My Perfect Weekend with jazz musician Weixiang Tan
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Singapore jazz musician and music director Weixiang Tan with his golden retriever, George.
PHOTO: THE PET TIMES
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Who: Local musician and educator Weixiang Tan, 45, senior associate music director of the Jazz Association (Singapore).
He will lead the Jazz Association Singapore Orchestra in Jazz It Up! A Jazzy Celebration Of Chinese Songs 2024, a concert at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre on May 18 and 19. The show is part of the centre’s Cultural Extravaganza 2024 and will feature artistes such as Hong Kong singer Teresa Carpio.
Tan is married to a geography teacher and they have a 14-year-old daughter.
“In truth, every weekend spent with my loved ones is a perfect weekend to me. I’m quite easily contented. So, this perfect weekend is a high-bar version of what usually transpires.
Of course, I wake up super early, magically hangover-free. I’ll start the day with a 10km run, during which I say hello to the regular joggers, give way to an otter family or two and avoid a monitor lizard. My running route is from Robertson Quay to Gardens by the Bay and back.
With that done, it’s time to walk George, our excessively friendly golden retriever. He will meet his human and canine friends and receive an appropriately satisfying number of pets. The morning wraps up with a soak in the pool, and me reading an e-book while sipping a cold lemon Perrier. The book makes me slightly sleepy.
The afternoon is hot, so I’d spend it at a neighbourhood bar watching people with George. While he gets his pets from smiling strangers, I’d be having a cold beer or two with my family and an inordinately leisurely lunch that goes on for way too long.
We usually go to casual restaurant Kingdom of Belgians in Rodyk Street along the Singapore River, but I love leisurely lunches so much, I am starting a pet-friendly bistro of my own in the same neighbourhood. It is called Good Boy George, named after His Furriness, and we are going to open on July 1.
The weather grows a little too stifling, so we head on home, where I entertain my musician friends with jazz vinyls. We spend the afternoon listening to Count Basie’s Breakfast Dance And Barbecue and, of course, nobody leaves my place without a listen to Miles Davis.
The evening is spent cooking for family and friends. I go all out – a five-course Cantonese affair where each dish is served once plated, from seafood consomme to fall-off-the-bone ribs, finishing with stir-fried noodles in XO sauce.
Everyone ends up slightly bloated, including myself, but we cannot resist the urge to cram another ice cream in. While I would like my perfect weekend to last forever, it ends with me losing the fight against sleep.”
Jazz It Up! A Jazzy Celebration Of Chinese Songs 2024
Where: Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Auditorium, 1 Straits Boulevard ticketmaster.sg
When: May 18 and 19, 7.30pm
Admission: $48, $58 and $88 via Ticketmaster (go to
