March 2012 ~ Merlion Wayfarer's Walking Singapore

Masjid Hajjah Fatimah - Singapore's Leaning Tower

4:31 PM Architecture, Bugis, Central, History, Kampong Glam, Mosques

Java Road, Bugis
Central, Singapore

March 2012

Named after an aristocratic Malay woman, Masjid Hajjah Fatimah was built in 1845-1846. The mosque was built on the site of Hajjah Fatimah's former house at Java Road.

Hajjah Fatimah was an intrepid businesswoman, exceptional for her time. Born into a wealthy Malaccan family, she married a Bugis prince from Celebes who ran a trading post in Singapore. Her only child, a daughter named Raja Siti, married Syed Ahmed Alsagoff, son of Syed Abdul Rahman Alsagoff, a successful Arab trader. It was only upon Hajjah Fatimah's death that the business passed into the hands of the Alsagoff family who continued it in its own name. Her grave, along with those of her daughter and son-in-law, lie in a private enclosure in the mosque.

Built on sandy land, the minaret leans about six degrees towards the onion-shaped dome and has thus gained fame as Singapore's "leaning tower". Preservation works undertaken in the 1970s stopped the gradual tilt of the minaret but a slight inclination is still visible.

The mosque was designated a national monument on 6 July 1973. Much-needed preservation and renovation works were undertaken around this time, including making the mosque’s dome watertight and strengthening the foundations of the building.

Today the mosque is owned by Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS).

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa at :
Places - Kampong Glam

Sources

"Masjid Hajjah Fatimah" (19 March 2012). Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masjid_Hajjah_Fatimah.

"Hajjah Fatimah Mosque" (05 January 2003). Edian AZRAH & Joanna TAN, National Library Singapore. Retrieved from http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_259_2005-01-06.html.

"Hajjah Fatimah Mosque" (19 March 2012). Preservation of Monuments Board. Retrieved from http://www.pmb.sg/?page_id=174.

Seen & Heard - Flowers Underground & Overnight Queue

1:43 PM Events, Marina Bay, Seen & Heard, South

Marina Bay Sands
South, Singapore
March 2012

Merlion Wayfarer was in Marina Bay Sands recently and spotted two interesting occurrences:

"Flowers" were planted in the underground part of the canal along MBS. Hmmm, who would look at these beauties in such low light conditions and in such a location?

iPhone 4s was about to be launched. And people are already queueing up overnight 12 hours ahead of the launch...

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa at :
Seen & Heard

Weekday Sunset By The Bay

1:42 PM Architecture, Events, Marina Bay, South, Sunsets

Marina Bay
South, Singapore

March 2012

Merlion Wayfarer discovered that sunset on a weekday at Marina Bay Sands can be a peacefully relaxing and beautiful experience...

Sit by the steps to watch the sky slowly change colour from blue to hues of orange, pink and gold...

As twilight approaches, one by one, the buildings in the business district light up...

The Esplanade with its lighted rooftop spikes...

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa at : Places - Marina Bay

Light Meets Asia

1:41 PM Events, iLight, Marina Bay, South

i Light Marina Bay 2012
Marina Bay
South, Singapore

March 2012

iLight Marina Bay, Asia's first and only sustainable light art festival was first held from 15 October to 7 November in 2010. Presented by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and organised by Smart Light Singapore (SLS), the event celebrated Marina Bay's nightscape through the showcase of 25 dynamic and innovative light art installations along the 3.5km waterfront promenade.

The installations made use of energy-efficient lighting and created awareness for energy-saving lighting technology for the urban environment. The "Switch Off, Turn Up" campaign kicked off a programme supported by Marina Bay stakeholders to Switch Off non essential lighting and Turn Up air-conditioning temperatures for the festival period. This initiative has come about to offset energy usage and promote energy savings from lighting. Programmes and fringe activities targeting families, students, industry professionals and the general public were also planned as part of the Festival. The inaugural festival was a substantial success and was attended by more than 433,000 visitors over a three-week duration, of which approximately 71,031 were international visitors.

This is the second edition of iLight Marina Bay, and will be held from 09 March to 01 April 2012. Themed "Light Meets Asia", the sophomore will feature more than 30 innovative and environmentally sustainable light art installations, with a strong focus on works from Asia.

