A celebration of home-grown music at music festival Sing60
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SINGAPORE – The breadth and depth of made-in-Singapore music were on full display at the Sing60 Music Festival, a two-day music extravaganza attended by over 6,300 people on the first day.
It kicked off at Fort Canning Park on Dec 6 at 3.45pm. With performances over two stages, the line-up over the two days features more than 60 home-grown acts from various genres and generations.
The main segment, Homegrown Icons at the Fort Canning Green stage, included contemporary pop acts and a surprise reunion of pop band The Sam Willows during singer Benjamin Kheng’s set, as well as tributes to local pop music dating back to the 1960s.
Hosted by Kiss92 DJs Kim Anne Tan and Joshua Simon, as well as One FM 91.3 DJ Simon Lim, it also included a duet by singer-songwriters Charlie Lim and Corrinne May, and sets by R&B singers Imran Ajmain and lullaboy, rapper Lady Kash and indie/pop singer Shye.
Singer-songwriters Corrinne May and Charlie Lim performing a duet at the Sing60 music festival at Fort Canning Park on Dec 6.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
Sing60 featured several charity elements. It was built on a pay-it-forward ethos, with every ticket sold sponsoring a young person from an underserved background to attend the festival. Ticket prices ranged from $15 for a one-day pass for students below 18 to $60 for a two-day pass for adults.
Homegrown Icons included performances by singer Amni Musfirah and other performers who were part of the ChildAid series of charity concerts, organised by The Straits Times and The Business Times (BT). The ChildAid performance was supported by UOB in aid of the ST School Pocket Money Fund and the BT Budding Artists Fund.
Performers included those who were part of the ChildAid series of charity concerts.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
A token of appreciation was presented by SPH Media’s deputy CEO, Mr Kuek Yu Chuang, to UOB’s senior vice-president and head of group corporate social responsibility, group strategic communications and brand, Mr Leonard Tan.
Another segment featured 60 young guitarists who are beneficiaries of Gift A Guitar, a charity initiative that provides underserved youth with guitars and music lessons.
After their performance, two of the youth performers, Himani Premchand Odhrani and La Marcus, both aged 16, presented a guitar that Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had donated to the charity to home-grown tech firm Sea Limited, represented by its founder Forrest Li.
The company won an auction for the guitar, signed by PM Wong, with a bid of $650,000.
Gift A Guitar is led by arts and culture non-profit TRCL (The Rice Company Limited) and charity organisation The Music Society, Singapore.
Funds raised will aid 600 youth musicians as well as performance platforms for them, such as Sing60.
(From left) Mr Lee Suan Hiang, Ms Jennie Chua, Mr Danny Loong, PM Lawrence Wong and Mr Forrest Li at the Sing60 music festival at Fort Canning Park, on Dec 6.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
Another segment, Bandwagon Sessions, also at Fort Canning Green, featured performances by Jazz Association Singapore Youth Orchestra and bands like alternative rock outfit Carpet Golf and post-hardcore quintet Caracal.
The third segment, Bunker B2B, took place at Fort Canning’s historical World War II bunker Battlebox and featured pairings of different generations of electronic music artistes in back-to-back DJ sets and live performances. These included producer and DJ Debbie Chia with The Weatherman and Ollie Des with HBN.
Festival-goers at the Sing60 music festival at Fort Canning Park on Dec 6.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
Besides performances, festival-goers also enjoyed the Festival Village, a marketplace that showcased a variety of home-grown food and lifestyle brands such as La Birria Tacos and Aliwal Chess Club.
Sing60 is the successor to Sing50, the SG50 concert held at the National Stadium in 2015
The festival will continue on Dec 7 with performances by a group of Talentime winners and finalists from the 1970s and 1980s – Ann Hussein, Clement Chow, Faridah Ali, Gerry Rezel and Max Surin.
The line-up also features Mandopop singer Mavis Hee, singer-actor Glenn Yong, pop singers Shazza and Iman Fandi, indie rock band The Great Spy Experiment and more.
Sing60 is organised by TRCL and produced by non-profit arts and culture organisation Global Cultural Alliance. It is supported by the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore, National Arts Council, Tote Board Arts Fund and Cultural Matching Fund. ST and BT are the media partners of Sing60.
