My weekend started with somewhat unexpected but welcomed
encounter with a god of fortune, who was trawling the streets, or rather the gangways
of the Star Vista mall in Singapore, to be precise, wishing everyone a
bountiful new year. Touching him is believed to bring prosperity so I did, and
eagerly held his Aladdin-esque urn of gold coins while posing for this photo. I am wearing a dress from Marimekko, a bag
from Longchamp, my glasses are by Marc Jacobs, and clogs are from Chanel (seen
on subsequent photo).
As part of `spring celebrations`, which are associated with the
Chinese New Year, we were treated - again - with a fine performance of my
favourite girls` band – the Crystal Girls. One of the musicians was playing erhu
– a violin-like traditional Chinese two-stringed bowed instrument; its origin dates
back to the Tang dynasty – thousands of years ago - and relates to the
instrument, called xiqin, which originated from a Mongolian tribe Xi. During
Song dynasty, the instrument was introduced to China and earned its prestige by
being played at the imperial banquets. She told me it took her five years to
master playing it.
The other Crystal Girl was performing on another traditional
instrument – called `water drum`. The beautiful tunes brought raw emotions to
the surface with the sound of longing and sweetness emitted by erhu, and
thunderous beat created by the water drum.
Her energetic performance and beautiful appearance elicited long-lasting
applause.
We were also introduced to a water drum dancer, whose
graceful gymnastics drew gasps of appreciation and spontaneous ovation.
All the artists are clearly highly qualified and very talented,
and I am glad I had a chance to see them in concert again.
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