Macau Music Arts Space (MMAS) put on “Music Culture Journeys, Christmas & New Year Carnival” at 10 Fantasia in São Lázaro district on Boxing Day with music, arts and crafts, food and drink, and despite the cold wet weather there was quite a large crowd in attendance.
People could sample Portuguese ham, Macau Beer, Macau-made coffee, tea and Italian food provided by Lal Trapizza from Taipa, as well as aromatherapy and beauty products.
The Macau Post Daily spoke to the owner of Laltrapizza Macau Giuseppe Piepoli who said that he is an importer and distributer of fine food from Europe and has a takeaway counter in Taipa in which they only use Italian ingredients. “I started the House of Fine Food in Macau in 2014 supplying hotels with Italian tomato sauce, pasta, cheeses and seafood”, Piepoli said. “The takeaway counter delivers fresh cooked authentic Italian food from our kitchen to your home,” added Piepoli
“We are also opening a new luxury food counter in the food court of New Yaohon 8 in Lisboa Palace on December 30 [this Thursday],” Piepoli continued.
Visitors could also make a kalimba, an African musical instrument with a wooden soundboard and metal keys, by painting the wooden boxes and adding the metal keys. Winkie Lam, a visual artist, and Nan an interior designer who had set up a new association with MMAS co-founder and local violinist Anthony Cheong Wai Leong called Macau Interdisciplinary Art Association, were showing the guests how to make the kalimba.
Leong told The Macau Post Daily that the new association was to showcase art, visual music and new ideas consisting of tea and coffee.
“This is the future direction of Macau, now we have lost the funding from casinos, before we could rely on the government, so we are trying to make art and commercialism together. Maybe all artists can ‘crossover’ and not rely on government funding. We want people to experience Macau as being a mixture of Chinese and foreigners.
“This is the brand of Macau; we are used to eating food from around the world and shows that Macau is not similar to [mainland] China. Chinese people like coming to Macau for these reasons and it is a good way to show the ‘One Country Two Systems’ is working”, said Leong.
The music on offer on Sunday night was also of an international flavour, a Korean choir and Philippine musicians accompanied by an Indonesian choir named Jolly Amusing music (JAM) plus local musicians and a poet.
Leong playing violin, Sandy Kam Hio Tong on keyboards and poet Jessie Ng Iat I did a set which paid tribute to the late Canto pop star Anita Mui Yim-fong. Ng said that there was “a film about the legend of Anita Mui about her life, music, job, what she did for society, so we did some of her popular songs to tell everyone her story”
Kam added, “Sharing with people to memorise her spirit.”
Ng said, “There is a Chinese idiom that it rains on the most fortunate people and we have a passion despite the rain and cold and want to give more experiences to share the joy of Christmas happiness within the music. The poetry I wrote was also about a Christmas party in Macau.”
Just before the evening ended Echo Chan Keng Hong, co-founder of MMAS, announced that she had just met a musician from Zhuhai who wanted to perform for everyone.
Chan told The Macau Post Daily, “Macau should have this [music crossover with out-of-town guests] music that is very casual, a passion.”
The guest musician, Zhang Yunlong, a teacher of electronic music in Zhuhai, told The Macau Post Daily, after he was asked how he came to be at 10 Fantasia, “My girlfriend and I heard the music as we were passing and thought it was very good. I enjoyed playing and it is good because I can make new friends”.
When asked if it was his first visit to Macau, Zhang said it wasn’t. “I have been here many times, I love Portuguese culture.”
Zhang played the guitar and sang a self-penned number called Isabella about Macau and fado as “I really like fado”.
Poet Jessie Ng Iat (from left to right), Sandy Kam Hio Tong on keyboards and violinist Anthony Cheong Wai Leong perform on the balcony of 10 Fantasia on Boxing Day. Photos: Lesley Wells
Giuseppe Piepoli of Laltrapizza poses behind his stall at 10 Fantasia in São Lázaro district on Boxing Day.
Zhang Yunlong, a teacher of electronic music in Zhuhai, performs at 10 Fantasia on Boxing Day.
