A HOME AWAY FROM HOME

On any other afternoon, it might have been a little odd hearing so many voices chorusing "We are Singapore, Sin-ga-po-re-ans..." in Australia.

Not on 4 Oct, however, when thousands of overseas Singaporeans flocked to the city of Melbourne in celebration of Singapore Day 2008.

The familiar strains of instantly recognisable national songs echoed throughout Sidney Myer Music Bowl as six performers from the Singapore Armed Forces Music and Drama Company (SAF MDC) took to the stage.

Anchoring the opening number of the entertainment programme, the group gave a rousing song and dance medley featuring well-known tunes such as We are Singapore, Home and Will You.

Choreographed by MDC artistic manager George Chan, the first half of their performance depicted Singapore's diverse cultural heritage through striking ethnic costumes. This was complemented by an upbeat musical arrangement that had a blend of east and west instruments, explained Mr Chan.

To cap off the eight-minute-long opening segment, the performers promptly changed into full army uniforms, "playing off the idea of transformation" in the SAF's National Service exhibition, which was also on display during Singapore Day.

Many home-grown artistes were involved in the day's entertainment, including big names such as Dick Lee, Asian Idol Hady Mirza, rock band Electrico, as well as Singapore's most famous "contractor", Phua Chu Kang.

Said MDC performer Zarinah Binte Bantiar: "There's definitely a sense of pressure, because there are Mediacorp artistes - they know what they're doing and they're very popular here, but we will still try our best."

With only a few weeks of rehearsals before hand, performer Saw Wei Jie told cyberpioneer that it was not easy, because of the tight schedule and other projects on hand.

"We had to sacrifice a lot of our own free time to practise," he revealed.

Still, the end result was ultimately worth the busy weeks of intensive rehearsals and "dance bruises", said Mr Chan.

"The response was overwhelming this year... More than 10,000 came to celebrate, the weather was beautiful and the crowd was supportive. We couldn't have asked for more."

Indeed, the other five artistes, who were performing in Melbourne for the first time, agreed that the show was especially meaningful because they were reaching out to an appreciative audience of overseas Singaporeans who missed home.

"We feel proud to be here," said Shirlene Tia. "We're trying to bring home back to them, and I feel like we've kind of brought Singapore here."

Singapore Day 2008, themed "Rekindle and Rediscover", was organised by the Overseas Singaporean Unit and aimed to engage the large community of Singaporeans living abroad in Australia.

Attracting over 10,000 people, the event saw a big turnout which greatly surpassed that of last year's inaugural event at Central Park in New York.