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| Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Our Sonic Bash : Sonic Festival 04 Sonic Festival is the annual Christian arts festival. We question if the festival was truly cutting edge, review our insider artistic contributions and hear other people tell it as it is. Also, an interview with Phileo! SF04 was held at St George's Church. 31st July 2004.Writers : Dawn Fung, Yang Ming, Spencer Ng, Charlene Lim More people are hearing of Sonic Festival. Is it fulfilling its function?  It was the best of days, it was the worst of days. No one could say God meant for rain to happen since prayer for sunshine was on the agenda. The fourth Sonic Festival was blessed with sporadic showers. Unlike Festival of Praise which caters to truckloads of churches, you might be left wondering if Sonic Festival has left 'family' out of its tag line, and for a good purpose. This is the space for alternative youths and interested participants who never thought Christianity could be loud, obtrusive and god forbid... artistic. In short, the relevance of Jesus in young people's lives lie open for address. Sonic Festival's strength lies in the freedom of worship expression. One view of the grounds took in the Main Stage area for big performances like Kiwi guest band, Form, the bohemian-imitating Village for smaller acoustic sets and market place wares, the Visual Gallery and a small room for theatre performances. This arrangement makes sense if you have been fighting with your brother for mike usage in a tweed studio - it tries to accommodate as many artist-kind that Christian circles have to offer. Unfortunately, this could be the problem that Sonic Festival faces.  jars of clay An alternative platform in Singapore for Christians have always been a good thing, in our minds. When put the to the test, how many good alternative artists do you know who are unashamedly Christian? Perhaps for that matter, the offers on the table look conventional. Samuel Teo, the curator for the Visual Gallery section of Sonic Festival has been faithfully gathering his Christian Artists for the annual showcase but the participants may not be the sonic edge that is advertised - pictures of roses and installations of broken pottery need to be exposited for young people to digest. Samuel admitted that the sounds from the stage were not his cup of tea, especially if the festival were to move across his block. On the other hand, input from young artists like Jerome Simon and his graffiti montage could be one step to bridging the edge. Faithfulness to attending or contributing to the festival might not mean encapsulating its vision. Perhaps it boils down to ignorance. When one receives a flyer that describes 'cutting-edge', you'll be hard pressed to find some definition even within the festival's strongest artistic expression - music. Depending on how you look at it, cutting edge within the Christian circles means a step away from Hillsongs. Cutting edge in the world music scene starts from Sigur Ross with his elvish language. Local artists like George Chua who attended the festival remarked, 'I was with a friend and he asked me if I thought the dance and music onstage was cutting edge. I look at Baybeats and I think that is done so well...How come Christian festivals pale in comparison with the quality of a secular counterpart?' Within a smaller space context of Sonic Edge ministry, the sounds of these bands might be better received but expansion, say of a larger stage and exposure, requires performative refinement. Even within theatre, my own experience in TAGS @ sonic fest leads me to confess that the state of the festival hinges on the attitude of its inhabitants - freedom from auditions might be at the expense of a dissatisfied audience. Inasmuch as young people in Singapore might not share Modernist tendencies to grope about streams of consciousness, the cultural barriers of language and behaviour increasingly widen with growing sophistication of our culture. Our media brings in better programmes than neighbouring countries offer, and our arts scene is very much vibrant, if still finding its flavour. Therefore, Singapore is adverse to poor design as opposed to weak design. Weak design seems to be our crutch - it is important for young Christian artists to know why and how artistic forms develop because external styles do not last, and we do not seem to have that developmental zone. It is time for Sonic Festivals in future to consider if being young and cutting edge should be synonymous with in-house training from older and more experienced artists. Kuo Pao Kun said before that experimentation without a knowledge of conventions is regarded as a mess. I like the idea that Christian arts groups should consider Sonic Festival as a standard for their craft and not half-hearted invitations. For the benefit of developing young artists and audiences who would most likely visit Sonic Festival, Christian based art training outfits like TAGS, Light Up!, Spirit Wind as well as church and secular programmes might be viable opportunities to consider for the rest of the year.  what is, and is not "cutting edge"? Christian artists have to contend with the fact that spaces like Sonic Festival have been created for us. Apart from Christ, nothing does matter, but it is good to have