SINGAPORE CITY (SINGAPORE) – The spread of the pandemic has forced the getai concerts in Singapore to go virtual. This hugely popular form of entertainment among the Chinese community comprises skits, songs and elaborate costumes to honour the dead.
Normally, such concerts are attended by thousands. But now they take place in a studio from where it is livestreamed. It helps performers like Febe Huang survive.
“When this pandemic hit, there were two or three months where we just didn’t have any income at all,” she said. “We started selling things online so we had a little bit of a salary. And now this livestreamed getai has started.”
The concerts are usually held during the Hungry Ghost Festival which falls in the seventh month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. It is believed that the spirits of the dead return to earth to visit their loved ones. Performers say that it is not quite the same to get on stage without an audience.
“Every year it’s the same feeling — when the Hungry Ghost Festival comes, (everyone) is very happy. But this year just feels a bit empty. There’s no particular feeling,” said thespian artiste Sam Loo with more than 37 years of experience.
Although the concerts have gone online, they still fetch hundreds of thousands of fans. Aaron Tan, who owns a getai company, said that new fans for the online concerts mean that there will be bigger audiences when the shows become live once again.
In a recording studio ahead of a concert this week, caretakers from temples brought statues of Chinese deities and there were food offerings for the idols as well as cans of Guinness beer and a bottle of Martell Cordon Bleu cognac. The artistes joked and sang in Hokkien, the chief dialect of the Chinese diaspora in Singapore.
The livestreaming has kept getai artistes in the spotlight when many other entertainment events have been cancelled.
“So we treasure, we really cherish this opportunity,” said veteran getai performer and comedian Liu Ling Ling.