The Festival's curatorial team is helmed by Festival Director Mary-Anne Kyriakou, and includes two co-curators: Charmaine Toh, a Singapore visual arts curator; and the team from Singapore award-winning design studio FARM. In line with the theme "Light Meets Asia", the final selection of installations features a strong representation from new, emerging, and well-known artists from countries across Asia, including Singapore.

Through its translucent surface, Shinya Okuda's "BioShell" invites passers-by to step into a three-dimensional “light boundary”, entering a space which evokes a gentle feeling of kinship between humans and nature...

Through "Fancy/Lightweight", Cornelia Erdmann creates a refreshing spatial breeze through fan-like sculptural shapes which frame and segment the space, offering the audience an altered experience of a familiar place. The numerous LED wires are broadly spread on one side and come together on the other end, forming three-dimensional fan structures...

"Garden of Light" by Hexogon Solution is an ambitious projection on the surface of the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands incorporating a variety of light and sound effects to tell a story about environmental sustainability and highlight the beauty of the natural world. The projectors make no impact on the surface of the Art Science Museum but create a spectacular effect visible from several vantage points throughout Marina Bay...

Originally commissioned for the Fête des Lumières in Lyon, Groupe LAPS, a group of six artists and designers, makes use of LED light tubes to create Key Frames, a display of more than twenty static stick figures. When paired with an electrifying soundtrack, the lights create a choreographed display which evokes movement, activity and a festive atmosphere...

Whether a path to another realm, another level of spirituality or simply another beginning, Li Hui’s "The Gate" is a powerful image of passage and enlightenment. Hundreds of small beams of low intensity laser light frame the entryway and radiate straight past the viewer, splashing red into eternity...

"Illumination Disorders II" by Tay Swee Siong is an interactive floral-inspired sculpture which lights up with coloured LEDs in response to the voices of visitors. Items such as discarded plastic bottle caps and unwanted nylon fabric are assembled into beautiful forms in this sculpture...

A festival artist creates cute little characters from dough,
while a gigantic big-jawed spider turns into a surprising appreciator of the arts...

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa at :
Events - i Light Marina Bay

Sources

"About the Festival" (19 March 2012). Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Pico. Retrieved from http://www.ilightmarinabay.sg/about_festival.html (Expired as of 2014).

Duran Duran 2012 - "All You Need Is Now" World Tour

9:10 AM Central, Entertainment, Events, Invites, Kallang River, Music

Duran Duran "All You Need Is Now" World Tour
Singapore Indoor Stadium

10 March 2012

Duran Duran is an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. The group was formed by Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Stephen Duffy, with the later addition of Roger Taylor and, after numerous personnel changes, Andy Taylor and Simon Le Bon. The group has never disbanded, but the lineup has changed to include guitarist Warren Cuccurullo from 1989 to 2001 and drummer Sterling Campbell from 1989 to 1991.

They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. Since the 1980s, they have placed 14 singles in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100 and have, according to the Sunday Mercury, sold more than 100 million records.

While they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene along with bands such as Spandau Ballet when they first emerged, they later shed this image. The band worked with fashion designers to build a sharp and elegant image that earned them the nickname "the prettiest boys in rock."

The band's controversial videos, which included partial nudity and suggestions of sexuality, became popular in the early 1980s on the then-new music video channel MTV. Duran Duran were among the first bands to have their videos shot by professional directors with 35 mm film movie cameras, which gave their videos a much more polished look. In 1984, the band were early innovators with video technology in their live stadium shows.

The reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the band's fans and music media.

All You Need Is Now Tour is an ongoing worldwide concert tour in support of the group's 13th studio album, All You Need Is Now, which was released exclusively on iTunes on 21 December 2010. The expanded physical album and various format special packages was released in 22 March 2011. There was a warm up show in London and it officially started on 16 March 2011 in Austin, Texas.

The stage before it all started...

Evergreen hits like Notorious, Hungry Like The Wolf, Come Undone were belted out, much to the delight of the audience of mostly expatriates and locals in the 30s and 40s. It was a back-in-time feeling!