Alex (my photojournalist for the day) and I have just arrived outside Fort Canning Park and the afternoon sun is relentlessly spraying the air with its mood – the heat is unbearable, our skin is drenched with perspiration, and we’re thinking this is not so great a start to an event we’ve been looking forward to for the longest time, the Singaporean edition of Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival (WWF). Of course we only have ourselves to blame for having decided to come dressed in jeans and t-shirts instead of tank tops and shorts. Even the dappled shade of trees offers little relief from the cruel orb in the sky. And now as our clothes cling to our body in a sticky mess, we’re badly wishing we’d known better.

So we make our way to the registration booth, straining our ears to the music coming from what we recognise as the tented stage of the main arena (Best Outdoors) as it glides precariously on weak air currents towards us. The line-up says that we’re listening to Stassh, a musical partnership between Dave Tan (DJ Hook) and Keith (DJ KFC) whose sounds range from club through hip hop to funk and have constantly remained fresh with the years, but all we’re getting standing on a mild slope outside the park is a vague mix of bass beats overriding indistinct vocals. Needless to say our excitement can hardly be contained now; all attention has been diverted from conditions of discomfort arising from hot and dry weather, and we move to start on the usual formalities to get ourselves into the place. But alas!

4.15 P.M.

Unfortunately, we have missed the festival’s opening act. Following some unprecedented holdup at the registration area, we are finally swept past a fairly long public queue into the park where the atmosphere is heavy with festive circumstance. We find ourselves becoming more tolerant of the weather now that we do not have to stretch our aural capacities to the pop/electronic sounds being turned out by experimental Thai duo Katsue. The things people tell themselves.

Anyway, we clamber up the hill facing the Best Outdoors section where Katsue is playing and I plop myself onto the verdant grass while Alex runs around snapping pictures of anyone and everyone. It is warmer out here in the open field (if that’s even possible); all present do what they can to be free from the heat. A fair number of men are topless, wearing only bermuda shorts or light-coloured pants slung low over their hips; the women are clad in bikini tops and tiny shorts. The rest are dressed more or less like Alex and myself, in clothes that do nothing to deliver us from the torridity. Believe you me, we try to overlook it, but the fiery fervour of the sun is beyond oppressive.

Moving on! There are kids as young as a year old almost everywhere. They’re mostly Caucasian and given somewhat free rein of the large space but they never stray too far from their parents or guardians. It’s heartwarming to watch these little creatures jiggle away to the beat of the music, or better still, ignore it completely and play their own private games, blissfully excluding the adults from their world.

About five to six bars are spread out at different locations across the park to ensure their accessibility to various groups of people. I can imagine the relief that cold beer brings on a day like this, and Heineken’s latest innovation, the perfect, five-litre DraughtKeg, is all ready to provide it, doling out bar fresh draught beer in plastic cups now strewn about rather merrily by the festival-goers.

Speaking of which, lucky members who won the online challenge conducted by one of Singapore’s most desirable “via invitation-only” music communities, Heineken Green Room (HGR), are being exclusively treated not only at this very moment to fresh draught Heineken but also throughout the festival period. On top of that, they also have an awesome chance to mingle around with some members of the recently-established Heineken Green Room Sound Council (composed mainly of trendsetters and leaders among the local music scene!) at the socially-conducive VIP areas in the park. Such fortune!

Ah, well.
 
As I settle into my chosen spot, soaking up the relaxed and celebratory ambience, my attention is riveted once again onto Katsue. Joni Anwar and “Jay” Montonn Jira are a pair of young men garbed in black, moving their heads and bodies in tandem with the smooth slowbeat they’re now churning out with “Simple Life.” A couple of youths, their backs glistening with perspiration, are on their feet dancing to the soulful, pop track. I am most impressed by how Joni and Jay are flawlessly mixing in their  vocals live whilst working the instruments. The melodic texture of their music is rich with chordal activity, catching easily on repeat in the head – addictive!

I find myself grooving to the tunes from where I’m sitting, and somehow my gaze falls onto my watch. It’s 4.25. I check the line-up and am disappointed to find that Katsue’s gig lasts for only half an hour. They’re playing their last song now: “Pickled Sunday.” It’s different from “Simple Life” – more distinctive in the sense that there are rock elements contributed by an electric guitar. The consonance in this track is stronger; there’s little desire for resolution as it trails off at the end on a relatively stable combination of sounds. Nonetheless, it ends and I make a mental note about the duo whose music I will definitely follow from now on. And I may not be alone in this, seeing how the rest of the music enthusiasts have thoroughly enjoyed the half hour – their bodies tracing arcs in pace and rhythm with the music’s tempo. Check out their stuff on MySpace! 

 

 

4.30 P.M.  

Next up is another live act by local group Cosa Nostra known for their deep love for generating underground dance music in Singapore. The music production partnership between DJ Dean and musician/producer Kaye pays homage to classic genres of music whilst keeping in mind their relevance to modern tastes. Cosa Nostra’s sounds vary between hiphop and R&B, accompanied by tunes from various instruments. Today’s performance sees a young woman in a pretty printed dress handling the vocals as DJ Dean works the console and Kaye coaxes melodies from the saxophone. The result is thoroughly chilled-out music, more mellow than Katsue’s but just as dance-inspiring. She’s singing, “It’s hot in here, it’s burning up” and ironically a sudden strong breeze bursts through the hot air to cool us down. The brief draft lasts long enough to haul some people onto their feet, capering rhythmically to the music. Alex is back and telling me she’s having a ball of a time – I cannot disagree with her. 

