opera association is the Er Woo Amateur Musical & Dramatic Association with address at 19A/B Smith Street.
Posted on August 24th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
It is not clear whether the opera performed by Thau Yong at the Singapore Food Trail is Teochew opera or Han opera (a non-Teochew Waijiang opera)that Thau Yong used to perform.
Waijing opera (spoken and sung in archaic Mandarin akin to present-day Mandarin) became extinct in Mainland Teochew, and Thau Yong could be one of the few troupes remaining to perform it.
Posted on August 24th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
it is such a great thing you guys are doing to keep our teochew cultural heritage alive through dialogue and discussion.hope that troupes like thau yong and er woo will get continued support from our teochew community
Posted on October 1st, 2011 at 11:33 pm
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