life!
쐽 THE STRAITS TIMES MONDAY, JUNE 29 2009 PAGE C3
Bukit Timah
gets artsy
Bukit Timah puts on a
month-long festival of
art, calligraphy, opera
and more for its residents
frankie chee
H
olland-Bukit Timah GRC is
going artsy next month. Resi-
dents will be treated to a
month of art and calligraphy
exhibitions and dance per-
formances.
The event, Bukit Timah Culture Festi-
val, is organised by the Bukit Timah
Grassroots Organisations (GRO) to show-
case the different cultures of Singapore.
About 23 free events, by groups and
individuals from Singapore and China,
will be held at locations such as the Bukit
Timah Community Club in Toh Yi Drive,
Jurong’s IMM Mall and the National
Library in Victoria Street.
The total number of participants and
audiences is expected to hit around
20,000, with the organisers spending
about $150,000 on the festival to reach
P.S. These kids are a hit
New York – They are a bunch of regular
school kids, but their fans include actor
Ashton Kutcher and singer Tori Amos –
plus millions of YouTube viewers.
A New York fifth-grade chorus that
first appeared on an online video has be-
come world-famous, a cyber-phenome-
non touted by top media outlets, celebri-
ties and politicians.
And yet, the young singers from Public
School 22 have rarely left Staten Island, a
water-ringed New York City borough
reached by ferry from Manhattan.
How does one pull off such a publicity
out to the district’s 52,000 residents.
Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Member of
Parliament for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC
and adviser to Bukit Timah GRO, said:
“We have many people of different races
and nationalities in our district and we
want to use culture to enhance cohesion
and integration among them.”
She added that Bukit Timah Communi-
ty Club already has a history of being
involved in culture and the arts, offering
calligraphy classes and competitions, and
a festival is just the thing to take the
involvement to the next level.
Among the Singapore groups taking
part are Thau Yong Amateur Musical
Association, which is active in the Teo-
chew opera scene, and the Tien Heng
Kang Heng Nam Drama Association,
another opera troupe.
There will also be a Singapore Book of
Records attempt on Saturday, when 500
people will try to set a record by writing
the Chinese character “fu” (fortune) at
the same time at the community centre.
China artist Zhang Xiang De, 47, one
of the country’s most established visual
artists, will also be showing his work here
for the first time.
The watercolour painter was awarded
feat? Much of the credit goes to a music
teacher, Mr Gregg Breinberg, 36, who
apparently is a natural at public relations.
About three years ago, he taught his
kids to sing Coldplay’s hit single Viva La
Vida and posted the performance on
YouTube, followed by a Tori Amos song.
One day, gossip blogger Perez Hilton
came across them on YouTube singing
the Amos song in a Manhattan atrium –
with the singer herself tearing up as she
listened. He was bowled over by the
innocent-sounding voices that matched
faces exuding energy and personality.
watch it
BUKIT TIMAH CULTURE FESTIVAL
Where: Various locations
When: July 4 to Aug 2
Info: Call Bukit Timah CC on 6466-2912 for
more information and programme schedule
the gold award three times at the Beijing
International Art Exposition. He is para-
lysed from the waist down after being
struck by polio as a child.
He told Life! on the telephone from
Heilongjiang: “I liked drawing when I was
P.S. 22 Chorus performing with Crowded
House at the band’s show in New York.
He posted the link on his blog, trigger-
ing a deluge of interest that made the clip
one of the top 10 YouTube videos.
Since then, P.S. 22 Chorus has been
featured on TV and in newspapers, while
seven million viewers have watched them
PHOTOS: BUKIT TIMAH COMMUNITY CLUB
in elementary school and later became
more serious about it, but at that time,
the handicapped weren’t allowed to study
in universities, so I was largely self-
taught.
“I was driven by love to pursue my art.
Art, to artists, is our religion and way of
life, we can’t do without it.”
About 53 of his paintings will be dis-
played at the National Library.
Another draw at the festival is Teo-
chew opera singer Zheng Jian Ying, 64.
The mainland Chinese performer has
been here several times as part of the
on YouTube, and counting.
Mr Breinberg says: “Honestly, I never
imagined that things would take off for
the chorus the way they have in the last
few years. But these kids have risen
above tremendous obstacles and have
made their voices heard.”
Other fans include Stevie Nicks of
Fleetwood Mac, who invited them to sing
at Madison Square Garden. Neil Finn,
lead singer for Crowded House, was so
enthused by the children’s online per-
formance of his song Private Universe
that he asked them to perform with him
for the band’s sold-out New York show.
There is much more to the success of
P.S. 22 Chorus than brilliant promotion.
Many of the 70 kids come from struggling
families, with about three-quarters of
Highlights of the
Bukit Timah
Culture Festival
include Teochew
opera by Chinese
performer Zheng
Jian Ying (left)
and an exhibition
of watercolour
artist Zhang
Xiang De’s
(right) works,
including Cao
Er Ye Qing Qing
(Even The Grass
Is Lush, below).
Shantou City Teochew Opera Troupe but
this trip is a family affair.
Her two younger sisters, Zheng Sha,
61, and Zheng Wei, 52, and sister-in-law
Xiao Bing, 47, will join her on stage. They
are all Teochew opera artists and mem-
bers of the China Opera Artistes Associa-
tion.
She said: “I am retired so I seldom per-
form but the organiser has a worthy inten-
tion of highlighting opera and culture,
and performing together with my sisters
is a rare opportunity.”
frankiec@sph.com.sg
them eligible for free school lunches. Oth-
ers have academic difficulties or are learn-
ing English as a second language.
Bypassing traditional children’s music,
Mr Breinberg teaches them grown-up
songs that speak to their tough urban
lives, such as The Doors’ People Are
Strange and Amos’ Flying Dutchman.
Gabriel Vasquez, 10, recalls the time
he first entered the chorus: “I was scared,
I didn’t want nobody to tease me. But Mr
B taught me how to let out my feelings.”
The children dote on the man they all
call Mr B, a guitar-strumming teacher
who cracks jokes and makes faces for
them. “The most important part of my
job is to make the kids love music,” he
says. “Technique comes later.”
Associated Press