Continuing celebrations in Tiong Bahru – Part 1:

We are halfway thru the Lunar New Year Celebrations today, and it is everyone’s birthday! The Chinese believe that on the 7th Day of the Lunar Year, it was the day that humankind was created.

If you think that you might soon miss the festive feel of this season, fret not, do look out for the upcoming Lunar New Year Residents Get Together Dinner on 6 March 2010.
Get your family, neighbours and friends together to form a table of 10 and come for the dinner, that is brought to you by Boon Tiong and Seng Poh Residents Committees (yes, it’s the GREATER TIONG BAHRU FAMILY here).



Don’t delay! Limited tables left.
See you on the 6th!

Dong Dong Chiang! Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

In Tiong Bahru, the Lunar New Year is the occasion for seeing many traditional ways of celebrating the festival through Lion, Dragon and even Flag dances!

On the 2nd day of each LNY, at 10 am at Block 56 Eng Hoon Street, one will see an annual performance on the street, to celebrate the new year by one of our local businesses - Bao Sheng Trading.

This year, there is a special appearance by the Tiger....



A child from the neighbourhood watching the new flag being carried in for the flag dance.



The 2 southern lions performing, notice the 2 smaller kiddie lions in between.

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This is a particularly difficult move as the front dancer must jump upwards and be held aloft for up to 3 or 5 minutes.



The flag dance is quite rare in Singapore - here, the 3 storey high flag is carried by individual dancers on their heads, abdomen, hands and even their chin. The breeze makes the flag flutter beautifully, but also increases the challenge of holding it aloft.





The dragon, before it starts it dance, first travels to the Qi Tian Gong to pay its respects to the local deity, here, the Great Heavenly Sage (AKA Monkey God) before it dances.





and wherever the dragon goes, good luck follows!



Looking at the confetti - a replacement for the red firecracker paper of the old days - guess the good luck is also shared with the neighbourhood!




HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!

Film location needed! do you want to take part?

Happy Lunar New Year to one and all....

lets open the year's postings with this call for filming location in Tiong Bahru, from a local production company - local in that, they are actually based in our neighbourhood!

If you are interested in helping out - do contact Nadia directly! it would be good to have TB featured more in the media, especially for children!

___________________

Hi there,

I'm Nadia Shah, an assistant producer at local production company Eyecon Production (S). We're looking for three households in the Tiong Bahru area as venues for the production of a children's programme for Mediacorp's Okto channel.

The production will be shot during the March holidays, two weekends in April, and the June school holidays. However, since not all scenes will take place at the same venue, we may only need each household for at most 10 days.

Of course, remuneration will be provided for the home owners: $75 for a half day shoot and $150 for a full day shoot.

Kindly let me know if you know anyone who might be interested in this. You can drop me an email at nadia@eyecon.com.sg.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!

Best Wishes,
Nadia Shah

Tiong Bahru thru the eyes of a painter

Have you ever thought how our SIT estate would look through the eyes of an artist?
You can now satisfy your curiosity, as well as perhaps buy one of the paintings of Tiong Bahru's backlanes, at the following exhibition.

It is good to know that our estate is the inspiration for many artists. If our estate was better maintained, it may attract even more attention, and have more art work created!

Perhaps one day, we will have a feature film set here!

In the meantime, do visit the show in nearby Kreta Ayer, South Bridge Road. This is also one form of 'community outreach'. By the way, Keng Hock is a local boy, who grew up in Tiong Bahru.

Do you recognise YOUR backlane?



UTTERLY ART cordially invites you to visit the haunts of the


BACKSTREET GIRL
TAN AI NGIN


THURSDAY 21st January 2010 7pm
Utterly Art Exhibition Space
(diagonally opposite the Sri Mariamman Temple, Pagoda St Exit)
229A South Bridge Road (2nd Level) Singapore 058778
Call Keng Hock for appointments Tel: 6226 2605 or 94872006
E-mail: utterlyart@pacific.net.sg
Mon-Sat 12 noon - 8 pm Sun 12 noon - 5.30 pm
The exhibition runs to SUNDAY 31st Jan 2010 .


About the exhibition:

While hardly reminiscent of a boy band, Singapore’s very own Backstreet
Girl wanders the quiet passages behind our older housing estates to get
inspiration for her own impressionistic compositions with paint and brush.
Capturing a facet of Singapore’s urban landscape rarely broached in local
art, Tan Ai Ngin finds artistic angles and viewpoints to romanticize hidden
communal spaces amidst dense apartment blocks. Venturing from previous
painterly forays into Tiong Bahru and Kampong Bahru, she now includes
glimpses of Geylang and Tanglin Halt. Painting plein-air might attract nosy
neighbours, but it allows her access to a diversity of atmospheres,
cultures, people, weather and scenarios to document the unique charm and
peculiarity of living in Singapore.

About the artist:

Tan Ai Ngin (born 1972, Singapore) obtained her Diploma in Fine Arts at the
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1996 and her Bachelor of Arts in Chinese
painting at the Nanjing Arts College, China in 1999. She went on to
complete a one-year course in visual arts at the School of Fine and
Performing Arts Constantijn Huygens, in Kampen, The Netherlands in 2001.
She has been collected by the Frans Walkate Archief in The Netherlands and
the Tokyo office of the Singapore Tourism Board. Backstreet Girl is her
fourth solo exhibition.


Kampong Silat SIT estate

Tiong Bahru Hawker Centre - what does a good Alsatian White wine go with?

Its good to know that food and drink experts from overseas also find that our hawker centres are real treasures... read more in this blog entry where he talks about being shown this treasure of our multicultural cuisine, 'Enjoying Singlish & Hawker Centre lifestyle' by the head honcho of Hugel & Fils....



Drink up and Eat Up and be merry....

too bad there is no Indian prata stall at the market that would make the range of classics complete.....

Block Party at Seng Poh RC

Dear Friends and Neighbours!

A Happy New Year to one and all!

Before the new year gets into its full stride, here are pictures of the last block party of 2009, brought to you by Seng Poh Residents Committee, to celebrate Christmas, and also, the successful completion of the repainting exercise.

Heres our RC members and their 'assistants' hard at work setting up the food.







Many thanks to all who could make it - it was not just the makan, but the company too that made the afternoon an enjoyable one, where neighbours could get to know each other better.






Here's Joseph and his flock (above)









We also had an interesting session viewing pictures taken by the Photo Interest Group for Tiong Bahru Estate and our nearby sights. Check out more on Tiongbahru.org.



There was also a special feature on CATS! Yes, Cats of Tiong Bahru... so, if you are interested in pictures of CATS - be it viewing or taking or sharing, drop us a line...



Last but not least, there was Karaoke - we have some really good singers in the neighbourhood!



Look out for the next Block Party at the RC and have a great year ahead!

:)

Merry Christmas to one and all

Christmas in Tiong Bahru, 1951, Children of the Tan family decorating their tree.

Its been a few weeks of mad rush to finish work for all of us I'm sure. So, just a simple post to stoke some feelings of nostalgia, with pictures shared by friends of mine.... of Christmas in Singapore in the 30s and 50s....

Enjoy!


Christmas Menu from 1937, when this estate was built.



Apparently there was a Christmas Tree at the entrance to the Government House, today's Istana Negara. This picture is from 1953.


A year earlier in 1952, there was carolling on the City Hall steps, and they had a few hundred sheep join in the voices too. I guess the grass on the Padang afterwards was nicely and naturally trimmed!


And finally, the boys of Boys Town put up a Mad Hatter's Tea Party at the old Great World Amusement Park, just down the road from Tiong Bahru. Great Costumes!

Merry Christmas to one and all!