It has been over a week since Night Festival 2009, and truth, is I’m still a little bummed about the rain on Saturday. Unlike last year, Night Festival was held during one weekend this time round – which made the two nights even more invaluable. The Friday air was a little too humid, as always, but overall the weather was kind for the Festival performances to take place on the grounds of SMU Campus Green.

The theme for the Festival performance was Bersama Hijau, which translate to ‘Together’ ‘Green’ from Bahasa Melayu. As easy and politically correct as it sounded, the cohesive theme had its challenges in having to find and direct appropriate acts which complimented one another, and yet was able to stand alone against other performances and what the participating museums and the Substation offered. An international acrobatic and pyrotechnic act was brought in from Germany, while Bersama Hijau was filled with cultural performances and an upbeat youth music segment named RE:PLAY (full disclosure: I work for the National Heritage Board and the Board commissioned the segment under its youth outreach initiative Museums SEE DIFFERENT).

Having many performers meant co-ordination was , let’s face it, a chore. Reschedules were aplenty and two bands, Muon and Force Vomit, were to play for the music segment but had to drop out due to reasons beyond anyone’s control. The final programme featured four local contemporary bands and having asked them to collaborate with traditional musicians, I could tick the necessary “good for nation building” box off some checklist that warranted the use of public funds to sponsor the segment. Sure, responsible fiscal management takes precedence over many aspects in economic-driven Singapore and throughout the planning of the event it was on the top of my list. I had attended the rehearsals of the bands, but it was only during the technical run two days before Night Festival that I saw what had come together.

The members of the two younger indie bands, Amateur Takes Control and Lunar Node, are full-time students while the members of The Pinholes and Tiramisu held day jobs. Similarly, the bands’ cultural collaborators are either in school or had work responsibilities (the lead singer for the Kompang Troupe cannot be older than seventeen). For them, RE:PLAY and Night Festival was an opportunity for them to play and experiment with new sounds. Without having to take on logistical or marketing duties, they did what they do best – jam. And it was only when I heard the bands play when I realised that Night Festival is as much about giving a platform to the bands as it is about giving myself a chance to enjoy their music. Nothing else – but just about the music.

All four bands played different styles and I was really surprised at how the cultural musicians infused new elements into the compositions and how the marriage of conventional rock music with traditional music sounded entirely familiar yet unique. So after enjoying the music during the technical run on Wednesday and the rehearsal on Thursday I was looking forward to the actual performances on both nights of the Festival, in part to see how the public would react to the music.

Because RE:PLAY took to the stage close to midnight, some of the family crowd had retired for Friday night. For those who had stayed on, one could tell by how captive the audience were and how engrossed the bands that it became just about the music. A larger crowd had come in on Saturday but unfortunately the downpour prevented the bands from playing. On the one hand it was a pity that the bands couldn’t share their music with more people while on the other hand, life has always been about taking chances and everyone knew everyone had made the most of it with the good run the night before.

For those who were at the event, here’s a short clip of RE:PLAY as a digital memento. For those who missed it – better luck next time.

* Longer clips for each of the bands are coming soon.
* The Facebook link for RE:PLAY, with photos and videos, is here.