PRE-CONCERT EATS: BKK BISTRO & BAR @ NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD

You need to eat before attending a concert at The Drama Centre or the Foyer at the National Library Board building. Right on the ground floor opposite the entrance is the excellent BKK Bistro & Bar. It's manned by Thai nationals and has Thai cooks, which is a guarantee of quality. 

The premises is al fresco and very airy, and you won't even miss the air con even if it's midday at NLB. Instead of the usual Pad Thai or Tom Yum Gung, I select the Khao Soi which is the Northern Thai curry noodle with chicken. Memories of the best Khao Soi ever in a market at Chiang Mai were certainly relived this meal. The flesh practically falls off the bone, which was why I had been told the dish needed some 15-20 minutes to prepare.

Washing it down with a big mug of Thai iced milk tea, it was like being in Chiang Mai once again. 

BKK BISTRO & BAR

@ NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD

150 Victoria Street #01-03

Singapore 188064

Outlets — BKK Bistro & Bar

24 VARIATIONS ON TZE'S WORLDS OF IMPROVISATION

Tze is an artist with a special set of skills. He was trained in jazz during his musical studies at the LaSalle School of the Arts, Toh Tze Chin broke out of the performance strait jacket to become a composer, one infinitely curious about world music, film making and IT, which has influenced his music making with his inimitable TO Ensemble.

On this occasion (Saturday, 6 December 2025) at the National Library Board's first floor foyer, he gave an interesting and illuminating talk about the art of improvisation and how he approached this quintessential skill of all jazz musicians. With a deep and intimate knowledge of harmonies, scales, instrumental styles and world cultures, he provided multiple examples of how he varied colours, moods and imagery in his music making. 

Time truly flew when one is having fun, and not a few members of his audience stayed on all the way to the end. Children and their parents were also drawn to his accessible and non-didactic style of presentation that was refreshing. Now he makes one want to experiment on the keyboard and long for the next TO Ensemble concert! 

 

Even Martha Argerich appears spellbound.

Many took out their handphones
to record his talk and played examples.

He's really having fun now!

Detailed notes about his talk.
He certainly takes his art seriously.

To find out more about Tze, 

check his website:

TZE TOH

ON THE NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD CENSORING, WITHDRAWING AND PULPING BOOKS WHICH IT CONSIDERS OBJECTIONABLE

Has 50 years of nation building come down to this? When, oh when, can Singaporeans be trusted to decide what they can read and cannot read? Are we still the Nanny State where the government or governmental bodies choose to put blinkers on our eyes, just in case we see things which they deem non-Kosher?

Withdrawing and banning books is already bad enough, but destroying and pulping them?