A new music festival featuring home-grown musicians playing eclectic genres including bohemian, ethnic, new age and spiritual music will take place this weekend.
Called Sultangate, the festival takes place at the Malay Heritage Centre from today until Sunday and is named after the street where the festival is held.
Visitors can look forward to hearing fusion music that mixes the traditional with the contemporary.
On the bill are Addy Cradle, a prominent guitarist known for playing in bands such as Jive Talkin' and Teacher's Pet.
The festival will also feature workshops tomorrow for budding musicians as well as an opening performance today by Karmahead, a trio comprising singer-songwriter Art Fazil, percussion player Bobby Singh and flautist AlHafiz.
Sultangate is the brainchild of musician Idrus Rashid, 56, who was formerly a concert promoter.
He is the leader of fusion music group Veda9, a group he co-founded 10 years ago and which are also performing in the festival. Idrus was looking for a platform to showcase the band's latest work, a music piece titled Language Of The Birds.
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BOOK IT / SULTANGATE MUSIC FESTIVAL
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WHERE: Malay Heritage Centre, 85 Sultan Gate
WHEN: Today to Sunday, various times
ADMISSION: $25 a performance, $7 a workshop, available at the entrance
INFO: For full details and timings, go to sultangate.sg
While the band have performed the piece in previous gigs, Idrus wanted to have a bigger show that also included other like-minded bands.
Most of the acts in the festival feature musicians such as Addy Cradle, who also plays in Veda9's rotating line-up.
"We want the festival to showcase local artists who play a different kind of music, the type that may not get a place in normal mainstream outlets," he says.
Veda9, which have a residency at Sentosa hotel Capella Singapore, performed at the World Music Festival in Gyeongnam, South Korea, in 2008 and did several gigs in New Delhi, India, in 2011.
Idrus says the band's name is derived from the Sanskrit word for "knowledge" and the ninth note in music, which he describes as "a sound that gives off mystical energy".
The band released their debut album, Existence, with a concert at the Esplanade Recital Studio in 2012.
The group will perform Language Of The Birds in three segments during their set tomorrow at 8.30pm. The piece is influenced by blues, Indian raga and funk.
Idrus says of the piece: "It's beautiful music for you to relax to. It's very therapeutic."
