Sound garden
Published: ASIA
SINGAPORE: Having completed its first outing, the Timbre Rock and Roots festival is bringing a new crop of musical talent to Singapore’s music community.
The end of March saw a new music event launched in Singapore, when local company Timbre Music (of the Ublues Group) and Australia-based Bluesfest teamed up to present the first Timbre Rock and Roots festival – a new approach to live music in Singapore, that promises to deliver bands from around the world with musicianship at its heart.
Bluesfest is already well established in Australia, having regularly hosted an international line-up of musicians in Byron Bay for more than 20 years. The festival encompasses blues, world music, roots music and a hybrid of these and other cultural styles under one umbrella, labelled Blues and Roots Music. It is now the aim to bring this genre into Singapore, filling a gap in Singapore’s current music scene.
The collaboration came about when Singapore band Ublues played at the Byron Bay Bluesfest back in 2004. Ublues guitarist Danny Loong, who is also creative director of the Ublues Group, struck up a discussion with festival director and Bluesfest CEO Peter Noble, and together they hatched a plan to create a music festival in Singapore. Mr Loong and Edward Chia, Timbre Rock and Roots co-festival director, explained how they had been searching for a new concept for Singapore’s music scene: ‘We wanted to bring something new to Singapore and the opportunity to team up with Peter and Bluesfest presented itself. Timbre Rock and Roots is a new concept for Singapore, a celebration of food, drink and quality musicianship. We’ll start modestly this first year, and grow the festival organically over the next few years.’
Peter Noble, the festival’s other director, stresses the importance of finding the right partner with a determined long-term commitment to grow the event: ‘I am delighted to work with Timbre,’ he says. ‘Our relationship is symbiotic – where Bluesfest delivers the talent, Timbre has a keen sense of what people want in Singapore and has its ear close to the ground. It’s a good match between our two organisations and we’re both committed to the long-term goal of creating a new music festival for Singapore.’
The Timbre Rock and Roots concept is to bring together quality musicians and acts, regardless of their origins. This first Timbre Rock and Roots hosted nine bands over two nights, including Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club (from Cuba), Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra (UK), Buddy Guy and The Fray (US), Gipsy Kings (France), Opshop (NZ), Gugun and Blues Shelter (Indonesia), and Singapore-based Blues Train and Alarice. This was an impressive line-up for a first event and should enable Timbre Rock and Roots’ organisers to garner more sponsorship for the festival’s next outing, planned for 2011.
The team chose a new venue at Marina Promenade, located by the Singapore F1 track and in the shadow of the Singapore Flyer. Like Fort Canning, Marina Promenade is an open-air venue with plenty of space, but unlike Fort Canning, it’s blessed with a light breeze from Marina Bay. An LED screen was placed either side of the stage and a selection of food and drink outlets were located around the grounds.
ShowTec was appointed by Timbre to supply the audio equipment and manage the show’s production. Henry Ang, managing director of the ShowTec Group, was happy to say they’d been appointed in part because of their long-standing relationship with Timbre, and also because of competitiveness on price and overall quality of service. ‘We are able to provide a full all-round service, including gear hire and production services and ensure the bands have everything they need,’ he adds.
Aside from achieving a clear sound, festival chief production engineer, Kamal Adam Litak, had one overriding concern for the festival – he wanted to be sure of providing swift changeovers and line checks for each band, which was no mean feat, especially with big band set-ups like Jools Holland and his 26-piece orchestra. He elected to use a Yamaha PM5D digital mixer for front-of-house and stage monitoring, and selected d&b audiotechnic J-Series and Logic Ethos VA loudspeakers. The d&b J-Series is known for its long throw reinforcement, making it suitable for the large open space of the Marina Promenade, and it has the additional benefit of being weather protected. The front-of-house speakers were flown d&b J-Series J8s – 10 on each side – and two J12’s either side. Four Jsubs per side were flown on the outer rig and eight other Jsubs ground stacked in front, plus four M4s for the front fill. All were driven by the d&b D-12 amplifier rack. Logic’s Ethos VA full-range systems were used for the bands monitor mix on-stage, combined with Ethos Nd315 and Nd218 subs. Also used on the stage were Nexo PS15 floor monitors – 24 by Jools Holland and his orchestra. Sennheiser SR350 IEM G2 rack-mounted twin transmitters, and EK300 IEM G2 in-ear monitoring receivers were also used for bands that didn’t require monitor speakers.
While some of the bands brought their own microphones, ShowTec predominantly used the Shure KSM9 for its switchable polar pattern (which was good for the wide variety of vocalists at the festival) and wireless Shure UR2 systems. The wireless mics were used in conjunction with the Shure UR4d wireless receiver and the Shure UR wireless handheld transmitter. The audio distribution system was the ever-reliable XTA DS800, which was used in conjunction with the Nexus Base Device. The Nexus was selected for its versatility, providing all necessary I/O resources with the optical interconnections carrying all audio and control data in a digital format.
For Singapore music fans, Timbre Rock and Roots represents an exciting new direction for the local music scene, with a distinct appeal to audiophiles regardless of age and nationality – in keeping with Australian Rock and Roots, which prides itself on being an all ages family event. If Rock and Roots is about passion for music and respect for musicianship, hopefully the Singapore arm of the festival will grow into an event attracting a regional audience and set itself firmly on the map of live music events.