Growing Up With Teochew Opera - 6

Teochew Street Opera And Hungry Ghost Festival - 3

与潮并长

During the mid 1970s, I had no problem appreciating the performance and could really understand what they were singing. During peak season like the lunar 7th month hungry ghost festival, every troupe would arm itself with two titles and perform the same two titles at different locations throughout the whole month. This was because it was very expensive to hire them during 7th month and each performance would only last two nights. The troupes would put up their best performance and invest in new costumes and headgears.

How did I know about that? Again, it was from those old uncles who stood in front of the stage. The moment someone on stage hung a notice (usually a rectangular blackboard) on the left side of stage facing audience, it would stir a moment of excitement as the audience would like to know whether the show was new or a repeat. I was amongst one of them. I would normally run to the nearby public phone and ring my mum about the title even though she might not be keen to come down and watch.

I would travel from marketplace to marketplace to get to know the pattern of street opera appearance for the whole of lunar 7th month within Toa Payoh. Sometimes, I would not mind seeing the same performance again if there was only one troupe performing because it was really very ‘shiok’. Take 26th and 27th day of the 7th lunar month as an example. I would watch 织云潮剧团 at my place. If I had seen the performance before, I would walk to Block 73 where another Teochew Opera troupe would perform. In the early 1970s, it was 新一天彩潮剧团. This happened only during the lunar 7th month hungry ghost festival. I wanted to watch a variety of troupes since I had all the opportunities to see 织云潮剧团 more often than the others in Toa Payoh. Also, by doing so would allow me to know the shows that the other troupes had prepared and the standard of their performance.

Someone asked me whether I had ever seen the 斗戏 between two Teochew opera troupes. My mum and eldest sister told me something interesting. They said there was once an aunt in JB somehow knew the schedule and my mother and a few of us came over to Singapore to watch. One location was at the then Tik Pasat (literally means iron market) at Beach Road. The market had since been demolished and she said should be the site where Golden Cinema is currently located. 新荣和兴潮剧团 and 老赛桃源潮剧团 staged side by side. Obvious winner was 新荣和兴潮剧团. My mum said 新荣和 “ngia char boh” (beautiful women), 老赛桃 “tua loh koh” (loud drum beat).

Another location is by the name of a temple called 金兰庙. 织云潮剧团 and 新荣和兴潮剧团 entered into the 斗戏. In JB, they said somewhere in Sing San near Sing Lau Yah Ken ‘new temple in dialect’, Teochew, Hainanese and Hokkien opera staged three in a row to 斗戏.

I did my National Service in the early 80’s. That was the time the street opera troupes were most appreciated and signs of decline emerged. I remembered I was very excited if the 26th and 27th day of the 7th month coincided with weekends as I could book out to watch 织云潮剧团.

Think the lunar 7th month hungry ghost festival is widely celebrated by Chinese in countries like Malaysia, Penang, Thailand and Hong Kong. The organizers would invite either their local street operas or invite some local pop songs singers to perform during the celebration. Other than the lunar 7th month hungry ghost festival, Chinese also have many celebrations for their gods and deities in almost all the even months of the lunar calendar.