Singapore City Guide - Culture

Despite its ultra-modern, futuristic façade, culture and religion remain entwined in Singapore, far more than in the West. Throughout the year, a constant stream of festivals and celebrations in the streets and temples reflect the diverse beliefs and backgrounds of this multicultural society, comprising of Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs. The Chinese calendar dominates and the Chinese New Year is the biggest festival of all, where everything shuts for several days.

The city's art scene reflects the flavours of the region, with Malay, Chinese and Indian performances, art and music. Mainstream performing arts are also well represented, culminating in the Singapore Arts Festival (website: www.singaporeartsfest.com) held every June, which attracts international dance, theatre and music groups. Performers from overseas tend to be heavily oversubscribed and tickets should be booked well in advance; local performers are easier to see. Popular events also include local productions of Broadway hits. Free musical and theatrical performances are held regularly in local parks.

Singapore is a good place to view and purchase local and Asian art and its cultural diversity means that local artists cover a broad palette of themes and styles. Notable galleries include the Singapore Art Museum, Bras Basah Road (tel: 6332 3222; website: www.nhb.gov.sg) and Artfolio, Raffles Hotel (tel: 6334 4677; website: www.artfolio.com.sg). Art2 at The Substation, Armenian Street (tel: 6337 7535; website: www.substation.org) specialises in contemporary works and the ARTrium, the galleries on the ground floor of the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts,  MICA Building, 140 Hill Street (tel: 6270 7988; website: www.mica.gov.sg) is also worth a visit. A full list of independent and commercial art galleries is available from the Art Galleries Association (tel: 6235 4113; website: www.agas.org.sg) and from their member galleries.

Local newspapers (the biggest English-language paper is the Straits Times) carry lists of daily events, and I-S Magazine is a free publication with good listings and reviews for exhibitions, dance, art and music. Additional information can be obtained from the National Arts Council (tel: 6746 4622; website: www.nac.gov.sg) or through the Singapore Tourism Board. Tickets can be booked through Sistic (tel: 6348 5555; website: www.sistic.com.sg) or Ticketcharge (tel: 6296 2929; website: www.ticketcharge.com.sg).

Music: The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (tel: 6338 1230; website: www.sso.org.sg) gives regular performances including every Friday, Saturday and some Sundays at the Victoria Concert Hall, Empress Place (tel: 6338 6125; website: www.vch.org.sg), and at its home, the Esplanade Concert Hall (tel: 6828 8222; website: www.esplanade.com/) as well as open-air concerts. Founded in 1979, the SSO bridges Asian and Western music and has a growing, if still fragile, reputation helped by the occasional international tour. The Singapore Chinese Opera (tel: 6440 3839; website: www.sco.com.sg) performs Chinese opera at its headquarters, the Singapore Conference Hall, 7 Shenton Way (tel: 6440 3839; website: www.sch.org.sg). Singapore Lyric Opera, 155 Waterloo Street (tel: 6336 1929; website: www.singaporeopera.com.sg), usually performs Western classical pieces, occasionally fusion, at assorted venues. The National Arts Council (tel: 6746 4622; website: www.nac.gov.sg) organises alfresco concerts by local arts companies in parks. For a truly local experience, a Wayang is a Chinese Opera, usually in Mandarin. These highly elaborate performances are most often held during August and September during the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Theatre: Local groups are extremely energetic in producing contemporary theatre with an Asian flavour, reflecting Singapore's ethnic diversity. The newest and largest venue for performing arts, The Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, 1 Esplanade Drive (tel: 6828 8222; website: www.esplanade.com), is a waterfront complex containing a concert hall, recital studio, two theatres and an art gallery. Plays are often performed in Mandarin, with English subtitles. Some of the more prolific theatre companies include: Singapore Repertory Theatre, Cecil Street (tel: 6221 5585; website: www.srt.com.sg), showcasing at the DBS Arts Centre, 6 Shenton Way (tel: 6733 8166); TheatreWorks, 72/13 Mohammed Sultan Road (tel: 6737 7213; website: www.theatreworks.org.sg) has both a Singapore Wing and International Wing and develops its two strands; and feisty Wild Rice (tel: 6292 2695; website: www.wildrice.com.sg). The Substation, 45 Armenian Street (tel: 6337 7535; website: www.substation.org), shows modern, experimental drama.

