Italian aria + Southern Chinese music (Nanguan) = Glove Puppet show "Marco Polo"

"Marco Polo" by Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company
Friday 26 August, Saturday 27 August, 7.15pm & 11.30pm
Glass Atrium, Level 2, National Museum of Singapore


Adapted from taovictor's writeup: 

Hi folks,

If you missed the Tai Yuan Puppet Theatre Company’s performance of Marco Polo, you missed one of the best potehi (glove puppet) shows! Imagine how many are there in the world, maybe only this one, where there is a puppet show where Italian Aria and Nanyin are sung! (^^) What a hoot! And I wonder how many in the world would be able to understand both languages? Maybe some Taiwanese … well, some Nanyang Chinese who are Aria singers. (^^)

And trying to do a duet??  Must be challenging to put the music and lyrics .. but what fun! I cannot understand Italian and so would need Stefano to tell us. Maybe give us the subtitle. The Hokkien was hilarious. Imagine what the maid said about this strange guy who looks like a pig! (^^) Much of the dialogues are not displayed … it would be a mammoth task to do that subtitling at the speed which the dialog goes. I looked around and wondered, how many in the audience could understand Chinese. Not many local children I think, but many foreign ones!! And look at the crowd! Yes, this is Saturday night. But one could count by the two hands on potehi in Singapore! At, but perhaps, it is because the local potehi is meant for the Gods and so the stories are very serious, often sobby, and difficult to follow. Marco Polo? Fun, comic and certainly poking fun at the cross-cultural understanding, or misunderstanding. Is it true that Marco Polo stole the diary from his brother Matteo? (^^)

The scenes were many and the story moved very fast .. climax after climax, the audience had no time to rest. Never mind that they did not understand all the dialog, the actions were enough to keep them glued to that tiny audience.

I noticed that there was a video recording of the show. Hope this is made available to the public, especially, the schools. Add in the subtitling, and it would be a great piece. Certainly an interesting way to get the students to learn about Marco Polo! (^^)

Videos as well:

Seeing 'stars': a plot to save Marco Polo from death

 Marco Polo confessing his love

 Hokkien Nanyin (Nanguan, Southern music) VS Italian aria

The only dalang of Chinese descent in Malaysia

A Peranakan cina (Chinese Peranakan) of Chinese, Malay and Thai descent working hard to preserve his multicultural tradition and also to preserve the art of shadow puppetry  (wayang kulit in Malay) in Malaysia (the Chinese also has shadow puppetry but I have not seen it in Singapore or Malaysia yet).

Being an avid fan of her father's wayang kulit shows, the tok dalang's daughter also wrote a thesis on the topic when she was studying in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM, 国民大学). I am trying to gain access to her thesis and will share later.


Here's also a Chinese report on the daughter's wish to help her father promote wayang kulit even though the art can only be passed down to sons and not daughters.


http://chsbp.net.my/show.php?contentid=8101

Guangdong puppet in early Singapore?

I have previously mentioned that there are a few puppet types in Singapore during the early twentieth century:


1. Hokkien (Nanguan 南管) glove puppet/string puppet
2. Teochew iron stick puppet
3. Hainanese rod puppet
4. Henghwa string puppet
5. Waijiang (外江) string puppet


However, to my surprise, I have recently gathered some information which may hint at the existence of Guangdong traditional puppet in early Singapore. The advertisement below is one of them, even though it might not fall into the category of 'traditional' as I suspect that it is only a one-time kind of performance where the Merry Opera Company employed puppeteers who can perform in Cantonese. The puppet type is unknown.

Source: The Singapore Free Press, 22 October 1924, Page 2

Thanks to a friend who kindly shared with me a Chinese article on the various puppet/opera types in Malaya (and later Malaysia and Singapore), the author also mentioned that in 1911, there was a Guangdong puppeteer by the name of Zheng Wan Kai (郑万楷) who performed in Malaya. His son later performed in Singapore during the years 1916-1922. As the article did not state the exact source, I have reservations on its credibility but it is nevertheless an important view to be made. I will also reserve the use of "Cantonese puppet" as Guangdong may refer to various dialects like Chaozhou (Teochew) and Hakka (客家话), both of which are existing dialect groups in Singapore.


More discovery on the way!

Century-old temple at Port Klang due to be demolished soon!

Just learnt from a friend who lives in Klang that she recently encountered a century-old temple by the name of Cheng Neong Teng (清凉亭) in Port Klang, Malaysia. The sad thing is it is going to be demolished soon! Looking at the pictures and the supposed date of establishment, both of us felt that perhaps UNESCO should do something about it.

Here are some of the pictures which are not of high quality, but nevertheless clear enough to see the fine details of the architecture:

  One of the more prominent effigies inside the temple: the 18 arhats

No strings attached: Hainanese rod puppet performance at Mazu temple

I have read about Hainanese rod puppets but it was my first encounter with them yesterday at the Mazu temple located at Beach Road.


Venue: 47 Beach Road
Time: 2pm, 7.30pm (Day and night performances)
Troupe: Xin Xing Gang Qiongnan Theatrical Company (新兴港琼南剧社)

          A photo to keep your brain cells moving first: what exactly are these holes used for?

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Answer revealed: the thick rod used for holding the puppet (indicated by red arrow) will be placed in these holes in a scene when there are too many puppets for the puppeteers to handle

A better picture: if there are a number of puppets appearing on stage, they will be placed in these "holes"

It was definitely an eye-opener especially when you see puppets that were often likened to woodblocks but these puppets have the ability to move their eyes!

Marionette performance at an industrial site

A rather unusual sight to see a marionette performance being staged at an industrial site..


Venue: Blk 31 Defu Lane 10
Time: 2pm, 8pm (Day and night performances)
Troupe: Sin Hoe Ping 新和平


From my observation for the past few hours, I guess it's a Henghwa manufacturer dealing with woodcraft who employed the troupe to perform for the deity Liu Gong Yuan Shuai (刘公元帅)

A peep inside..they have an altar ready and the stage was situated right opposite as it always should.

                      Marionette performance "Chen Wen Long" (陈文龙) at night which started at 8pm

View from afar..it was like a tiny yet lively Henghwa community enclave tucked in a remote part of Singapore

Remembering Mr. Lee Chye Ee (b. 1919)

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150114226493607&id=585226875

Reading the old articles of the late Mr. Lee Chye Ee (b. 1919) reminds me of what it is meant to be "人才被埋没" (a talent gone to waste). He was a remarkable puppeteer, priest and carver from Yongchun, Fujian. During his darkest times, he never gave up and carved more than 100 puppets, including those where the eyes, mouth could move. I hope, in the near future, I will be able to do something to commemorate this remarkable man of talents.

Some information about Mr. Lee:

Learnt the puppetry art at the age of 15

Learnt the art of carving at the age of 17

Set up his own troupe "Ri Yue Xing" (日月星) in Yongchun, Fujian

Came to Singapore (Nanyang) in 1947 and established his troupe "Ri Yue Xing" here

"Ri Yue Xing" performed in the Nanguan (南管) style

In the 1950s, due to lack of popularity of Nanguan music, he founded "Shi Ye Fei" (是也非) and sang in the Gezai style

1960s: the semi-retired Mr. Lee shifted his operations to Malaysia

1970s: Came back but business was worse than before, stayed at home to carve puppets; over 100 marionette heads were carved over the 3 years but sadly, they were never really put to good use

Puppets carved by Mr. Lee Chye Ee (photo from Sin Ming)

Mr. Lee Chye Ee with his marionettes

Mr. Lee Chye Ee as a dan actor

Mr. Lee Chye Ee with his glove puppets