WOMAD Singapore, 25 August 2007

I have always been an avid fan of music festivals. When I moved here in 2000, one of the annual events I always look forward to is WOMAD (http://www.womadsingapore.com/). Come August every year, it never fails to make me look forward to a Saturday of non stop dancing to the beat of different kinds of music from all over the world.

This year is the 10th year anniversary of WOMAD and was supposed to have been the best. But sad to say, this year was the saddest for me. The music that Saturday night was still the best (well after conversing with my two colleagues who watched the Friday and Sunday night gigs). At the main stage, the gig was started by the band from Japan, OKI Dub Ainu Band. Its lead player 'Oki Kano is a master of the tonkori, a traditional five-stringed instrument of the Ainu people from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.' They played a fusion of reggae, electronica and African rhtyhms blended with their traditional Ainu music which was quite spectacular. First time for me to hear and see a Japanese band play reggae type of music. And they managed to enthrall the audience that night as their fusion music (reggae rhythm and Ainu sounds) mixed well.

Even the highlight of the night, Youssou N'Dour and the Super Eoile de Dakar from Senegal only managed to make me dance to some of their music, especially when they sang '7 seconds'. 'Its not a second, but 7 seconds of waiting, for just as long as i stay, i'll be waiting.' Really brought the house down!

But I also felt a bit sentimental while listening to them and then wishing that the one person in this world I have been waiting was there with me that night. While I was singing I remember I was smiling and saying to myself, yeah it is not 7 seconds for me, hoping it is only 7 more days and then could not translate that into seconds. I would need to ask my babe to compute for me. LOL!

Then a thought came to my mind that most likely this is my last WOMAD in Singapore. So I tried to savor the images in my mind and then knows that wherever I find myself in the future, music will always be part of my life.....'it's not a second, but 7 seconds of waiting, for just as long as i stay, i'll be waiting.'