Dance: Ecnad Project (tel: 6226 6772; website: www.ecnad.org), is a young professional performing arts group going strong for over a decade, renowned for its cutting-edge, dynamic performances. Its base is at the Telok Ayer Performing Arts Centre, 182 Cecil Street. The Singapore Dance Theatre (tel: 6338 0611; website: www.singaporedancetheatre.com) performs classical dance and ballet and is based at Fort Canning Centre, Cox Terrace, Canning Park. One of the city's most popular events is their Ballet Under the Stars, held at Fort Canning Hill in July.

Film: The annual Singapore International Film Festival in April (website: www.filmfest.org.sg) features documentaries and films from around the globe, in addition to other foreign film festivals throughout the year. The Starlight Cinema festival (website: www.starlightcinema.com) is a one-month season of outdoor screenings in Fort Canning Green, from mid-June. Mainstream films, predominantly Hollywood blockbusters, are highly popular and often sold out.

Singapore's main cinemas for English language films include Cathay Orchard, 8 Grange Road, and Cathay Causeway Point, 1 Woodlands Square (tel: 6235 1155; website: www.cathay.com.sg); Lido Cineplex, Shaw House, 350 Orchard Road; Bugis, Parco Bugis Junction; Balastier, Shaw Plaza, 360 Balastier Road, Prince/Jade, Shaw Tower, 100 Beach Road (all at tel: 6738 0555; website: www.shaw.com.sg); and Golden Village, 68 Orchard oad (booking hotline tel: 1 900 912 1234; info 6334 3766; website: www.gv.com.sg). There are no art cinemas, but the Alliance Française, 1 Sarkies Road (tel: 6737 8422; website: www.alliancefrancaise.org.sg) screens mainstream and alternative French films every Tuesday at the Ciné Club.

Literary Notes: 'When in Singapore, feed at Raffles.' It was a good piece of marketing for the hotel by Rudyard Kipling, who came to Singapore after leaving India in 1889. In fact, Kipling spoke of 'a place called Raffles Hotel, where the food is as excellent as the rooms are bad'.

Raffles has, for over a century, been fertile writing ground for many authors, including Hermann Hesse, Joseph Conrad, Noel Coward, Somerset Maugham and James Michener - and in their honour the Writer's Bar was named. More than any other, Somerset Maugham sought inspiration on several visits to the island. His short stories of Singaporean colonial life include The Outstation, Yellow Streak, The Casuarina Tree (1926), and the controversial The Letter (1927), about the real-life murder of her lover by a rubber planter's wife.

More recently, Singapore's story is told through the man mainly responsible for its success; the former Prime Minister and now Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, grandson of a Hakka coolie from China. His memoirs From Third World to First - The Singapore Story: 1965-2000 (2000) recount the events leading up to Singapore's Independence, from British colonial rule through Japanese occupation and Communist insurrection. Defending the Lion City (2000) by Tim Huxley is the first-ever major study of the Singapore Armed Forces and analyses its military strategy, outlook and policies.

Prominent contemporary Singaporean novelists include Hwee Hwee Tan, whose Foreign Bodies: A Novel (1999) tells of an authoritarian state in which three rootless friends become implicated in an international soccer gambling syndicate. Mammon Inc. (2001), her latest novel, is a cutting satire of our times. A very different Singapore is portrayed in Catherine Lim's The Bondmaid (1997), set in the 1950s, which paints a picture of a Singapore entwined with its Chinese roots, traditions and beliefs. Two popular recent reads are Got Singapore (2002), a collection of articles and stories by journalist Richard Lim, with a personal and humorous testimony about his experiences from the 1960s to the 1980s. In Notes from an Even Smaller Island (2002), Neil Humphreys dissects the culture and lifestyle of Singapore from an expat's viewpoint. Set in Singapore during WWII, The Singapore Grip by JG Farrell (2005) tells of a city under siege, and the trials and tribulations of the very British and powerful Walter Blackett. This is the final novel in Farrell's ‘Empire Trilogy'.