Ko tai

Or what is normally known in local terms: getai.

From Wikipedia:

A Getai (literally song stage) (Pinyin of Simplified Chinese: 歌台), is a usually boisterous life stage performance held during the Ghost Festival commonly held in Singapore, in contrast to the generally solemn mood of the festival. The stage setup is usually composed of temporary structures and situated in the suburbs of the city in any empty field or even in carparking spaces.

The event is usually meant to be performed to the spirits and also the people alike during the seventh month. The backdrop of the stage is usually made of cardboard and clothes painted in bright colours. Also, spotlights, usually consisting of brighter colours, like, red, blue, pink and yellow. The performers would normally don loud and glittery clothing, and the compère would spout crude jokes all in the name of fun.

The younger folks in Singapore would normally relate to a Getai as kitsch, as the performers would sing and talk in Hokkien, which is a dialect they label as crude and passe. The older people would normally enjoy watching a Getai, dance and sing along to the staple songs.

This Friday, I'm going down to catch one myself. This one is pretty good. The performing talents are pretty top-notch, I must say. And I'm a HUGE fan of this veteran band, Stoned Revivals. I heard there are many other great acts like The Great Spy Experiment and my boy DJ KoFlow is going to do a collaboration with Wicked Aura Batucada. Nice.

The getai takes place this coming Friday at the National Museum at 730pm. Ai ho wa ki mai?