Happy Year of the Ox, dear browsers! To herald the new and bid farewell to the old, Ng Yi-Sheng has drawn up a list of artsy people in Singapore, singling them out for being interesting, independent and (thus far) a little unrecognised.
Tony teaches a course about the materials of jazz music at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (NUS), and each year, his students are surprised to learn that jazz musicians actually think and make conscious choices during their improvisations. Another shocker is that jazz musicians actually need to master their “theory” before they can effectively “play by ear”.
A review of Singtheatre’s production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well in Paris
As an official blogger for the Singapore Biennale, Yi-Sheng decided to initiate a project. He arranged for free exhibition passes to be given to several local poets and asked them to write pieces inspired by what they saw.
Susie explores how although we are ensnared by the meanings of words, music, on the other hand, allows the powerful encounter of the possibility of meaning without words.
Amos Toh reviews The King Lear Project, staged at the Drama Centre as part of the Singapore Arts Festival in Jun 2008.
To the question, “What is jazz”, Louis Armstrong’s answer was supposed to have been, “If you’ve got to ask, you’ll never know.” Fats Waller went even further by saying, “If you don’t know by now, do not mess with it”. But this issue of the Substation magazine will mess it, though, not necessarily because we know what jazz is, but because I am free to make that choice. This messing around begins with this issue freeing itself from the usual suspects, resulting in a motley crew of contributors.
Fabian shares a personal view of what it means to be free…
Substation Associate Artist Ho Tzu Nyen and Fran Borgia are co-directing The Lear Project at this year’s Singapore Arts Festival. Lee Weng Choy “talks” with Tzu Nyen about the three-part intervention these two filmmakers are making in theatre. Fran is the founder of Akanga Film Asia, and Tzu Nyen is also a Creative-in-Residence with 72-13.