5.00 P.M.

We decide to explore the Energy Tent downhill where Stereotyp meets Al Haca feat. MC Coppa is sweeping the smaller but more active crowd into a dancing frenzy. The sun beats more strongly here but it doesn’t faze the festival-goers in this section of the park. Stereotyp’s tracks are carefully perfected right down to their very beat which is bass heavy with futuristic impressions. When his complex, multi-layered sounds meet Al Haca’s dub, punk and assorted shades of electronica, the outcome is stupendous and earth-shaking.

 
6.00 P.M – 7.00 P.M.

After a quick grub at trusty old McDonald’s, we’re back at the festival, drawn to it like moths to a flame. Once again we are swept pass what is now a terribly long line in the public queue – people are streaming in more steadily than before. The very atmosphere is throbbing in sync with the music coming from the main arena at Best Outdoors and the smaller space at Energy Tent. Schlepping ourselves up the hill to join the larger phalanx of music lovers, we come face to face with one of the frontrunners of the festival, Toshio Matsuura who formed United Future Organization (U.F.O.) in 1990, a move that pioneered Japanese club culture. Renowned for creating compilation series for many top fashion labels, this artiste is not without throngs of fans pumping their bodies and stretching their voices to his jazz/club/Latina music.

The sun is slinking below the horizon but the stifling heat remains, made worse by the heavy humidity that makes the effort of wiping away one’s perspiration an act of futility.

7.00 P.M. – 10.00 P.M.

These three hours are flashing by us much too quickly. We manage to capture snaps of people in the midst of dancing, drinking, resting, chatting, eating, and socialising, but I barely have enough sensory space to catalog every detail of the fast-paced flow of time. Caught as I am in the vortex of experiencing the brilliant sounds of Wicked Aura Batucada, the Guerilla Collective, Arabyrd, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Diplo, and Aldrin – all of whose tracks range from Samba, funk, drum & bass to electronica, dub, house, rap mixes, and a multitude of shifting accents in between. The crowds on both sides are getting bigger and wilder and braver, hopping up onto the stage to rub shoulders and dance with the DJs – the noise is unbelievable but delicious. Everyone here is alive and propelled by the music colouring the festive mood with numerous and disparate textures, themes, and tonalities. More and more tops are coming off; Heineken’s latest draught is being guzzled down as if time were running out, and everyone has become anyone’s friend here.

11.00 P.M. – 1.00 A.M. (Monday Morning)

Alex and I are just getting up from a short rest. We’re both thoroughly overwhelmed by the intense fervour of the festival. Weaving in and out of spaces between fluid-moving bodies, capturing their complete engagement with the music is an exhausting task. Exhausting, but rewarding. We tread the ground back and forth from Best Outdoors where event headliner Gilles Peterson is spinning, to the Energy Tent where the legendary duo who call themselves M.A.N.D.Y. are rocking the floor with their electro-influenced house tracks. Alex and I really wish we could stay till the end but the heat (a horrific bane today) and humidity have started to cause painful migraines that refuse to leave us. So we drag our tired but sweetly spent bodies to the exit and decide to call it a day.

Aftermath:

One of the key reasons that Gilles Peterson favoured Singapore for the first time to host his brainchild, the eminent and highly-anticipated Worldwide Festival, was because of its strategic point in the global club scene. Hailing the Singaporean situation as a “real passing-through” for many distinguished DJs, Peterson said that instead of drawing people to the music, as was the case with Sète in Southern France where the festival had been held for the last three years, he decided to take the successful event elsewhere and “bring the music to the people” in a bigger and better way than ever before seen in the history of WWF.

A self-proclaimed representative of alternative club culture, Peterson intends to spread out the diverse kinds of ingenious music being spun all over the globe by diffusing the hot focus on trance sounds and mainstream tracks and dispersing it onto eclectic genres such as jazz, hip hop, funk, Latina, Samba, drum & bass, electronica, dub, techno and everything else spanning the spectrum. His soaring esteem within the artist and DJ community is a boon for having given us widely-coveted access to a group of electrifying and up and coming talents centralised here on our shores in the course of the past weekend at three main venues: Velvet Underground, Odeon Towers, and Fort Canning Park. Each spot was allocated its own exclusive set of visual and aural treats with a culmination on Sunday where the grand finale for WWF Singapore kicked off at three in the afternoon and lasted through up to twelve hours of wholesome and inimitable experiences enjoyed by music enthusiasts from all age groups. Heineken, known for its music support, provided much respite and gratification through its most current innovative packaging type, the five-litre Heineken DraughtKeg which promises excellent draught beer at anytime during the festival.

On the same note, the main aim for WWF Singapore Edition 2008 is to showcase the hottest and latest experimental acts in dance music, encourage inspiring DJs out there to be bold with their sounds, and to show them that it is entirely possible to carve a name for themselves on the international music platform. The WWF is centred by a solid purpose to discover “original and groundbreaking artists. It’s very keen on pointing the people towards musical greatness; at the same time, it seeks to acknowledge prodigal talents that are taking their first steps in the industry.

Gilles Peterson has raised a stand upon which youths are given the rare opportunity to display their gifts for all the world to see. The benefits of such an open event lies in the virtual collapse of social boundaries through music – a very progressive philosophy, one that thrives in Singapore and is very much appreciated by Peterson himself.

Youths – especially non-clubbing/non-drinking/non-smoking ones – may be involved in the explorative musical adventure offered by the festival. It fosters interest in and enhances exposure of a rich and diverse music culture that forms an alternative scene for music enthusiasts, particularly those who are fervently indie. Ultimately, it was a fantastic experience to be there at the WWF; Alex and I count ourselves honoured to be amongst the lucky few (thanks to Heineken Music) who were able to foray into a musical escapade that is beyond coherent description.

Here’s to the next one!

THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF THE MAY 19-25 :: The Anticipating Issue

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