Singapore’s Civic District celebrates 200 years of history with Light to Night Festival 2019 – Bicentennial Edition.
Followers of Singaporean night events would know by now. This year’s Light to Night Festival is divided into two phases, with official literature promoting the phases as two separate and unique experiences.
To be quite, erm … honest, I was more than a little sceptical about this. I mean, it’s the same sort of show at the same civic district landmarks. The same timings too.
How different could they be?
Well, guess what? They are indeed different! Art Week was decisively avant-garde and adventurous in feel. The Bicentennial Edition, on the other hand, adopts a more traditional storytelling and celebratory direction.
Because it’s meant to celebrate Singapore’s journey to being a modern nation, many of the “Bicentennial” light projections have a more distinctive Singaporean taste too. At the same time, accompanying soundtracks all displayed a strong cultural identity. One track even included a motif from the national anthem.
Light to Night Festival 2019 – Bicentennial Edition
Let me end this post by saying, I enjoyed the Bicentennial Edition light projections more than the Art Week ones.
Not that one was superior to the other; it’s impossible to compare with both being so different. But having near entirely photographed avant-garde and new-age displays over the last two years, it was refreshing for me to see projections built on classic concepts.
Not to mention, I enjoyed the accompanying music more too. After listening to the score for Sayang di Sayang, I’m now of half a mind to try my hand at arranging our national anthem for the Electone.
Update Feb 1, 2019
Went back to grab a shot of the festive food market while I was visiting i Light Singapore 2019. Couldn’t do so on Monday as the market only operates on weekends.
This surprised me a little as I expected the usual hipster food gathering. Well, it’s still hipster food, but the overall scale is smaller than those in other events. The way it’s located on a street also invokes memories of the open-air food streets of yesteryears.
Very thoughtful approach, I have to say.
Read my other Festive Celebrations in Singapore posts.
