SINGAPORE – It’s time once again for another edition of YFest, the annual festival for youth organised by the Esplanade.
And yes, it will be packed with stage shows featuring music and dance, a parkour performance, as well as stalls for wares, a karaoke booth and more. It’s not only a celebration of youth, but also a chance to show Singapore what the youth can do.
For two of the performers in the Y-Singsations programme — a showcase for up-and-coming musicians — it will be more than just a chance to strut their stuff.
Irwin Tan and Samantha Rui only started performing live this year, and the YFest showcase will be one of their biggest gigs. But while they hope to engage the crowd, there’s a particular group of people they want to impress: Their parents.
“I want my parents to come to the YFest show, because they haven’t … well, they’ve seen me at home, obviously, but I’d really like my parents and family to see me perform and to see that perhaps music is something that I can do,” said Tan, who goes by the stage name Irwin Zephyr.
To that end, the Mass Communications final year student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said that he’s been mugging for his grades, if only to prove to his parents that he can juggle both studies and music.
“My dad did stress to me that music should be a sideline, and I don’t blame him for it, because his understanding is that in Singapore, it’s really hard to work as a musician. That’s one of the reasons why I’m also working hard academically. I guess my parents are showing support by allowing me to do what I want to do.”
As for Rui, her parents allowed her to take a gap year from her studies at the School Of The Arts (SOTA), where she studies visual arts. But they weren’t particularly keen on her doing music at first.
“My parents thought it was a big dodgy for me to want do music, like, ‘It’s bad enough you’re drawing in school, now you want to play guitar?’” she quipped.
“But (my parents) really do support me a lot. Because I don’t have a job, they support me financially. They’ve become a lot more open to this, more than I expected. And even though it’s sometimes embarrassing to sing when your parents are in the crowd, it means a lot that they bother to come down — even though they don’t quite approve of what you do.”
Speaking of support, both musicians — who incidentally are also enrolled in The Apprenticeship Programme of Noise Singapore conducted by the National Arts Council — said they were pleased at how the music community is growing. But they still hoped that the public would show more emphatic signs of appreciation.
“I think many people think supporting local music means ‘Oh, I know who they are’,” said Tan. “But it’s more than that. When we release our EPs, a good show of support would be to buy our music. That’s what keeps us wanting to do more. Or even leave supportive comments on YouTube.”
Tan said it was such support from fans and friends that spurred him to take his music to the next level.
“These are the people who will help us become better musicians, because if what we do is not good enough, they’ll tell us as well. It allowed me to venture forth and be more expressive in my art.”
Rui also credited her friends for giving her the impetus to carry on.
“When I was in CHIJ, I took part in the school carnival. That was my first public performance. My friends did a couple of videos for me and posted them (online). They’re like my publicity department and I was like, ‘Wow, some people actually like my stuff’. So I thought, maybe I should keep working at it,” she said, adding that festivals like YFest really help younger musicians as well.
“I mean, other festivals seem to rope in the same established musicians. I think there should be opportunities for younger musicians to come up through the ranks. We want to break into the scene, but we don’t know how to do it. So I like that there are all these platforms for new talent: YFest, Noise or even TV shows like The Final 1.”
So why should somebody go watch them perform? “This is what the youths have to offer and hopefully this is something that will garner your interest,” said Tan.
“I would like for people to see the shows and say, ‘That’s something that Singapore can be proud of, that we have rising talent like this’.”
“Plus, it’s free,” quipped Rui. “And there’s air con in the Esplanade!”
YFest happens on June 21 to 23. Samantha Rui performs on June 22 at 6.30pm and 9.30pm. Irwin Tan performs on June 23 at 4.30pm and 7.30pm. Both at the Esplanade Concourse.
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