Broadway Beng

The review in the Straits Times sucks but diss the review.

I fear lame jokes but while there're misses the hits make this a bang for your buck local musical. I know getai can be such a cheena scratchy old record but I did like one Hokkien song in particular which Sebastian Tan, Beng extraordinare delivers with aplomb. I love love the spoof of Les Miserables and of Queen (both the English monarch and the band).

We're people who straddle two cultures, and when Sebastian splits between Western musicals and getai, on a stage no less than the Esplanade, we've reclaimed our birth right and well and truly embraced both our mastery of Western and Eastern cultures in one sitting and we should send screaming applause down the aisles. As Sebastian urges the audience to say, 'HO SAY!' (translates roughly *thumbs up*)

OK, this one's strictly for locals. For the uninitated, a Beng is, according to the Coxford Singlish dictionary,
 'an unsophisticated Chinese boy, usually Hokkien. Stereotypically, he speaks gutter hokkien and likes neon-coloured clothes, spiky, moussed hair and accessories such as handphones or pagers, all of which are conspicuously displayed. '


A Lian is the female counterpart.

The musical runs till this Saturday. Just go watch it!!! Support local talent and not just foreign talent!

Peranakan Museum

Straits Chinese furniture have intricate inlays of mother-of-pearl. This set is found in the Peranakan Museum in Singapore.

If you're interested in exploring other cultures, the Peranakan Museum at 39 Armenian St is worth a visit. The artefacts of the Straits Chinese on display are quite comprehensive and to me, it's the best museum to visit if you're in Singapore. It is an authentic boutique museum. In fact it is like a huge bungalow and you climb the wooden stairs to get to the upper galleries (three floors), no lifts. The building it inhabits was actually a Chinese school built in 1912, the Tao Nan School.
The style is eclectic classical and you can see the tropical influences like the bamboo chicks.

Peranakan or Straits Chinese culture has its own traditions, notably a hybrid of Malay and Chinese cultures. They are descendants of Chinese traders who settled in Malacca and the coastal areas of Java and Sumatra and then Penang and Singapore. Peranakan Chinese are Chinese in race but Malay influenced in their food and dress, and they speak patois Malay.


A typical kitchen in the Peranakan house.

Marriage rituals are explained in this gallery. This is a mock up of a leg of pork which is given to the bride's family. Actually I thought it should be a whole suckling pig.

Peranakans wear kebayas and these vary from the simple white everyday kebaya to more ornate embroidered ones like this one. One of my neighbours was Peranakan and I remember she wore kebaya tops and sarong as daily wear. Today, kebayas may be worn for special occasions as formal wear.

Kebayas do not have buttons but instead are fastened by brooches called kerosang.

Well, enough nuggets of info about the interesting offerings of the museum.


That's my World

National Museum - the old and the new

A modern, whimsical touch to the National Museum, these eight gorgeous swinging chandeliers by Suzann Victor. You can view the video recording at the bottom of this post. Who would have thought up chandeliers that swing, and these do in sequence or in a staggered pattern. Hypnotic gazing...these are located at the new extension wing added to the old building just beyond the glass bridge.
The museum shop is a hodge-podge of vintage stuff..note the paper tear out calendar at the back..This used to hang in my father's house and everyday we'll tear one sheet to start a fresh day. I can still visualise the old vintage clock above this calendar hanging on a wall of our old house. Pity, we don't have these anymore, just boring desk calendars. Some old printers still print this type of calendar. I've seen smaller versions around, and of note are the horse racing dates printed on them.



I was kinda thrilled to see this. It's called tikam tikam and I still remember these at the mama shop (ie neighbourhood Indian shop selling daily necessities). You pay like 5 or 10 cents I think, and tear out one ticket and the prize is printed on it. Prizes like a sweet or a toy. Such were the thrills of childhood.
These moulds are for making traditional biscuits and kueh and I can make out the designs. The ones on the top right are for making love letters which are a rolled up pancake biscuit roll made specially only on Chinese New Year. It triggered memories of my old neighbour who would make batches and store them into reused biscuit tins when the season came. Such practices and rituals add fun and excitement in the preparations preceding the new year. You don't see people making love letters nowadays. They're made in factories and everyone just buys them off the shelf.
In my childhood, there weren't any canned drinks. All soft drinks come in glass bottles like these and the popular brands were Green Spot and Kickapoo. I remember buying these drinks during school recess.
Posters of old Malay movies. The museum screened part of the Pontianak movie which is about a female Malay ghost. Of course, when we see these movies, we're struck by how 'backward' special effects were back then, like Pontianak flying. None of the digital technology that propel special effects to sophisticated realism nowadays.
Look up as you enter the museum and you'll see the stained glass windows in the dome of the National Museum. Aren't they lovely to behold?
The very iconic spiral staircase, reputedly haunted.
Well, this is the far view of the grand old building that's our National Museum. It's been standing at Stamford Road since 1887.

I leave you with swinging chandeliers. There's also a media screen which flickers on and off catching your reflection on the large screen. I was lucky enough to capture a recording when it flickered on, so did this family.

That's my World

quaint traditional shops

In the days before gourmet chocolates and Western pastries altered our tastebuds, there're the traditional confectionery shops selling Chinese pastries. The assortment of biscuits and cakes are great for snack attacks. Somehow these have a more homely bite to it. It's still possible to find quaint old confectioneries like this one along our streets.

It's like a provisions shop but with a twist. This shop in Chinatown stocks clothes, household appliances and all things imaginable, using only paper. The Chinese burn them as paper offerings to their ancestors.

For more Show your World posts,go here.