+65 Indie Weekend III

'The Great Spy Experiment' on Friday 17 February. (facebook)

Went for all three nights of the third installment of the '+65 Indie Weekend'. These gigs are happening not just because of the support of Esplanade as a venue with free admission to the general public. It's also the passion and dedication of humans who love Singapore bands and its music, in this case, Little Ong, who bothers to round up different bands each time to do this so that the music will not fizzle out.

On this island where we can buy and import the best musical acts and bands, and garner the biggest audience, we must not forget to nurture our own. To nurture in all forms of art, and not just the perceived approved forms of prestigious accomplishments in which Singapore parents push for. (Check out LoFi-SG TV, episode 13 on our indie music scene.) Homegrown talent, we call it. There's everything to be proud of. If these talents aren't good enough for the international stage back then because of a lack of exposure and benchmarking, they're certainly coming into their own now.

'Obedient Wives Club' on Saturday 18 February. (facebook)

+65 Indie Weekend saw 8 bands play on different nights and a good turnout of supporters, curious public and random passers-by alike to check out their music. Different genres, different sounds. It's good to hear live music done well- pop rock, 60s fuzz pop, progressive rock, instrumental rock, and emo-rock.

I'm proud of many Singapore bands, and many musicians who try really hard to up their ante against the world. In our society when many sets of parents tell their children that doing classical is (now) okay, but choosing pop rock or punk rock is a disgrace to the family, I salute these musicians who hold down day jobs and continue to chase their dreams. It'll be a terrible thing for our musicians to be acknowledged within the international indie scene, and only to have our own government and funding agencies not understand the importance of developing indie music as a parallel to classical and jazz. I needn't remind you how fast indie gigs sell out at whichever venue, easily rivaling top billed performances by philharmonic orchestras.

I'm no musician. Only a consumer enjoying the music made. On the third night, I unwittingly played merch girl and had a bit of fun selling CDs that had been put out by the bands. (Of course I wasn't paid lah! Helping out only.) Nice to see the friends dump the cars and biked down to the venue to chill out to the music to the bands. It was a good weekend.

'Another Sunday Afternoon' on Sunday 19 February. (facebook)