I’m not sure if anyone caught the sad irony in page 8 of today’s Life! section.
On top was a larger-than-half-page account of last Saturday’s St. Jerome Laneway Festival held at Fort Canning Park, whereby 6,000 music fans braved the rain and the muddy grounds (*cringe*) to catch the many international bands perform.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single local band in the festival’s entire lineup.
Then at the bottom left corner of that same page, there was a small article reviewing local pop band Typerwriter’s gig at the Esplanade Recital Studio last Friday night.
The point that reviewer Andy Chen was keen to emphasize in his piece was that the turnout was dismal, and that the Recital Studio was only half-filled.
Which was a pity, because Typewriter put on a really good show, and exhibited the many well-crafted pop tunes that they had written over the years.
I should know.
I was at the Typewriter gig.
And I managed to drag two other friends along for the gig last Friday night, both as a Friday night hangout session, as well as to give ourselves an opportunity to discover the music of local bands.
I had not known of any of Typewriter’s songs prior to the concert.
All I knew was that the band has members such as Patrick Chng (The Oddfellows) and Desmond Goh (Electrico), both of whom are luminaries in the local music scene.
And I came away from the concert being very pleased with the simple yet catchy pop melodies which the band presented.
You don’t get bands making this kind of music nowadays.
It was a most pleasant discovery, and it once again renewed my faith in local music.
The point I’m trying to make here is that there seems to be very little support for local bands.
Not to sound preachy, but it seems like people are more willing to spend $100 to go watch (mostly) unknown foreign bands on a rainy afternoon on muddy grounds, than spend $25 to appreciate the songcraft and musicianship of a very sound local band such as Typewriter in the Esplanade Recital Studio.
Granted, the visual appeal of Typewriter may not compare with the hip-looking bands at St Jerome Laneway, but if we don’t even want to support our own local bands, then I wonder who will.
And we wonder why local music is dying a slow but steady death.
sad but true brotha….that’s the way it goes…i nearly got to play laneway fest in melb…would have be the first local to do so…hahhaha…ironic
Wishing your band all the best. Hope you guys get your due recognition one day!
But it’s not a local festival. It’s like char kway teow should not be fried in butter. It’s ok. There are other things around.
Maybe you should help spread the word about Baybeats (19-21 August 2011) where thousands throng the Esplanade! 50% Singapore bands, 40% regional acts and the rest from around the world. (http://www.baybeats.com.sg/2010/)
Or maybe pop by Mosaic Music Festival where there are local acts alongside foreign ones.
Hi Chloe, you’ve got a point there. I was hoping the organisers would have at least included one local band in the lineup…if not for anything else, at least for the goodwill. I’m sure we’ve got a number of local bands who are good enough to share the stage.
Yup, will be keeping a keen lookout for the Mosaic and Baybeats as well. Thanks for that!
Hey Jeremy,
A bit much eh, calling your posting the slow death of singapore music?
perhaps it is just coincidental that Typewriter is on the same day as the Laneway Fest. but that dont mean singapore music is dying…
I think it is just the month of January that Singapore is invaded by all these western bands, trying to spend their winter in sunny South East Asia. aint nuthing new. it happens every year.
I was at the Typewriter gig too. Got the tickets the first day it went on sale. I know back then that this was a gig to look forward to.
hootie
Hi hootie, thanks for leaving a comment.
I guess a number of readers might have taken the title of my post the wrong way, and I guess I might have rubbed a number of local music supporters the wrong way with that title.
Actually, I was lamenting the fact that S’pore music seems to be dying a slow death, and local music “fans” seem to be more interested in catching foreign bands whom they’ve probably never heard of, rather than going to catch Typewriter at the Recital Studio.
It was more of a “lament” rather than a “condemnation”.
Granted, I’m not the most hardcore of local music supporters, but I’ve done my fair share of following the local music scene over the years.
I’m just as hopeful as the next guy in seeing our emerging talents make it big in the music scene one day, both domestically and internationally.
There is a lot of great local talent out there, the problem is that they are not given the exposure that they need.
I’m actually an amateur songwriter and musician myself, and I also play occasionally in a local band, so you can be sure that local music is a subject that is always going to be close to my heart.
Cheers bro, and all the best!