Press & Reviews

The Star - Friday, 15 December 2007
By Noor Hayati

In the mood for Christmas

CHRISTMAS will be in the air at the Little Penang Street Market this Sun-day. Those wishing to do their Christmas shopping should head for the arts and craft ba-zaar which will be held from 10am to 6pm at Upper Penang Road in Penang.

This is because participa- ting traders have been asked not only to put up decor for the Yuletide season but also to offer Christmas items for sale.

Adding to the atmosphere will be the choir from Interna-tional Women Association, Penang, which will sing carols and other songs at the market at 2pm.

The choir has been busy with accepting carolling in-vitations since mid-Novem-ber.

“We’ve been doing three to four performances per week, bringing cheer to patients at hospitals and residents of charitable homes. We also received invitations to perform at hotels and functions,” choir director George Swal-well told a press conference recently.

The 47 members of the choir take turns to go for their carol-ling rounds.

“We do a mix of Christmas carols and local songs like Rasa Sayang, Hei and popular Chi-nese numbers to please different audiences,” said choir lea-der Marlene Fox.

“We really enjoy carolling and spreading the season’s cheer. Many who have heard us singing now want to join the choir,” she added.

The Little Penang Street Mar-ket this Sunday will fea- ture several new attractions like made-in-Penang Venetian masks that could add mystery to year-end parties. Adren Ong and his partner Nozomi @ Lew Kah Mei are florists by professions but they have ventured into making Venetian masks lately.

There will also be demonstrations and workshops on wayang gadek – the simplest form of shadow play – where children and adults can learn from esteemed puppeteer Md Shukri Edrus from the Natio-nal Heritage Department how to make puppets of popular sha-dow play characters and to handle them.

There will be two workshop sessions (11am and 4pm) with each session limited to 50 participants.

Other crafts to be showcased at the market include alien-looking soft toys, tote bags, beaded keychains, painted ba-tik, patchwork crafts, seashell art, ceramics, beaded shoes and labu sayong.

For more details on Little Penang Street Market, visit www.lestariheritage.net

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