19 acts in Sentosa Buskers Festival 2014

Some come from as far away as Chile and there are drumming monkeys, a blues musician and a grumpy queen. Nineteen buskers, including nine from Singapore, are performing between Palawan Beach and Beach Plaza, Sentosa.

They were brought in by Sentosa Leisure Management for the Sentosa Buskers Festival 2014. Assistant Creative Director of Entertainment and Programming, Ms Regina Chia, said the festival, which kicked off last weekend, is seeing a larger number of visitors than in previous years.

"We are pleased to see families from both Singapore and overseas enjoying themselves... They were even able to try their hand and learn circus tricks at the Let Me Try interactive zones," she added.

One act bound to catch your attention is that performed by Australian Aerial Manx, 28, who does a sword-swallowing act. Said Mr Manx, who has been a street performer for eight years: "I grew up learning martial arts and started in the circus at the age of 15."

Breathing fire

When asked why he chose busking as a profession, he said: "I want to entertain and make people happy with my performance." Other performances to watch out for include fire breathers Flaming Matrix and The Tripping Man, Mr Edwin Johnson.

Watching Mr Johnson at work is a novel experience. His gravity-defying stunts make it look like he can control gravity.

Sentosa Leisure Management's Jamie Tay said: "Everyone liked the Leaning Man from the previous year's festival so we decided to bring in different figurines like The Tripping Man and Grumpy Queen Vic to this year festival."

For the very first time, Sentosa Buskers Festival will head to the city, making busking more accessible to Singaporeans. (See details above.) They will be performing on Sentosa till Sept 14.

Sentosa Buskers Festival

When: Starts at 4.30pm daily, until Sept 14

Where: Palawan Beach and Beach Plaza, Sentosa

Admission: Free

Catch the acts at orchard: For the very first time, Sentosa Buskers Festival will head to the city, making busking more accessible to Singaporeans. You can catch some of the acts between 12pm and 2pm at Ion Orchard tomorrow.

This article was published on Sept 10 in The New Paper.

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