The second week of September was very busy in Singapore. The city was hosting many different events in relation to different occasions like Mid-Autumn Festival; Mosaic Jazz Festival; Comedy Masala Stand-Up Comedy and Singapore international Festival of Arts. All tempting so I've decided not to miss any of it and headed to its glance.
Monday, the 8th of September, Marina Gardens was warping up the Mid-Autumn festival and Mooncake sinful consuming month with the enlightened sculptures placed around the garden's patios.
Mid-Autumn festival usually falls every year during mid of September to celebrate the moon at its roundest and brightest. The festival is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial ceremonies. The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon had a close relationship with changes of the seasons and agricultural production. Hence, to express their thanks to the moon and celebrate the harvest, they offered a sacrifice to the moon on autumn days. This custom could be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 256 BC).
The Moon Cake is the special food of Mid-Autumn Festival.
On that day, people sacrifice moon cakes to the moon as an offering and eat them for celebration. The moon cakes are round, filled with lotus paste and whole egg yolks, therefore symbolizing the reunion of a family. So it is easy to understand how the eating of moon cakes under the round moon can evoke longing for distant relatives and friends.
Nowadays, people present moon cakes to relatives and friends to demonstrate that they wish them a long and happy life.
Tuesday, 9th September,
was marked with the performance of the jazz icon Herbie Hancock, under the organization of Mosaic Jazz Festival.
There is no need to say anything else than the concert was absolute blast and joy. Herbie was surrounded with four different keyboards and fortepiano. The band was the jazz celebrity gathering so the overall performance was incredible "state of the art". Herbie combined old and new, classic and electronic, contemporaneous and gospel, native African and r&b, new age and acid jazz. He made us trough all his 50 years of stage, with ease and humbles. He shared his beautiful personality and sense of humour. We were here to hear the alternatives to his Watermelon Man; Run to Me and classics like Take Five or Caravans. He had run over the concert time for an hour what I have never experienced in Esplanade Theatres.
Thank you Herbie Hancock with all my jazz hart.
Wednesday, 10th September,
was all in laugh. The Comedy Masala had hosted the comedians arriving from USA. In an hour and a half we have heard a lot of real life stories represented with humor. Comedy Masala is usually good to cheer up so it didn't fail this time as well.
Thursday, 11th September,
a day before weekend getaways, passed in Singapore International Festival of Arts. This festival celebrates its 37th year and it's usually packed with alternative theatre plays, dance, film, talks and workshops. It usually last for a month, from end of August till the end of September. I've decided to see the play 'Amid the Clouds', written and directed by Iranian brake-trough play-writer Amir Reza Koohestani.
The play is about refugees from Iran looking for a shelter in England, UK. The drama sits in their attempts to cross all the borders and distractions after arriving to Balkans to reach the UK during the Serbo-Croatian war. The play gives an oversight of the universal need to survive. Very strong and symbolic.
Well, I must say we had a lot to follow up this week.
Now, the weekend is ahead...and let see what we can do about :)
Hope you have enjoyed your week as well and that you're looking forward to the weekend.
Greetings from Singapore
Eva :)
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