Introduction
Singapore is an island whose music is mostly mainstream, mostly inspired by pop, R&B and house music. The government has through the years tried to stamp out artists/bands with rebellious lyrics rather successfully or unsuccessfully. For instance, the famous Marilyn Manson is an artist of a rebellious nature with so called “satanic tendencies” and the rumours on the streets say that Manson is one of many artists that are banned from performing in Singapore. However times are changing and Singapore needs to adapt to a more flexible life style if it wants to be perceived as an open society. On the 13th of October Slayer performed in the country for the first time , an artist who uses lyrics like: “do you want to die?” This depicts an evolving trend of the music scene in Singapore and the public’s opinions of music that are sidelined.
While this is happening, the local artists develop a larger range of music. One of them is a percussion band with a batucada sound, called Wicked Aura. They consist of 13 members who together create a mixed tune of samba, funk, afrobeat and local ethnic rhythms (Malay). This was new in Singapore when they spontaneously formed for a one time gig at Zoukout 2003 . They fought to get their voice heard although they got a lot of resistance from the government. Now Wicked Aura is a well known band in the local media.
After around one hour of dancing at their concert you couldn’t stop smiling, the rhythms and joy goes strait into your soul. Young and old, men and women, from different nationalities and religions, everyone wants to be a part of the phenomena Wicked Aura Batucada. Their success has grown outside Singapore. What started as street performing has now become a world known band with concerts both in Australia and Europe.
Their journey out in the world started with the gig at WOMAD in Singapore 2004, where they got the word of praise from the festival director who wanted them to join WOMAD in Europe . This resulted in them entering European stages, in 2005, with festivals both in Spain and the UK.
According to the band themselves the concert in Madrid is the best one ever, so far. No wonder, there they played for 10,000 people who danced and sang all the way through the performance and Wicked Aura was hailed by Spanish press as one of the best gig that festival . As the Spanish audience were dancing and rocking like crazy to the beat of the drums the Singaporean majority are quieter as an audience. The differences have been showing during concerts but also at the workshops that’s been held both in Spain and in Singapore. What is the big difference between the Spanish and the Singaporean audiences? And how can Wicked Aura make the Singaporean crowd more relaxed and opened to be a part of the rhythms? Maybe the answer lies in the countries different music history. With flamenco and influences of Latin music the Spaniards are used to have the rhythm as a part o their lives and history. Wicked Aura might take a place in the Singaporean music history as the band that brought the Batucada rhythms into their homes and touched their souls.
In their younger years, Wicked Aura had difficulty blending together musically. However, through practice and compromise, they learned to blend together. The front man, Idaham Budiman writes the lyrics and carries a large roll when they create their music. During rehearsal, they work together to create and improve the final sound. Budiman says that the Singaporean audience needs some energy, but isn’t it the responsibility of the band to give people the energy to move to their Batucada sound? Thus, culture plays a very huge part and therein lies a contestation between the audience and the band. The band needs to take into account and adapt to different cultures’ responses to their music as it is the audience whom their music is for.
The lyrics to FIGHT have a similar message as GET UP, STAND UP by Bob Marley , but in a different track of life and time. Wicked Aura’s song, FIGHT, pays tribute to heroes that stood up and fought for their rights, like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Bob Marley and so on. The members of Wicked Aura all come from ethnic minorities of Singapore, which might give them a bigger reason to use music to fight for their rights. They say that they have faith in music, rhythm and noise as their guiding light. Hence, the most Singaporeans can not recognize themselves in the Batucada sound and the message of wicked Aura’s music. As these words are made meaningful for everyone, maybe their new more mainstream albums (realize in beginning of 2007) will make them succeed and get closer to the Singaporean audience in order to fill their absence of energy.
Wicked Aura Batucada comes up with a hybridism of music and mixes it up with their own style. It uses a mainstream kind of music to reach out to the masses so that people are more receptive to it but deviates from the norm in its fusion of music. However, it can be argued that the norm is deviation in itself and therefore the band may be nothing special. Its fluid style of creativity attracts listeners as it is a one of a kind style of music. Alternatively, it can be seen as playing a kind of music that no one can flaw them otherwise since they are the creator of the music themselves, putting the public in a observatory position and the band as the “experts”.
The myth of a hybrid of music as street music is employed here whereby a signifier of street music can put “the streets into the music, and the music into the streets.” so much more than the signified. It is deemed as “the music” and has received much international recognition so much so that it has seem to overtaken “purist” street music.
