Agnes Koh
Mention “Chinese culture and arts” and visions of old men drinking tea or nodding sagely as another writes calligraphy might float in your mind.
But Cantonese rock music? No problem, if you’re talking about the Huayi festival (or Chinese Festival of Arts), the Esplanade’s 10-day extravaganza celebrating the vibrancy of a millennial-old culture.
Dropout, a Malaysian rock band that performs in Cantonese, was part of the display of Chinese arts. The 5 members certainly shook the promenade with their heavy metal tunes, turntables and forceful vocals.
As testimony to their draw, even non-Chinese enjoyed the show.
Mohd Faiz, student, 18, and his friends who did not understand a single word of Cantonese were already nodding and tapping their feet to the second song.
“Oh, it’s awesome… I’ve brought my friends here, I guess we’re coming again tomorrow,” he hollered to UrbanWire.
As the youths savoured the selection of rock music, young children sat rapt before a puppet show at the Waterfront Canopy.
The 2 Chua daughters were amused by the storytelling of Chinese legends like “The Dragon King” through puppetry. While these were not sophisticated set-ups, brooms and other household wares were used to recreate props and puppets, the effect was no less captivating.
Mr Kenny Chua, full of praise of the puppetry by Puppet2, said, “It was spectacular, my daughters [5 and 9 years old] enjoyed it very much.”
The first presentation, “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land”, raised the curtain with such dynamism that thousands must have rushed off to grab tickets to their performance of “A Touch of Zen” scheduled for March 3 and 4.
At the forecourt, Taiwan’s U-Theatre commanded eyes, ears and hearts with a rousing number. The main drummer struck the huge Chinese drum with such gusto as the other drummers played the beat on the zhanggu, a Chinese drum used during warring periods,in a choreographed martial arts stance. The crowd was even more thrilled as red confetti descended upon their heads after the percussionists ended their presentation.
Those who could do with less excitement could easily catch a Chinese movie like Rob-B-Hood or Seoul Raiders, without moving too far. You see, the huge stage for live performances at the Esplanade waterfront converts into a movie-screening arena which sits about 200 people, after 9.45pm.
Until then, it is the stage for popular Chinese artistes from the 70s to late 80s. Getai king Ling Xiao was electrifying the older ladies in the crowd with his funky love ballads.
Sip on a coconut and grab a hotdog from the nearby stand, that’s only if you’re still hungry after the mostly free-of-charge feast of music and art as only the performances in the recital studio, theatre studio, main theatre, concert hall are chargeable,
There’s a buffet of Chinese music and arts for the young children, youths and adults from 23rd Feb to 4th Mar.