opportunities to let Him be known through some of our favourite expressions. We grouse at the lack of godliness in secular events but are hard pressed to perform well because of a difference in standards from the world. Supposing that nothing like Sonic Festival existed, something else might have sprung up because of our need to belong, as Christians, as artists, as both. When we are given the space, we are confronted with the reality if it was a true desire or a point to make about marginalisation. The latter would be a good reason for the dismal showing of Christian art on that Saturday. Christian artists should be against testing their safety in a kindred environment like Sonic Festival if they are for the idea of a shared platform of cutting edge ministry. Yet the heartbeat of all Christian causes is saving the lost. The technical flaws are glaring but the spiritual favour is evident. FORM and the Sonic Edge band on the Main Stage did not fail to bring the crowd into worship. When I did my rounds trying to sell our magazines, I came across Christians youths who obviously needed this type of outlet. To a mindset of a hungry generation, first impressions of where you hang out matter. The concept of Sonic Festival is a noble one to draw the young people in. While waiting for our one and only technical rehearsal slot, I caught Glenn Lim asleep in the back room. I stood rooted, not in fan gaze for the festival founder, but in quiet admiration of God's handiwork. I handed him our fresh copy of CreateLeVoyage when he stirred, "What's this?" Our latest print had Glenn's testimony on the inside which could be seen as a wonderful timed publication. When God showed you a glimpse of his sacrifice, it was hard not to cry. One could argue a success for Sonic Festival 04. This year saw a two fold increase in audience attendance compared to last year's. One of the gems is the team pride that has gone into Sonic Festival preparations. Jon Hemsley, a musician at Sonic Festival, was adamant that Sonic Festival would be different this year as God would prepare the artists for bigger things. With God, all things are possible and we are always ready to see the bright side. In truth, Sonic Festival 04 is a sign to Christian artists that if you have not the guts to train for the gospel, you should be wondering why you do art in the first place. ________________________ TAGS @ Sonic Festival Dawn took part in Sonic Festival as part of the TAGS group.  doris and aaron in "kitchen" It was our first time as writers and artists at Sonic Festival, Singapore's biggest party for Christians through arts. Invited by Leezibet, the theatre co-ordinator, the TAGS team was privy to the significance of the event in the theatre segment - it is underdeveloped. I write this in the hope that Christian artists in theatre would take up the challenge to own the time and space created just for them. Theatre never played second class to music at Sonic Festival even though the nice looking main stage opened and closed the day. The age old rumours of an unprepared and understated group of artists for the theatre segment rings true only if you rehearsed one night before and if you never went past the double doors of the theatre room to watch anything. The classroom cum theatre space created ideas as well as headaches for groups who were more used to the black box or a proscenium stage. Our experience as first-timers as festival artists were hindered by administrative than creative boundaries. While we thought about our art, we did not prepare for the publicity - any theatre participant should have allotted publicity timelines for their targets groups ahead of Sonic Festival by at least a month if they expected their crowd to show up. Theatre participants should also prepare leaflets describing their shows and contacts if they wanted any follow up with their audiences. TAGS @ Sonic Fest prepared itself by inviting Kimberly Creasman and Lucilla Teoh, old timers of Sonic Festival to break our mindsets of what Sonic Festival was about. I was personally apprehensive because our target group were Christian artists and not the mainstream public, who would find our performance difficult to comprehend. Subsequent TAGS Wednesdays were set aside for TAGS @ Sonic Fest as we prepared in prayer and word for our role in the event. We used Ezekiel 1 for our scriptural process and tried out various artistic exercises inspired from the passage. Just as FORM would be the guest star of the music stage, we felt that the Christian artists at the Sonic Festival were our guest stars who we could encourage and inspire through a showcase of different love languages personified in different rooms by different artists. TAGS @ Sonic Fest was facilitated by Andrew Ong, who spoke clearly about TAGS' showcase and during the forum. It was a first for us because we had not been clear in presenting our cause in our previous TAGSes. We were a platform for Christians in the arts to collaborate and support one another. Andrew initiated the showcase with 'dining room of words' where he blew random bits of tissue paper and a candle flame to illustrate the effect of words through visual design - our words can be violent, soft or gentle to the hearer. Doris Cen moved us with her guzheng worship in the 'bedroom of touch' - she felt that the love language of touch would