It supports the myth in a way as a hybridism of street music is better than the entirety of it being faded off into the background. They may be seen as distorting the minds of audiences as the members are mostly from one ethnic group (Malays); they may be viewed as just taking on an international persona to try to “play” a music that they are not familiar with or to try to “imitate” the Brazilians. Some may be more skeptical about this particular new brand of music since it has been branded that the “whole structure of popular music is standardization even when (an) attempt is made to circumvent standardization” . However, if we take on a different perspective, it is plausible that such a hybridism of music is still well-received and is ultimately is successful in acquiring recognition and exposing people to a form of street music that some may never even heard of.
The band also proposes that its aim is just to “make some noise” which employs the myth that street music is non-serious music. The sign that street music is not to be taken seriously is once again emphasized by the perpetuators themselves and therefore the public cannot entirely be flawed in their view of street music as “junk”. However, it is paradoxical in its nature as it is clear the rhythmic beats are complicated, without any structure or form. Nevertheless, the band churns out perfectly rhythmic tunes effortlessly and flawlessly without any scripts. Therefore, the music itself resists the myth that it is non-serious but the producers themselves uphold that myth to the public.
Historically, Singapore has been transformed from a village milieu to that of a colony, and from that to a post-industrial capitalist state, resulting in attendant shifts of cultural conditions. Singaporeans are mainly of migrant stock, performing cultural practices from source cultures which most people have never experienced first hand. More importantly, the cultures of Singaporeans have fused with other local as well as Western forms. There’s little notion of a “pure” cultural experience; Singaporean cultures are to some extent displaced and hybridized. Singapore nowadays is a highly-global city-state, open to different cultures all around the world. Music has no national boundaries. Wicked Aura Batucada get their music inspiration from several different world-wide music styles. Hybrid is one of their most distinguishing characteristics.
Their excellent live performance is also extraordinary. The music and dance with the infectious beat rhythms show their positive attitude and the party spirit they want to put across to the public. Their music and performance is encouraging, energetic and optimistic, and not so critical about the social problems as 1960s’ Rock music in America.
Another significant effect that they have achieved culturally is raising the social consciousness of the masses. This works with the “party spirit” to make their performance an infectious and harmonious gathering for different people. The power of culture, especially of mass culture, can go far beyond the power of politics or economy. The recognition of their own culture is an important part of the national identity which strengthens the sense of responsibility as citizens.
The performance of the band itself is also a sign for their striving for identity of themselves. They are mostly ethnic minorities in Singapore, and their music strengthens their self-recognized identity, which shows their importance in this multicultural society.
Wicked Aura certainly has good vibes when it comes to pumping up the crowd, be it local or overseas. Unlike the usual samba band, this band also adopts ideas from a variety of culture and fusing them together. Although this fusion has sparked negative comments about ruining its samba music roots, it may actually be the key factor for its charismatic appeal. This fusion of music has allowed their crowds to get a taste of both local and global cultural forms of music. The local audience may not understand the Brazilian samba music, but they are definitely lured by their energy and lively beats. The international crowd, on the other hand, enjoys the band’s rendition of the popular local Malay song - ‘Rasa Sayang, Hey’.
However, the Government does not recognize this fusion of music as a ‘Uniquely Singapore’ culture, due to its heavy Brazilian influence. This proves to be interesting, since Singapore is a multi-cultural country, but with strong Chinese influence. With a Malay majority in the band, one might ponder if the Government has a biased impression of the band. In spite of that, owing to Singapore’s move towards building a stronger music and arts scene, the community has grown to appreciate Wicked Aura’s music more.
Many clubs understand this growing trend of music towards Brazilian and Samba music and work their crowds on this concept. One club in the local scene is the Zouk and its famous music compilation. Although Zouk leans towards the electronic style of such music, the pattern of music is pretty much similar to the music beats of Wicked Aura.
In conclusion, as mentioned above, the band as a cultural object can be viewed as a commodity of its time or a manifestation of a brilliant concept. Not only is the band significant in its impact and agenda, it is also significant in presenting Singapore as a society. Ultimately, we feel that increasing idealization of globalization that has taken over much of the world, especially Singapore, has a strong influence on the existence of the band.
