Though I’ve heard of the Singapore-based T’ang Quartet, I’ve never really heard them play for some reason. When I found that they were performing at the Singapore Arts Festival 2012 (and for free too!) I decided to watch as well as shoot them perform.
Somewhat inline with the festival’s theme of “Our Lost Poems”, the quartet gave a program titled “A Musical Snapshot of Nostalgia”. Performed at the main stage of the Festival Village at Esplanade Park with a backdrop of shipping containers and the Singapore Skyline, it featured several songs which were familiar to most of us, but almost forgotten.
The quartet covered familiar folk favourites like Bengawan Solo, Burung Kakaktua as well as medleys of xinyao and themes from old Chinese TV series such as Kopi-O. They also played medleys of songs from our parent’s generation such as 玫瑰玫瑰我爱你 and 往事只能回味. The pieces were arranged by Pang Kok Jun from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and were played brilliantly by the quartet.
It was certainly an enjoyable evening watching the quartet perform all these familiar old favourites. Thanks to my friend YS Lee for lending me his Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D for the close ups.
Here’s a couple of videos of them in action. Enjoy!