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Singapore Chinese Orchestra and choreographer Osman bin Abdul Hamid to open 2024/2025 season with cross-cultural 'Seamless' concert

Singapore Chinese Orchestra and choreographer Osman bin Abdul Hamid to open 2024/2025 season with cross-cultural 'Seamless' concert

Estimated: 6 mins  reading

As your ears take in the sounds of a live Chinese orchestra, your eyes are treated to an elegant Malay dance display. This unusual, yet fascinating collision of cultures and disciplines is what awaits you at the Singapore Chinese Orchestra's (SCO) Seamless concert.

Set to be held on 20 July, the event will open Singapore's sole professional national Chinese orchestra's forthcoming 2024/2025 season, which will put the spotlight on Singapore's multiculturalism by bringing together different mediums and art forms.

"In Seamless, the spirit of art is united in diversity, and beauty is created through confluence of cultures and art forms," explained Quek Ling Kiong, the SCO's Principal Conductor.

He added: "You will experience the beauty of Chinese classics, essence of Chinese opera, adored folk tunes and local favourites. Be mesmerised by the synergies from the merging of art forms, such as visual arts, dance and vocals, with Chinese orchestral music."

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Conducted by Quek, the Seamless concert will see the SCO take the stage alongside Era Dance Theatre, a Singapore-based Malay dance company led by Osman bin Abdul Hamid, its artistic director, choreographer, and co-founder. 

A veteran in Singapore's arts scene, the Cultural Medallion recipient has over 40 years of experience as a practitioner of Malay dance and is known for his efforts to push the envelope for the art form through experimentation and cross-cultural collaborations.

 
 
 
 
 
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An experimental spirit 

Osman, who was a school sportsman before coming under the tutelage of dance teacher Salleh Buang in 1977, has always believed in an open-minded approach towards making art. Rather than staying within the confines set by what has come before, he lets his curiosity and observations about the world around him guide his creative process. 

He said of the inspiration behind his brand of Malay dance: "Previously, Malay dance was seen as not so energetic. But I'm a sports person, so I merge or blend in some energetic movements into Malay dance, like jumping, rolling on the floor, climbing, and all because that is also like kampung life. You climb trees, you swim across the river — all these things I incorporate into my choreography." 

Osman also remarked that Malay dance has evolved to become more "creative", "colourful", and "open", and reaffirmed his commitment to continue searching for new ways of bringing the art form to his audiences.

Having a seamless cross-cultural exchange

Having previously worked with the SCO on its Zheng He – Admiral of the Seven Seas concert in 2005 and choreographed a performance by China's Xiamen Arts Center, Osman is no stranger to bringing different cultures together. However, choreographing for Seamless, particularly its penultimate piece 'The Sisters’ Islands', has been no mean feat.

He explained: "As a choreographer, I need to understand the story behind it [the music], and then the values that we bring along with it. And then [I] definitely need to merge Malay dance into a Chinese instrumentation, which is something that I needed to digest. And also, the dancers need to understand how the orchestra [would be] played. That's the most challenging part. And for me, to understand how to blend the Malay movements into a Chinese orchestra."

While most may first take notice of the great differences between two cultures — the Chinese and Malay cultures, in this context — Osman believes these are not the only things one should be paying attention to upon encountering a new community. 

He said of what he has learnt from his experiences of working on cross-cultural projects: "I think along the way, we found that there are similarities among us because I think somewhere we crossed with each other in the previous centuries."

What is most important when trying to learn about another culture? For Osman, it is the desire to understand the values that its people hold dear. 

"I think when we have values, we understand things much better," he said. 

Kicking off a new season with a surprise

Nearly two decades after his aforementioned team-up with the SCO, Osman hopes to stage a performance that will introduce concert-goers unfamiliar with his earlier works to cross-cultural collaborations. 

Aside from taking into account the tastes and preferences of the modern audience, he has also been preparing some surprises "not known to the Malay tradition", which he hopes the concert-goers will experience for themselves when they attend Seamless.

While Osman chose to remain tight-lipped about how exactly he intends to surprise the audience, he shared that he was inspired to do so after coming across elements he found intriguing while listening to 'The Sisters’ Islands'.

"When I hear the song, it has a lot of surprise sounds that I hear. So to me, it gives me some inspiration in how do I interpret this piece. When he (composer Wang Chenwei) has the rendak zapin and asli in his composition, I find that it's a bit not in sync with my ear, as I hear a Malay zapin, Malay asli music. But that really intrigued me to thinking what is the sound about? We shouldn’t say it’s wrong as compared to the original, traditional zapin or the asli music," he shared.

Osman continued: "That is music, there's always a surprise element here. Now, how do I balance these surprises? This is what I need to think about."

He also teased that he will be working with the orchestra to use the concert venue's physical space to bring the surprise he has been planning to life. 

Finding inspiration within

For Osman, taking on new challenges, such as working with the SCO, and exploring new ways of making art are what keep him inspired as a creative. Believing that each individual is unique, he seeks not to be a source of inspiration, but rather someone who can show his audience and other creatives where to search for it.

"You shouldn’t look at others to inspire you. You have to inspire yourself, and this is most important. Then, you’ll be able to find something new in these collaborations. And then your new ideas will always come out and tell you how you can tweak [them] a little bit here [and] a little bit there. And then it becomes a beautiful, colourful, and inspiring picture," he explained. 

Even though he is still in the midst of preparing for Seamless, Osman has already begun to look beyond the upcoming concert and consider new ways of bringing cultures together. 

He shared his wish for the future: "I wish that I could work closely with the composer [and] SCO to design the music and the dance. It’s a creative process where you discuss with the composer and you share your ideas. I had this idea of having a big cloth coming down, and then you stretch [it] open [and] you have a soloist playing in the middle. It’s more visual that way."

It may be some time before this new idea of Osman's comes to fruition, but music lovers looking to learn more about Osman and his work need not wait long. In just two months, he, alongside the SCO, will turn the SCO Concert Hall into the setting of a vibrant marriage of cultures, one that will further pique the curiosity of attendees and leave them looking forward to what else he has in store.

Seamless will be happening at the SCO Concert Hall at 7:30 PM on 20 July. Tickets, priced from SGD 20, are available here.