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Within Earshot
Last Thursday (Deepavali), I met Cuz hours after I returned from my Canberra trip. We’re supposed to go to the Asian Civilisation Museum @ Empress Place to view the exhibition “On The Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia“. Chaokun had given Cuz two tickets, but it wasn’t needed as the museum was open free to the public on Deepavali.
Earshot @ The Arts House
However, the exhibition turned out to be a disappointment – or rather, both of us expected something more. Lunch turned out to be something more interesting. I’d wanted Pho, but decided to give Indonchine next door a miss because it’s kinda sikit atas. We ended up at Earshot cafe at the Arts House. What’s amazing about this place – it’s a showcase of contemporary (rare) Singaporean cultural products, especially music.
Listening Station – Music made in Singapore
This summer, I was with Tomoko and Natalie at a gaijin-friendly izakaya in Yurakocho and we happened to talk about music. She remarked that there’s a lack of Singaporean music scene the last time she came to Singapore. I didn’t know how to refute that, although I mentioned that things had improved a little. We’ve got more bands now, and there’s places more space for gigs. When I returned to Singapore, I tried to keep an eye out for the albums of the local bands so that I could send it to her. I’d totally forgotten about Earshot. There’s a wide selection of local music in all kinds of genre.
Local Bookshelf
There’s also a section for local literary works – and not the Angsana/Singapore Ghost Story kind. I picked up a CD as well as a graphic novel:
Music “Circus in Motion” by Nightsound; Graphic Novel “01321″ by Koh Hong Teng et al.
This is the first time I’d heard of Nightsound. The music on their album “Circus in Motion” sounded kinda Brit-pop. You can check out their music on the homepage. I’m sending this CD to Tomoko.
The graphic novel “01321″ by Koh Hong Teng was published in 1996 (more than 10 years ago! had it been that long?). I remembered flipping through it when it first came out – but then I was a poor NSF, I couldn’t afford that with my allowance. This graphic novel won an award in the “Singapore Design Award” in 2001 as well as the “Siggraph Digital Art Competition” (top prize) during the same year.
01321
Digital Painting in “01321″ For those who enjoy works by Bill Sienkiewicz or Dave Mckean, “01321″ will appeal to you. The synopsis goes:”..illustrates the story of a talented maestro who becomes self-obsessed. Unable to come to terms with failure, he becomes even more determined to prove himself as the ultimate musician.”
We adjourned to the Museum after I filled up.
On the Nalanda Trail
Due to security reasons, we had to surrender our mobile phone and camera before entering the gallery featuring the Buddhism exhibition. Other than some exhibits on loan from other museum, quite a number of articles are recycled from the permanent exhibits. How I’d sum up my thoughts on this exhibition: it’s still a rather Sinicised perspective of Buddhism. I thought the curators could have emphasised on the multicultural aspect of Buddhism, rather than the form mediated by the Chinese culture.
This was my second visit to the ACM at Empress Place [my first visit was to view the Sanxingdui (三星堆) exhibition earlier this year] . I found the permanent exhibition more interesting, as it traces the cultural history of Southeast Asia – going as far back as the Bronze Age of our region (the Don Son culture originating from the mainland).
Don Son Bronze Drum
Defence Technology driving the advancement of Civilisation?
Cuz was snapping away at the Bronze Age exhibits before he was stopped by the security, although he wasn’t using the camera’s flash. I thought it was rather inconsistent, as earlier I was informed by another security guard that it’s okay to take pictures as long as we don’t use flash.
I wanted to show him the huge effigies of 大伯爷 and 二伯爷, otherwise known as “黑白无常”, the Chinese version of the Grim Reaper. The last time I visited the gallery, it was at one of the corner facing the corridor leading to the toilet, which is near the entrance to the Buddhism exhibition. Perhaps they removed the two effigies so as not to frighten the superstitious visitors.
