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> Recently Singapore has been making a push for the arts, yet it's clearly evident how inorganic the output is Last time I went to Singapore I was struck by ho
by SyneRyder 6y ago
> Recently Singapore has been making a push for the arts, yet it's clearly evident how inorganic the output is
Last time I went to Singapore I was struck by how it was impossible to buy any local music. I associate by music, so I always buy local music when I travel. But in Singapore's tiny music stores, I couldn't even find a Dick Lee CD for sale, and his music wasn't available through Australian iTunes.
(In the end I emailed his website asking which stores to try, and instead they sent one of his personal assistants to my Singapore hotel in person to hand deliver one of their remaining CD copies. For which my family were deeply grateful, we had discovered him 25 years earlier on a cassette we bought of The Mad Chinaman, and as a little Aussie kid I'd learned all the words of Rasa Sayang: "Everything we have has to be the best of the fabulous east and the wonderful west".)
Lately I've started to find Singaporean bands on Bandcamp, so things are improving. But it wasn't like I could walk into Starbucks and find CDs from a bunch of emerging local artists at the counter. I'm heartbroken that the 100th Starbucks store near The Fullerton Waterboat House has apparently closed too.
- mochialex 6y agoSpeaking about art in SG. I find that street artists in Europe are way more better than those in SG. I’m always amazed by their skill and enthusiasm in my Europe trip. While back in SG, the only ones I see are art students or old uncles playing some music that you can hardly say “good”. This is sad.
- fakedang 6y agoWasn't it a while back when the government licensed out certain building facades to artists who wanted to display their work lol? Or was it Dubai?
- refurb 6y agoSome of that is cultural. Education is math and science, art is for when you’ve done your homework and is regarded more as “play” than a serious subject worth dedicating yourself to (some exception noted).