Monday, 21 September 2026

LAND WITH NO SUN: FROM ESPLANADE TO FUNAN MALL UNDERGROUND


This is what PSI 123
(Unhealthy range) looks like.


Just to borrow a title from Tze Toh's TO Ensemble concerts, Land With No Sun is a photographic survey of Singapore underground. Thanks to a series of subways and tunnels connecting Singapore's major buildings in the civic centre, it is possible to walk long distances without seeing the sun. 

Land With No Sun,
but we have the moon!
The underground trek starts
at Esplanade Car Park (Basement 2).

Given the ongoing haze, it may even be a good idea to stay underground unless one needs to surface to attend a concert or have a meal. Even then, it is still possible to do all this while staying completely indoors.

The art space that is Esplanade Tunnel.
Underground plaza for angsty youths.
Somebody does a handstand.


We decided to take a walk from Esplanade all the way to the Parliament House car park completely underground to escape the haze. It took about 18-20 minutes at moderate walking pace, passing through Citylink Mall, Raffles City, City Hall MRT Station, The Capitol before exiting at Funan Mall. The unusual path includes crossing under the Stamford Tunnel not once but twice, which explains for a couple of unexpected descents to nether reaches just to ascend within a few steps. Interesting. Here are the photos!

Crossing under the Stamford Canal
for the first time.
Citylink Mall
There used to be a staircase here
to go up to War Memorial Park.
Crossing under the Stamford Canal
for the second time.
Citylink Mall leading to
Raffles City & City Hall MRT station.
Art in City Hall MRT station.
Entering the Capitol's
underground complex of restaurants.
The claustrophobic
Capitol-Funan tunnel.
Basement 2 of Funan Mall.
Rock-climbing facilities at Funan Mall.
Funan's complex of escalators.
Coming out to the open at last.
This is the convoluted
underground route we took.

Sunday, 20 September 2026

QUARTET FOR THE REBIRTH OF TIME / TO Ensemble / Review

 



EOS / LAND WITH NO SUN IV:
QUARTET FOR THE REBIRTH OF TIME
TO Ensemble
Esplanade Recital Studio
Saturday (19 September 2026)


From its title, it may appear that TO Ensemble’s latest concert had taken a leaf from Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. After all, their combination of pianist, two string players and a wind player was a similar configuration as the Frenchman’s famous quartet (piano, violin, cello and clarinet) that performed in Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp in Gorlitz on 15 January 1941. Instead of the doom and gloom faced by the French foursome in WWII, jazz pianist Tze Toh’s Quartet for the Rebirth of Time (Quatuor pour la renaissance du temps if you will), original music with improvisations, represented renewal and hope for the future.


Joined by Wu Bingling (violin), Lazar T.Sebastine (Carnatic violin) and Teo Boon Chye (saxophone), the quartet like Messiaen’s performed the concert's ten movements in various instrumental combinations. The first three movements saw each of the instruments being introduced with Tze’s piano. Slow piano chords in A flat minor opened [Darkness] Obscurita, with Bingling’s violin singing a song of nostalgia. Teo’s sax playing in D flat major was ushered in [Hope] Land With No Sun Theme before a raga from Lazar’s Carnatic violin became the basis of [Reset] Begin (Again) / Gambiranatta.


All four were heard together for the first time in [Overload] Hyperloop, with both violins racing each other in a perpetual motion in A minor, before sax joins the fray, before ending abruptly in a startling halt. [Disconnect] Suspension was the most dissonant movement, with hazy piano chords matching the PSI over Esplanade while the grinding tones from violin and sax were being extracted.


[Love] A Chance Of Love in D major was Tze’s tribute to the melodies of Ennio Morricone, with both violins expressing varying degrees of sadness and regret in some of the concert’s loveliest music. In [Time] Child’s Play, now centred in G major, a beat tapped out by strings and sax provided a constant pulse for a number resembling classic tropes of minimalism.


By this time, the quartet was truly in the zone with G major being firmly ensconced as the definitive tonal centre. [Morning] Mornings, first heard on sax, was a melody that could go on forever, made even more beautiful with the Carnatic violin entering. This was the dawn that refreshes the night, and what followed, [Rebirth] Rebirth was exactly what was referred to in the concert’s title. 


This was the concert’s longest movement, its kinetic beat resonating in a rhythmic dance that had gospel vibes about it. This is exactly the kind of ecstatic music which hysterical congregations in full gospel evangelical churches used to go into trances and speak / sing / rage in tongues. Pure opium for the holy spirit or whatever possessed them.


Having overshot their time, TO Ensemble’s final number [New Dawn] Dawn / Procession was short-winded, its brief minutes representing the endless parade a group such as theirs could go on if given the time and chance. The invigorating end to a 75-minute concert was greeted with prolonged applause, followed by a lively post-concert chat which showed that Tze and his gang had won over many converts. Long may that continue.


PRE-CONCERT EATS: XI MEN JIE @ FUNAN MALL




Another convenient place to eat before a concert at Victoria Concert, The Arts House or even Esplanade if you are inclined to walk a bit. Xi Men Jie in Funan Mall specialises in Taiwanese street food. It is named after a hip and trendy district in central Taipei famous for its eateries and shopping.



This outlet has the typical favourites like braised pork rice, mee sua (vermicelli-like noodles), fried chicken and milk tea. Wish we had the time to try them all, so that was the best we did, and it was not bad. Service was quick, and there was little to no fuss as we filled our stomachs with Taiwanese comfort foods.

Braised pork rice.
Stir-fried noodles
with pork strips and prawns
Classic fried chicken cutlet

XI MEN JIE
107 North Bridge Road #B2-13
Funan Mall
Singapore 179105


Saturday, 19 September 2026

SINGAPORE'S BUONA VISTAS: ONE HOLLAND VILLAGE


One Holland Village by night.
The old market and food centre is on the right.

This used to be a very big open-air car park. Bordering it was the Buona Vista / Holland Drive Swimming Complex and the chic district of Holland Village. After years of building and construction, One Holland Village has come up, an upmarket shopping and residential complex, one with interesting views of the old precinct and the HDB estates around it.


A sure sign this place is pet-friendly.

Our favourite canned food upsized.
Wait till you see this at night!
American glass artist Dale Chihuly's
Singapore Sun (2020).

The back of Lorong Mambong shophouses.
Third floor vista of One Holland Village.


One Holland Village itself is very photogenic, and its pet-friendly premises has art-pieces worth looking at the second time. Its social spaces extends to a common garden on the fourth floor where many young people are seen chillaxing - chilling and relaxing amid greenery.

Now for the fourth floor views.

Holland Village, old and new.


The skies over Holland Village on this evening
had a PSI of 102, which was on the unhealthy side.

Star Vista is seen below the crane.

The views here are quite lovely, northward to the old Chip Bee estate and the condominiums rising beyond. Southwards, there is more construction taking place and one can catch a glimpse of the gigantic complex of Star Vista. The old Holland Village is barely recognisable now, but at least there are nice views to enjoy.

See what I mean about
being better looking at night?