We watched Pete Uhlenbruch strum lilting melodies of dream folk. It's not as if I've heard of him prior. I did some quick googling this afternoon to check him out. Australia and New Zealand (with full government support) are both aggressively promoting their indie artists overseas. So many are passing through Singapore on their way to Europe and America. The musician we're fortunate to hear tonight is doing exactly that- stopping by at TAB for an evening.
To round up the first set, Pete did quite a lovely cover of Iron and Wine's Naked As We Came. I was all dreamy by then. Perhaps some day, our government funding agencies will see the true value of our talented Singapore bands who have been selected to play on the exhilarating stage of South by Southwest. That's the ultimate international newbie indie recognition, the equivalent of jazz and classical festivals of Montreal Jazz, Ojai, Kuhmo, Aldeburgh, Lake District Summer Music, Bregenz, Verbier, Lucerne and Schwarzenberg. I'm not even talking about Glastonbury, Coachella or Big Day Out, yet.
We can boast of a beautiful Esplanade Theatre and Concert Hall to rival the best venues in the world. Perhaps one day soon, our line-up and fringe events for Baybeats will be the foci of Asian indie bands, unless Jakarta gets there first. The city's already neck-to-neck with us in terms of having notable artists stop over in the city, and a little more ahead in terms of rock and indie music festivals. Yes, I'm still sore that Ben Folds went to Jakarta in June, and not here.
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