be transmitted to the audience through music and a testimony. Aaron Ng created a mime with a knife prop for 'the kitchen of service' - his aim was to show that carving an orange with excellency stemmed from his obedience to Christ. Jui Hsiang Tan left a shirt and calligraphy pen to express 'porch of gifts', that in surrendering his dreams represented by items was the pre-requisite for giving to others. I showed 'living room of time' through the juxtaposition of spiritual and natural man in time - one is able to slip back and forth in history as the other forwards time through mundane activity like watching TV. One group's feedback was that they enjoyed seeing the gospel related in different ways but were apprehensive about using the methods in church. I hope that TAGS @ Sonic Fest would be a regular fixture to grow our audiences to be less afraid to tell God's story in alternative ways, in the vein that Theatre in the festival would develop better as Christian artists work together. The Theatre at Sonic Festival, which welcomes experimental and conventional forms of performance, would be a sure thing to watch in the coming years. ------------------- CLV talks to the people at sonic fest! It was fun padding on the after-shower smudgy ground chatting with all of you... "I thought if was well organised! We had wonderful weather too. The rain made it really cool in the afternoon. If not it would be otherwise! It's great seeing so many young people here. It is a good, wholesome way to spend their time. Praise God for so many races here; especially the Malays. I hope to see more people next time and more people of other races."  Laura, 22 and Pamela, 22. Laura sold T-shirts and the village. Pamela played keyboards for Outflow. "Of course! I'm from KL and we don't get this kind of thing there. This is alternative. It is life-changing. Not often do we get to see Christ-focused artists and musicians gathered together at one place. I would like to see secular bands brought in for sonic fest." Mark, 25 Mark played bass for the band Her Reverie. "I thought it was cool seeing people here use their artistic gift as a platform to express their inner thoughts and feelings. Music, art and craft are able to express more than words can do. It's great seeing them freely expressing themselves. Make SF a free event. Maybe that way we can get a bigger turn out." Sue, 24 "I thought it was exciting and cutting edge! What people have here is true passion : a passion for God. As people we want to feel passionate about things and many people find it in music, in their hobbies, in so many other things but God. Our original purpose to have passion for Jesus and that is what people at SF have. It's wonderful! More people. More people having passion for God. People getting saved." Themis Lin, 19, Despatched by Covenant Evangelical Free Church to help out as a prayer counselor for the altar all at the end of the festival. "It is different from the other sonic festivals. The emphasis this year is challenging. It has moved away from previous festivals which were that of evangelism. This year is more about worship and reaching out through worship. More people turning up. More people rising to be part of the festival and feeling like they are part of it, i.e. taking ownership of it. Not just standing at the fringe watching the show, but seriously taking part and wanting to take part. Most people come to be entertained and go home. They do not have much knowledge about worship music and many are uneducated about the local worship music scene. Unlike the parachute festival where people attend to see their favorite bands play and mob the arena, people here are uninformed. I would like to see more people use and develop their, may I add, God-given talent to serve him and draw people to him, instead of just using it in the ad-hoc church skit, drama and dance." John, 29, In charge of the merchandise at the festival - wakemeupmusic.com, the officials merchandiser for sonic fest 2004. ----------------------- PHILEO : WHERE BREAKING, R&B MUSIC AND GOD SOMEHOW MEET By Yang Ming  Here I am, sitting down at Yabba Do Do cafe at CityLink with the hip-hop Christian band, Phileo on a Saturday morning in amidst of the rain outside. Phileo, stands for "Brotherly Love" in Greek and true enough, they were like brothers in real-life. They started out through a common meeting ground at Emmanuel Assembly of God. Surprisingly, all of the dance members are in the same cell group. According to Joel, their dance item for SF04 is "Revolution - Do you want a revolution?" Only three out of the eight members band came as the rest of them had other commitments. Hosea, the leader is studying at the City Harvest School of Theology; Joel, the quiet and soft-spoken guy yet trying to get more vocal in directing his message, is doing his studies in Poly and Shaun, a quiet-mannered young man is in ITE Macpherson. Though separate in academics, they have a common interest: Dance. That is reason they are here, reaching the masses with a distinctive calling from God as they see themselves as army marching into a new world and sending their message across the medium of arts. Y: How did Phileo started? Hosea: Phileo is an established group that serves God, like the disciples of Christ. We don't just lean back in church and listen to sermons. Young people don't