A musical night at Heng Ann Association

It's a rarity that I attend events like these, but this one's in support of my old friend, Tee Sie Yen. To be frank, up to today, I'm not really sure of what the details of this event. It's somewhat encrypted:

I'm not one of those who can read the above without assistance from my translator....

 Nonetheless, going too were Chong FC and Sim, as well as Goh KK. At least I wouldn't be along that night. The event was organized on 11 September 2012, which was a Tuesday. Now getting to a function outside of the company on a working day at 7.00pm was always a bit of a challenge to me, partly because of my usually working hours (which extend way past the official 5.15pm company requirement) as well as the increased density of traffic at that time (main contributing factors being people leaving for home, and the 7.00pm change of shift for many factories). Well, just for that day, I was OK to make an exception.

So, I arrived on the scene straight from work at 7.00pm. I knew as Heng Ann Association, parking was limited. Either you came very, very early to get a parking spot, or park far, far away (parking illegally on the road side and obstructing traffic is against my core principles and ethics, so I won't go for that option). Of course, in this part of the world, coming early to park first in places like these will almost certainly mean you will go back last, because someone will surely come fashionably late and double park, boxing your car in. So, I decided to park my car in a well lit area roughly 200 meters down the road. A little bit of exercise didn't hurt. I was alone after all....

A bit of an advisory note while were on this topic. Regardless of where you park your car, do not leave anything of value inside. Not even something that might appear to be of value, like a bag in the back seat. These days, times seem to be bad, so there's a risk of someone breaking into your car even if you're in a well lit area with many passersby. So, I brought my company-issued laptop along for the show.

The hall was not very large, so the distances between tables was quite limited. There was just enough room for the waiters to serve food for dinner. Luckily there was something to eat, as I failed to register this when I was told about the event. A minor communication issue that turned out for the better, not that I'm complaining.

As there were only 4 of us, we shared the table #12 with a another group, which appeared to be all from the same family. The event started eventually, and it was genuinely entertaining to watch the singers, most of them appear to be above 40 years, belt out Chinese tunes. I'm far from an expert when it comes to this subject, but Sim told me these songs were from the era of previous generation (not surprisingly). They say life begins at 40, so you can really see the splendid results of hard work and preparation that the performers must have put into the show. No doubt many hours of rehearsals have been put in, and I am thankful to have been present to see the results.

From a photographer's perspective, as I was just a casual guest and not officially covering the event, I wasn't going to be moving around much. Plus, the lack of space between table didn't exactly help, as I don't want to be avoiding the waiters and bumping into other seated guests. So, I just had a single telephoto zoom lens used for the entire event. This meant that I could take reasonable detailed photos of the on-stage activities from where I was seated (roughly three quarters of the way to the back of the hall) just by standing up briefly to fire off a shot. Not so ideal, but an acceptable compromise given the constraints in place. At that range, a flash would have been useless, I had to rely on using high ISO coupled with F-stop of 1/2.8 to minimize motion blur.

Back to the event. At that range, even from looking at my photos on the back of the camera, it was very hard for us to figure out which one of the performers was my friend, Tee. Chong FC joked that in performances like these, everyone was elaborately dressed and with full make-up, so you'd be hard pressed to recognize anyone just the same.

Well, in the end, I did manage to meet up with her briefly, so I at least one of our guesses was correct! :)

A good exposure to public events, and a good photographic opportunity (I fear my photographic equipment has been idling away in the dry box for far too long).

Looking the part and sounding it too, these performers really went the extra mile to put on a wonderful show that night!

The entire cast of the show lined up on stage, in front of a captivated audience.

Retro look - I wonder if people really did get dressed up like this way back in the 60's and 70's?

Must bring back fond memories of youth for both the performers and the senior members of the audience....

The Nyonya/Kebaya outfit is synonymous with the local cultural heritage, and still looks fabulous when worn today.

Not to be left out, these Men in Black (and white) belt out a couple of tunes of their own.

A solo performer on stage showcasing her vocal talents to the crowd.

Red polka-dots are back in fashion, but the gentleman by the side looks "plain" in contrast.

The pink ladies - where'd they manage to get all the matching outfits?

Finally confirmed that is my friend, Tee Sie Yen, in yellow on the left.