^{Local hop-hop band Sixx opening for the Street Revolution JAM! at Victoria Theatre}

Youths were given a taste of the arts as top hip hop artistes from Singapore and around the region got their adrenalines pumping with edgy and refreshing performances at the Victoria Theatre.

Yes, you heard that right. Victoria Theatre. Not in a dance club.

The 3-hour concert was one of the highlights of this year’s Singapore Street Festival, featuring hip hop bands and artistes such as Sixx, Richard J, Yacko, Sleeq, DJ Altimet and Thaitanium.

Opening the concert was Sixx, a homegrown hip-hop band that has expanded from its original 6 to become 9-member strong.

Lead vocalist Aarika Lee teased the crowd with her sweet and bubbly personality, hopping along to the catchy beats of their music.

Main rapper Kevin Lester, who recently released the single Rockstar (with a special music video that featured Singapore’s culture), rapped his way into the hearts of the audience as he asked if they would support local music.

Of course, the 800-strong audience gave a resounding and unanimous “Yeah!” reply after which, Kevin also proclaimed the band’s wish “We wanna become international artistes someday!”

Taking over from them was Singapore’s promising hip hop talent, Richard J, who turns 21 in August.

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The highlight of his performance despite facing some ‘throat problems’ would be how he got the crowd singing along to Justin Bieber’s “Baby”. It was a fresh rendition without the usual kid-like, high-pitched voice of the 16-year-old star.

^{Local hip-hop artiste Richard J giving audiences a taste of his own rendition of Justin Bieber’s hit song, “Baby”}

However, what really got the youthful crowd’s spirits up was Indonesian hip-hop rapping artiste, Yacko, who started off her performance from the middle of the aisle with hip-thrusting moves and non-stop skipping around the stage.

^{Indonesian rapper, Yacko, showcasing her wealth of stamina with her highly energetic performance}

“Majulah Singapura!” Yacko exclaimed as the audience erupted with cheers and thunderous applause for her surprising and powerful appearance.

Having been in the hip-hop rapping scene since she was signed up as an artiste at the age of 16, Yacko definitely showcased her well-seasoned ability to entertain, as she does not seem to run out of stamina throughout her performance.

It’s no wonder the 30-year-old rapper got nominated at the Indonesia Cutting Edge Music Award (ICEMA) for Favourite Solo Artist and Favourite Hip Hop/R&B Song for the song ‘That Girl, Yacko’.

To add on to the already hyped up crowd, local hip-hop/R&B duo Sleeq, came up to the screaming female fans that were already prepared with witty questions to ask their idols during a short but exciting Q&A session after their performance.

^{Singapore’s hip-hop/R7B duo Sleeq with Syarif (left) and Alyph (right) putting on a mesmerizing show for their zesty fans}

A lady who was sitting on the second floor even cheekily asked if Sleeq could “come up here and give me a kiss?”

After finishing their charming performance, the youthful duo also urged their young fans to “not download songs and support local music.”

Malaysian hip-hop artiste, DJ Altimet then took his turn to perform as he asked the crowd “Malayu boleh tak?” (Is Malay alright with you?)

^{DJ Altimet from across the causeway performing in his Mother Tongue to the Singaporean crowd}

Greeted with a warm response from audiences of his neighbouring country, DJ Altimet spoke affectionately to the ladies with the sweet R&B song “Chantek”, which means beautiful.

Not wanting to leave the guys out, he dedicated his next song “Thank You” to “guys who work hard for their families and everything.”

DJ Altimet then ended his performance with a regular but dear “Peace to you!”

Before the final and most-anticipated performance, the emcee called for everyone to leave their seats and move to the front to ‘enjoy the hip hop party’.

The young audience was treated to the awesome performance of Thaitanium, a four-member hip-hop group hailing from the land of smiles, Thailand.

^{Thaitanium, a four-member hip-hop group from Thailand working up the crowd}

Perhaps it was because of the young demographics of the audience, the crowd dispersed as soon as the show ended at after 11pm.

That said, watching a hip-hop concert at a place like Victoria Theatre must have been a first for many of the students that turned up.