like to listen to sermons and some don't have the opportunity to hear the Pastor's preaching. So we bring them to Christian functions where people can know Christ. Besides, the younger generations are more open to arts and hip-hop is a growing culture, and this is how the spirit leads us. The four of us (Rayvin wasn't present at the time of the interview) form the core of the band. Y: How has the love of God nurtured you? Shaun: I guess I was with Hosea, at the performances of "Unseen" by Faith Community Baptist Church and somehow, I got saved there. Later, I caught up with Hosea on hip-hop to project the arts ministry. I want to make disciples of Christ. Joel: I was born in a Christian family and I didn't get to experience Him until during my 'O' levels at a camp. The first service I went with my friend at EAG, I felt the touch of God. It changed my life completely. I met Hosea and Shaun and we started Phileo. I just want to do what God wants me to do. Through the years of serving God, God still loves me. When I fall, God picks me up and heals me, spiritually and physically. H: Why we wanted to serve God is basically the love of God. We know that we serve a wonderful God. We apply God's life into our life. We shouldn't be the same; everyday we are being transformed by Him. God is molding us. Y: What kind of blessing has Phileo received from God? J: (laughs) Well, we will start from the studio. Every time we want something, we ask and pray and anything shall be given. We didn't expect a nice studio conveniently situated right across to our church. H: There are so many better dance groups and crews who have received sponsorship from big names like Adidas. But by the grace of God, we have had many opportunities to perform. S: Pastor Chris Long invited us to the Asia-Pacific Youth Conference where there were many delegates from all over the world so we represented Singapore. We did a song and dance item over there. H: We learn different things like co-operating and submission to one another. Like, "we just go with your idea" and etc. We want the best out of it. How long has Phileo performed in the Arts Ministry? H: The first time we got together was the talent competition, Supernova 2001. At that time, Phileo was formed. We break and dance; and by the grace of God, we won 1st prize. Joel wasn't around at that time. We are more of doing the casual thing. Our group has formed more than one and half years. When Planet Shakers (an Australia band) came down, we performed on the first night. Apart from that, we perform at special events. After Sonic Festival, we would want to relax and prepare ourselves for our studies. Through your experience, tell me how did you all impact and influence people into believing Jesus Christ. H: We haven't had the opportunity to have altar call and we are still in calling. We are still breaking the mindset of people that church is a boring place. We haven't preached the gospel yet. Indirectly, we make friends and help them draw closer to God. We hope to be unconventional. We are working on it. As stated in your e-mail, you said that 'hip-hop is no longer a niche sub-culture' and I know that hip-hop has become a pop culture in this so-called MTV generation. So how do you all secure the hope that people who are non-Christian be influence by Phileo? Do you feel that people are misinterpreting the wrong motives behind it because you are a hip-hop band? H: Hip-Hop is a new thing. People would consider church is a conservative society but the bible didn't say that hip-hop is wrong; it is a medium. The method is different but the message is the same. People have the wrong perception of us but inside, we are willing to live like Christ. When we entered the Asia-Pacific conference, eyes were on us. However, on the last night, a lot of people came up to us. One guy came to apologise, "I have the wrong conception about you and I have negative thoughts about you". Parents are quite apprehensive about us on hip-hop so we build good relationships with parents. They began to recognize we make a big effort to serve God. I guess maybe they think our group rather indulgent, 'they want to do things that they want to do'. But we seek God's will because it's for His glory. We want people to pay attention to us because we have something to say. Dancing is like an icing on the cake. What do you see yourselves in five year's time? S: Joel and I will be in bible school. H: We definitely want to have our message being broadcast. Hopefully, in five year's time, we can share with a bigger crowd. What are your individual ultimate dreams? H: Mass media. People might not hear Jesus widely. We want to be unconventional apostles - sharing and teaching gospels, writing for radio and cultivate young people in concert or big performances. Through songs, we want to outwardly professing Jesus in our songs. S: I guess it is for the whole group. Reaching out to the masses. I'm going for an apostle course in bible school. J: Performing millions and billions of people, singing and rapping. We want them to memorize it through songs. H: Prophets and teachers. Messages delivered become prophecy. With the help of the Holy Spirit, sing songs which people can relate to. Being Christian artists, we hope our messages will bring healing to the people.
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