From this, the use of fusions of cultures in order to present a world-class music is an inevitable trend. Finally, the apparent popularity of the music shows the appeal of rhythm and structure that is ever omnipresent in a systematic Singapore. It alludes to a vibrant city "put on its feet" by an enthusiastic hybrid of drumbeats, or if we look at it in another perspective, a society lost in its desire for regularity and monotony.
While this is happening, the local artists develop a larger range of music. One of them is a percussion band with a batucada sound, called Wicked Aura. They consist of 13 members who together create a mixed tune of samba, funk, afrobeat and local ethnic rhythms (Malay). This was new in Singapore when they spontaneously formed for a one time gig at Zoukout 2003 . They fought to get their voice heard although they got a lot of resistance from the government. Now Wicked Aura is a well known band in the local media.Outsider v/s Insider view of the band
After around one hour of dancing at their concert you couldn’t stop smiling, the rhythms and joy goes strait into your soul. Young and old, men and women, from different nationalities and religions, everyone wants to be a part of the phenomena Wicked Aura Batucada. Their success has grown outside Singapore. What started as street performing has now become a world known band with concerts both in Australia and Europe.
Their journey out in the world started with the gig at WOMAD in Singapore 2004, where they got the word of praise from the festival director who wanted them to join WOMAD in Europe . This resulted in them entering European stages, in 2005, with festivals both in Spain and the UK.According to the band themselves the concert in Madrid is the best one ever, so far. No wonder, there they played for 10,000 people who danced and sang all the way through the performance and Wicked Aura was hailed by Spanish press as one of the best gig that festival . As the Spanish audience were dancing and rocking like crazy to the beat of the drums the Singaporean majority are quieter as an audience. The differences have been showing during concerts but also at the workshops that’s been held both in Spain and in Singapore. What is the big difference between the Spanish and the Singaporean audiences? And how can Wicked Aura make the Singaporean crowd more relaxed and opened to be a part of the rhythms? Maybe the answer lies in the countries different music history. With flamenco and influences of Latin music the Spaniards are used to have the rhythm as a part o their lives and history. Wicked Aura might take a place in the Singaporean music history as the band that brought the Batucada rhythms into their homes and touched their souls. In their younger years, Wicked Aura had difficulty blending together musically. However, through practice and compromise, they learned to blend together. The front man, Idaham Budiman writes the lyrics and carries a large roll when they create their music. During rehearsal, they work together to create and improve the final sound. Budiman says that the Singaporean audience needs some energy, but isn’t it the responsibility of the band to give people the energy to move to their Batucada sound? Thus, culture plays a very huge part and therein lies a contestation between the audience and the band. The band needs to take into account and adapt to different cultures’ responses to their music as it is the audience whom their music is for.
The lyrics to FIGHT have a similar message as GET UP, STAND UP by Bob Marley , but in a different track of life and time. Wicked Aura’s song, FIGHT, pays tribute to heroes that stood up and fought for their rights, like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Bob Marley and so on. The members of Wicked Aura all come from ethnic minorities of Singapore, which might give them a bigger reason to use music to fight for their rights. They say that they have faith in music, rhythm and noise as their guiding light. Hence, the most Singaporeans can not recognize themselves in the Batucada sound and the message of wicked Aura’s music. As these words are made meaningful for everyone, maybe their new more mainstream albums (realize in beginning of 2007) will make them succeed and get closer to the Singaporean audience in order to fill their absence of energy. Myths and Issues involving the band
Wicked Aura Batucada comes up with a hybridism of music and mixes it up with their own style. It uses a mainstream kind of music to reach out to the masses so that people are more receptive to it but deviates from the norm in its fusion of music. However, it can be argued that the norm is deviation in itself and therefore the band may be nothing special. Its fluid style of creativity attracts listeners as it is a one of a kind style of music. Alternatively, it can be seen as playing a kind of music that no one can flaw them otherwise since they are the creator of the music themselves, putting the public in a observatory position and the band as the “experts”.
