Sprocket at the Esplanade
By Murray Bourne, 05 Jun 2007
We saw the Sprocket in front of the Esplanade in Singapore recently. It was a lot of fun.
According to the blurb:
Sprocket is a funky musical vehicle that features a 2nd story junk drum kit, trash marimba and thongophone, and various tuned percussive discoveries.
The materials for the Sprocket are all recycled and the only energy input is human.
A thongophone, by the way, is an Australian instrument made of different length tubes, something like a pipe organ. When whacked with a thong (or 'flip-flop', or 'slippers', depending on where you come from), it produces an interesting deep marimba-like sound.
What impressed me was the enthusiasm of the performers, who were from South Korea. They really enjoyed themselves and their abundant fun was infectious.
Each surface of the Sprocket contained a musical instrument. They moved slowly through the crowd and generated quite a buzz.
Now I'm looking forward to more home grown street performers. Oh, Singapore will need to drop the ban on that activity first.
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