Pesta Raya celebrates the Malay archipelago's heritage and arts
PUBLISHED ONJune 30, 2014 9:18 AM
SINGAPORE - Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay will be celebrating the rich heritage and beauty of arts from the Malay archipelago with the Malay Festival of Arts from Aug 28 to 31.
This year's Pesta Raya is inspired by the idea of merantau, which means to travel or voyage.
For four days, the centre will come alive with some of the best traditional and contemporary Malay music, theatre and dance from Southeast Asia.
The annual festival coincides with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festivities and features seven ticketed productions and more than 35 non-ticketed performances, which include two festival commissions and a new work by renowned Indonesian composer - Rahayu Supanggah.
Rydwan Anwar, producer of The Esplanade Co Ltd said: "Revolving around the idea of merantau, the programmes at Pesta Raya look at the confluence of regional cultures and influences. We are also proud to present three new Asian works in the span of this four-day festival."
"Our two festival commissions, Wanita and Kuat Ketam Kerana Penyepit, Kuat Burung Kerana Sayap, showcase our local actors and directors. Audiences can also look forward to Sakti which is the first large scale gamelan-based music concert at our Concert Hall that has been specially reworked into a full production for the festival."
In conjunction with Pesta Raya, the centre will organise a series of clay-making workshops titled Preserving Stories, for children from Fei Yue Student Care Centre (Choa Chu Kang) and PPIS Student Care Centre (Jurong).
Participants will be guided to recreate animal characters from popular Malay animal fables, using paper clay and a range of art mediums. The completed mixed media animal sculptures will be displayed on Esplanade's Community Wall from Aug 15 to 31.
Tickets for Pesta Raya - Malay Festival of Arts 2014 are available from Esplanade's Box Office at Mezzanine level (Tel: 6828 8377), the SISTIC Hotline (Tel: 6348 5555) and all SISTIC outlets. For more information, visit www.pestaraya.com.
minlee@sph.com.sg