The myth of a hybrid of music as street music is employed here whereby a signifier of street music can put “the streets into the music, and the music into the streets.” so much more than the signified. It is deemed as “the music” and has received much international recognition so much so that it has seem to overtaken “purist” street music.It supports the myth in a way as a hybridism of street music is better than the entirety of it being faded off into the background. They may be seen as distorting the minds of audiences as the members are mostly from one ethnic group (Malays); they may be viewed as just taking on an international persona to try to “play” a music that they are not familiar with or to try to “imitate” the Brazilians. Some may be more skeptical about this particular new brand of music since it has been branded that the “whole structure of popular music is standardization even when (an) attempt is made to circumvent standardization” . However, if we take on a different perspective, it is plausible that such a hybridism of music is still well-received and is ultimately is successful in acquiring recognition and exposing people to a form of street music that some may never even heard of. The band also proposes that its aim is just to “make some noise” which employs the myth that street music is non-serious music. The sign that street music is not to be taken seriously is once again emphasized by the perpetuators themselves and therefore the public cannot entirely be flawed in their view of street music as “junk”. However, it is paradoxical in its nature as it is clear the rhythmic beats are complicated, without any structure or form. Nevertheless, the band churns out perfectly rhythmic tunes effortlessly and flawlessly without any scripts. Therefore, the music itself resists the myth that it is non-serious but the producers themselves uphold that myth to the public.Significance of the group and their music in a cultural context
Historically, Singapore has been transformed from a village milieu to that of a colony, and from that to a post-industrial capitalist state, resulting in attendant shifts of cultural conditions. Singaporeans are mainly of migrant stock, performing cultural practices from source cultures which most people have never experienced first hand. More importantly, the cultures of Singaporeans have fused with other local as well as Western forms. There’s little notion of a “pure” cultural experience; Singaporean cultures are to some extent displaced and hybridized. Singapore nowadays is a highly-global city-state, open to different cultures all around the world. Music has no national boundaries. Wicked Aura Batucada get their music inspiration from several different world-wide music styles. Hybrid is one of their most distinguishing characteristics. Their excellent live performance is also extraordinary. The music and dance with the infectious beat rhythms show their positive attitude and the party spirit they want to put across to the public. Their music and performance is encouraging, energetic and optimistic, and not so critical about the social problems as 1960s’ Rock music in America.
Another significant effect that they have achieved culturally is raising the social consciousness of the masses. This works with the “party spirit” to make their performance an infectious and harmonious gathering for different people. The power of culture, especially of mass culture, can go far beyond the power of politics or economy. The recognition of their own culture is an important part of the national identity which strengthens the sense of responsibility as citizens. The performance of the band itself is also a sign for their striving for identity of themselves. They are mostly ethnic minorities in Singapore, and their music strengthens their self-recognized identity, which shows their importance in this multicultural society.
Other forms of Cultural Understanding
Wicked Aura certainly has good vibes when it comes to pumping up the crowd, be it local or overseas. Unlike the usual samba band, this band also adopts ideas from a variety of culture and fusing them together. Although this fusion has sparked negative comments about ruining its samba music roots, it may actually be the key factor for its charismatic appeal. This fusion of music has allowed their crowds to get a taste of both local and global cultural forms of music. The local audience may not understand the Brazilian samba music, but they are definitely lured by their energy and lively beats. The international crowd, on the other hand, enjoys the band’s rendition of the popular local Malay song - ‘Rasa Sayang, Hey’. However, the Government does not recognize this fusion of music as a ‘Uniquely Singapore’ culture, due to its heavy Brazilian influence. This proves to be interesting, since Singapore is a multi-cultural country, but with strong Chinese influence. With a Malay majority in the band, one might ponder if the Government has a biased impression of the band. In spite of that, owing to Singapore’s move towards building a stronger music and arts scene, the community has grown to appreciate Wicked Aura’s music more.
Many clubs understand this growing trend of music towards Brazilian and Samba music and work their crowds on this concept. One club in the local scene is the Zouk and its famous music compilation. Although Zouk leans towards the electronic style of such music, the pattern of music is pretty much similar to the music beats of Wicked Aura.Conclusion
In conclusion, as mentioned above, the band as a cultural object can be viewed as a commodity of its time or a manifestation of a brilliant concept. Not only is the band significant in its impact and agenda, it is also significant in presenting Singapore as a society. Ultimately, we feel that increasing idealization of globalization that has taken over much of the world, especially Singapore, has a strong influence on the existence of the band.
From this, the use of fusions of cultures in order to present a world-class music is an inevitable trend. Finally, the apparent popularity of the music shows the appeal of rhythm and structure that is ever omnipresent in a systematic Singapore. It alludes to a vibrant city "put on its feet" by an enthusiastic hybrid of drumbeats, or if we look at it in another perspective, a society lost in its desire for regularity and monotony.