More than 800 tickets were sold with some secondary school students from Mayflower Secondary School watching the concert as a part of their school’s aesthetic programme.

Due to a sponsorship by Tan Chin Tuan Foundation, 50 students from Shuqun Secondary School and Pasir Ris Secondary School had a chance to enjoy the concert as well.

Sponsored by Eighth Wave, Street Revolution JAM! is presented by Singapore Arts Festival and proudly supported by the National Arts Council.

It’s that time of the year again when the mercury constantly dips to the 25 to 28 degrees range, cheery Christmas tunes are pumped out of stereo speakers in shopping centres, carollers come out in full force, neon decorative lights line the streets of Orchard Road, and you’re sweating over what gifts of appreciation you can buy for your loved ones.

UrbanWire helps you scout out a few places where you’ll be able to find the right presents with ease, and at the same time, show Santa that you’ve been good by contributing to social causes.

Food for Thought
VillageWorks
PaTH
Breakthrough Missions

VillageWorks is directly affiliated to Girls’ Brigade Singapore, which is the sole distributor of the beautiful handmade bags, shawls and pouches made from scratch (even the looms are handmade) by the Cambodian women of the Song Khem Collection.

The hand-loomed fabrics are attractive and colourful. The details and quality are on par with what you might find in a departmental store, and for a good reason too. Having made bags and shawls since 2001, and additional training by volunteers since then, helped the women hone their craft.

^{(Picture from VillageWorks)}

When Girls’ Brigade (GB) arrived in the Baray district of Cambodia, VillageWorks was conceived to help the women there make a living. As there were no jobs there previously, people lived in slums. For most women, the choice was between rummaging through garbage daily in hopes of finding something worth selling, or becoming a prostitute.

Back then, there was also a factory that made bags, which GB adopted and turned into what the Song Khem Collection is today. There, children are also taught how to sew after school; they are then given some pocket money to buy things like stationery for themselves.

^{(Picture from VillageWorks)}

Presently, the Song Khem Collection has become self-sustainable, but GB continues to aid them by purchasing a certain amount of products yearly from them to sell in Singapore.

This is done as fairly as possible, as Sales Manager, Susan Lee, 59, explained: “We are doing fair trade. Being fair to the workers, you don’t pay them peanuts for their piece of work.” The Cambodian women are paid according to how many pieces they make. This way, those who work faster or are more hard working will be able to earn their fair wages.

If there are profits, these will aid other Girls’ Brigade projects in countries like Indonesia, Philippines and Myanmar.

Address:
GB Headquarters
795 Upper Serangoon Road
Singapore 534667

Prices:
Between $5 to $40
Shawl $20
Items can also be custom-made and custom designed if ordering 50 or more pieces.

Closure in Moscow (Aus)

WeekendTRIP is back with a lineup of regional and local acts that will have bands like Australia’s Closure in Moscow, Philippine’s The Out of Body Special, Indonesia’s No Talent and Malaysia’s They Will Kill Us All jamming on the same stage with popular local music groups such as A Vacant Affair, Tacit Aria, Trella and others.

Trella

Apart from the gigs that will be staged for all 3 days at the *SCAPE Youth Park and *SCAPE Youth Centre, there’ll be workshops conducted on Dec 19 by experienced music producers and performers in the local music scene such as Leonard Soosay, Esmond Wee and Mike See. They’ll talk about creating good demos and provide valuable advice about being in the local music industry.

A Vacant Affair

If sports are more your cup of tea, there’ll also be a free Skimboarding Clinic and Competition that will be happening at *SCAPE. Skimboarding is a water activity similar to surfing and expert skimboarders will be there to surf up some tricks.

Prizes are up for grabs at these 2 events with WeekendTRIP participants getting the chance to win a Reverse Flying V Gibson Electric guitar signed by all bands (worth $5900). Skimboarding contestants will also stand to win cash prizes.

Visit http://www.scape.com.sg/ for more details.

Images courtesy of *SCAPE

WeekendTRIP is organised by *SCAPE.

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