From the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Tuyang Initiative comes a magnificent performance evoking the sublime rituals of Southeast Asia and its native people, brought to life by an electrifying team of creatives.
MEPAAN – meaning ’always’ in the language of the indigenous Kayan people of Borneo – is a sonic and visual trip into the wellspring of spiritual and cultural nuance embedded in Southeast Asian native culture.
In a breathtaking performance, stirring strains of indigenous music and vocal tradition from Southeast Asia’s island nations are woven into a fabric of powerful orchestral compositions, evoking grand ritual and ceremony to transport the mind into the pristine rainforests of Southeast Asia.
Helmed by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in collaboration with Tuyang Initiative – a Sarawak-based creative agency focused on Borneo indigenous cultural heritage – MEPAAN delves into dynamic new dimensions with astounding design interventions.
Local fashion designer Max Tan creates the costumes, weaving the ethereal with the earth connecting bodies in rapt musical and physical expression, with fabric and design that vertically connects the natural with the eternal.
Singaporean Sean Lee’s photography and Sarawak-based indigenous film-maker Harry Frederick capture through their unique individual lens and artistic approaches the anatomical landscape and cultural history embodied in indigenous bodies and lived spaces.
The imagination of set designer Wong Chee Wai and lighting designer Andy Lim collectively evoke the surreal grandeur of the work set within the cavernous halls of Pasir Panjang Power Station, as multimedia artist Brian Gothong Tan takes the entire experience into transcendence with his visual treatment.
Directed by Natalie Hennedige, MEPAAN is set to thrill audiences in an arresting evening of music, beauty and transcendence.