Published by:
Yuda on 1st Apr 2011 |
View all blogs by
Yuda
Surprise, surprise -- the past few years have seen Singapore’s
live music scene undergo a resurgence.
More local bands are emerging.
Slash, Taylor Swift, Eric Clapton, Janet Jackson, Santana and
Stone Temple Pilots have already played Singapore this year.
The festival calendar's looking decidedly healthy, turning the
Little Red Dot into one of Asia’s best live gig venues. And
the country’s very own Timbre Group has been a major contributing
factor.
Starting off six years ago with one bar renowned for quality live
music, Timbre now has three music venues, three restaurants and
its own music academy. It also runs two annual festivals --
Beerfest Asia and Timbre Rock & Roots.
Debuting in 2010, Rock & Roots is arguably the crown jewel in
the group’s arsenal, and this year it returns with a line-up that
has Singapore’s music lovers salivating.
Dylan will be performing in Singapore for the first time since
1994, alongside John Legend, Imogen Heap, Michael Franti and
Spearhead, Toots and the Maytals, Trombone Shorty and Orleans
Avenue, and Raw Earth.
The festival traces its roots back to 2004, when co-founder Danny
Loong and his Ublues Band first performed at Bluesfest in Byron
Bay, Australia.
“Ublues Band was the first band from Asia to perform at
the festival,” says co-festival director Edward Chia. “We were
placed on the main Mojo stage alongside performances by soul
icon, James Brown, among other amazing bands.
“The organizers hoisted the Singapore flag while the band was
playing and that moment brought tremendous pride to Danny.
“After that, Danny and Peter [Noble, Bluesfest's director] kept
in touch and the idea of organizing a festival in Singapore was
mooted. This eventually became a possibility in 2008 and we
spent the next two years creating Rock & Roots.”
A joint venture between Timbre Group and Bluesfest, at the first
Rock & Roots in March 2010 nearly 9,000 people crammed into
the Marina Parade over two days to see Buddy Guy, The Fray, Gipsy
Kings, Jools Holland and Buena Vista Social Club.
“The blues and roots music market in Singapore is slowly but
surely emerging,” says Chia. “Singaporeans are a very well
traveled and music-savvy lot, you’d be surprised at the
extent of music genres they listen to.
“We introduce blues and roots as part of our programming at
our permanent live music bars hoping that they will
appreciate the fact that when a bonafide, first-class blues
and roots musician comes to town, they are well armed and
prepared to enjoy the show.”
Rock & Roots is on track to attract more music-goers this
year, as it has already outsold last year’s ticket figures.
However the group is taking a cautious approach towards growing
the festival as it is “here for the long run.”
“The number of artists remain the same, however we have to
say that this year's artists bill is truly in a league of
its own,” says Chia. “We will be having more on-ground
interactive activities for audience to create that nice
festival buzz which we hope that will be as memorable as
the performances on stage.”
The undoubted star will be Bob Dylan, the legendary
American singer-songwriter who has been without peer in the
music industry for the past 50 years.
One of the main aims of Rock & Roots is to not just to
showcase the best international bands in Singapore, but to
give the best local bands a chance to shine.
This year Singapore act 53A will be lead the line-up at the
festival for local bands, while a stage will also be opened
up to one local act in the Levi’s Musical Challenge to play
a 30-minute set.
And while Singapore remains the festival’s only pit-stop,
expanding Timbre Rock & Roots to neighbouring countries
like Malaysia and Indonesia is “not completely out of the
picture.”
“The festival here needs to stabilize and stand on its own
first even before we make concrete plans about taking it
elsewhere,” says Chia.
- CNNGo
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