Photos of Marionette spotted

Happen to chance upon these marionette photos put up by SNAP (Singapore National Album of Pictures) some time back. Shall have the link posted here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/snapsg/sets/72157624278229290/ Troupe featured: Xin Feng Zhu (新凤珠木偶班) Venue: Bedok area Photo taken: October 2009 (Hungry Ghost Festival) The marionettes look almost brand-new. What caught my attention was that these marionettes have round faces and a more well-rounded appearance as compared to other marionettes that usually have elongated faces and slimmer appearance. It will be interesting to find out where these various puppets originated from and why they look different. E.g. Quanzhou marionettes are usually characterized by the protruding earlobe and double chin, believed to have a distinct Buddhist origin. These characteristics set them apart from other marionettes in Fujian (Marionette Theatre in Quanzhou, 2006, pp. 117-119).  Photo credit: snapshot of website taken from the link above

Mulian performance (marionette) at Hin Ann Thain Hiaw Keng

A clip on the first part of the Mulian performance (28 August 2010, 19th day of the Seventh lunar month) by chinatownboy:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQb0bg80FZU






As some of us have already known, there are numerous characters in the Mulian performance. There are some which I cannot recognize but interesting enough, Dua Ya Pek (大爷伯 White Guard of Impermanence) also appeared for a short while in the performance. Others who were present included King of Hades (阎罗王). 


When the main performance had ended, families of the dead took part in the redemption ritual (超度) via the marionette performance.   

Marionettes involved in the redemption ritual, including a monk (目连尊者) carrying a 4 or 5 coloured cloth, anyone knows what is the significance of this?

Upcoming marionette performances

This blog is having some problems loading Twitter updates, shall post it here: 


-Marionette performance (Hokkien) at Geylang Lor 33 for the whole of the seventh lunar month. 
-Sin Hoe Ping performance (Henghwa) on 25 & 26 Aug @ 280A Changi Road temple.
-There may be some events going on at Kiew Lee Tong 九鲤洞 (Jalan Tambur), to be confirmed. 

Tradition VS Puppet performance

This month (Gregorian month from 10 August to 7 September) is a traditional Chinese Festival known as the Lunar Seventh Month (aka Hungry Ghosts Festivals or in Chinese, better known as 鬼节). On the 14th (Southern Chinese belief) or 15th day of the Seventh Month, this day is known as Zhongyuan Jie 中元节 by the Taoists or Yulanpen Jie 盂兰盆节 (Ullambana) by the Buddhists. As had been reported earlier, the Teochew rod puppet performance had already begun since the first day of the Seventh Month, so be sure to expect more performances (Hokkien and Henghua marionette) for the whole of this month! Stay tuned for more updates... 



Source: http://pic.pimg.tw/miqlin66/1188071878.jpg

Teochew Rod Puppet performance at Chee Chung Huay

Chinatownboy informed me that there would be a Teochew Rod puppet performance at Chee Chung Huay on 10 August (first day of the Seventh Lunar month). As I have never seen one in real life, I decided to have a look.

The performance by Sin Sai Bao Feng troupe (新赛宝丰班):

A closeup of the rod puppets (dan and sheng):  

Notice that the puppeteers manipulating the puppets were not singing. Like some of the glove puppet performances that I had seen, 'voices' of the puppets are created by other performers backstage. This is different from the string puppet performances that we have seen so far.

A glimpse on the backstage (an ensemble of performers and musicians is less seen in street performances):

  

                                                        A video clip of the performance (note the fast rhythmic beatat 00:00:30 and see comment below):

A followup of the glove puppet performance at Central's River Promenade

A followup of the glove puppet performance (in Teochew) at Central's River Promenade last Wednesday (21 July) that did attract some curious crowd, including tourists who took a few snapshots as well. Here are some pictures:

 

A closeup on the glove puppets:

 Initially thought there were subtitles, but it was more of a synopsis of the performance: 

 

Puppet performance in conjunction with Singapore Food Festival

In conjunction with the Singapore Food Festival 2010 (16-25 July), there will be string and glove puppet performances. Visitors can munch to their hearts' content while enjoying the puppet performances. 

String Puppets 提线木偶
Venue: Merlion Park
Time: -7.30pm to 8.00pm
          -8.30pm to 9.00pm 

Language:Hokkien, with English synopsis 

Hand Puppets 布袋戏 
Venue: Central's River Promenade
Time: -8.00pm to 8.30pm
          -9.00pm to 9.30pm 
Language:Teochew, with English synopsis

Information and pictures from http://singaporefoodfestival.com.sg/streetsnacks.php