Scenes from George Town Festival 2012

In case you missed it, I recorded a few clips at the the George Town Festival, just to give you a flavour of what it was like. The city was certainly a ‘happening’ place over the weekend.

George Town heboh! Children from various ethnic backgrounds shared the residents’ history of Acheen Street, Armenian Street and Cannon Square:

A Punjabi martial arts troupe enthralled the crowd:

Lively Boria dancers strutted on the street:

Given the broader space for the arts under the present administration, the arts scene seems to be flourishing. More and more people are able to appreciate and celebrate not only their own unique cultures but also their shared cultural heritage. In that sense, George Town is not a melting pot but a rojak of cultures where each distinctive culture does not lose its distinctive flavour and when mixed together turns out to be than than the sum of the parts. The unique flavours are actually enhanced. Just like rojak.

It was also great to see people reclaiming the streets. No cars – yay! I overhead someone saying that cars should be kept out more often, perhaps on weekends. That would be a good start towards a car-free city.