I’m sure everyone is familiar with Ernest Zachaveric’s street art and installation around George Town – it was during one of this yearly GTF that he produced these artworks that has bought attention to his skills. He is just one of the many artist that have their installations around George Town long after the GTF is over.
Paul had a booth set up at the esplanade where each group of friends or family, had their images taken. These images are later fused together to create one portrait. At the end of the project, he aims to fuse all the portrait he’s taken over the course of this project to create one unanimous image that represents Malaysia.
*The tickets were cheap as chips for the artist line-up that would cost 10 times more to watch each artist individually at any given time.
I had the leisure of picking a spot, even nabbed a bean bag to be comfy, to watch the entire show in comfort. Of course the sitting down didn’t last long – I ended up some where in the front row standing and singing along to some of the tunes. Although the artist varied among the two days, I felt that the best line up was on Sunday. It had Joe Flizzow, Dasha Logan, Sheila Majid and Raisa to name a few.
While Dasha Logan finished her set, I was ushered backstage to meet Raisa an Indonesian songstress that has been creating waves since she started her career. This was least expected as all I wanted was to be in the media area, taking close up pictures for this post. A friend, who was managing the event, was kind enough to ask me to follow the rest of the entourage to head back stage – surprise, surprise there was Raisa.
First hand impression – she’s sweet, funny and pretty bubbly. As much as I wanted to stay longer and chat, Sheila Majid was a more important cause of exit. 30 years in the industry and this would be the first time I’ve ever watched her perform live. I won’t say I’m her number one fan and that I know all her tracks but I sure do remember one song from her that made an impression on me; the one song that I love above all others from local artists – ‘Lagenda’.
While Sheila’s songs were of the Jazz and R&B genre, her daughter KAYDA is on the other side of the spectrum – rap. KAYDA is singer-songwriter in her own right. Still fairly new in the industry, this young lady is one to watch out for, for I am sure she has a lot more in store for us. Its was beautiful to see both mother and daughter perform together singing ‘Sinaran’ fusing their different styles into one.
The night ended with Raisa’s set. Powerful vocals and harmonious melodies, she was a perfect ending to the night.
Its safe to say that its a good start to GTF and the list of shows just keeps getting better each year. So if you’re heading out this Penang this month, look up George Town Festival’s event calendar and plan wisely. Not all shows will go on for a month, some would be just over the weekend like this one so do check if you don’t want to miss out!