On 26 March, 2008, the 19th day of the 2nd Lunar Month, the first of the three dates in a year when celebration is held in honour of Guan Yin (Kuan Yin) - the other being 6M19 and 9M19 - Thian Hock Keng continued to have its traditional Nan Yin Night. Siong Leng has been performing the Nan Yin concerts in Thian Hock Keng for these three occasions for the past 20 years or more.
These are the dates that Nan Yin fans have always been watching out for. And they never fail to turn up. It is enlightening to see that while the old familiar faces were there (average age is 60 ?), there are more and more younger faces being seen in the audience. Siong Leng itself has successfully rejuvenated with more young performers. A good sign for this age old (since Tang Dynasty) Chinese Southern Sounds (music).
For many of the elders, it was a nostalgic moment bringing them back to the old days when such music could be heard from street performers to street wayangs (operas) to the late night programme from Rediffusion (cable radio). It would have brought them back to their jia-xiang (home village) from where they left to brave the new world, eventually settling down in Singapore.
For the older folks, they might view the above rendition with nostalgia as they sang the song of Tng Sua Ah Pek 唐山阿伯 (Tang Shan Ah Bo).
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