TRAVEL

Sydney is once again hosting the biggest music and light festival in the southern hemisphere called Vivid Sydney.

Beginning May 27, the southern hemisphere will once again light up at night and the music will flow as Vivid Sydney, Australia’s grand festival of music and light, kicks off four weeks of revelry.

Billed as an annual “festival of light, music and ideas”, Vivid Australia is aimed at flooring Sydney-siders and visitors alike with sensory overload. The festival is designed to tap the city’s creative pulse and uses Sydney’s city centre as a living canvas, incorporating Macquarie Street, Circular Quay and Darling Harbour into the festivities.

Of course, the iconic Opera House will also once again be put to good use.

The Opera House’s roofs will serve as a canvas for spectacular colours and designs — all without a drop of paint desecrating its tiles, as the colours will be coming from lights projected onto the building as night falls. How’s that for dramatic but eco-friendly effect?

Last year’s inaugural Vivid Sydney festival saw some 200,000 people being drawn to The Rocks and Circular Quay, as Brian Eno presented his Lighting the Sails, a light show that came on every evening, bathing the Opera House in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of light. A spectacle to behold, the show was broadcast to nearly 200 countries and was seen by 60 million all over the world over the duration of the festival.

Eno said of his show: “I wanted to create a situation where you could experience some kind of surrender. When you stop being you and stop thinking about you and your particular life and existence; the laundry you forgot to pick up or the coffee you crave.”

“For a little while, I want you to surrender to something . . . even if it is inconsequential.”

This year, rocker Lou Reed and performance artist Laurie Anderson will take over from Eno, so the world is waiting with bated breath to see what the two will pull out of the hat.

While the Opera House is expected to provide the festival’s most vivid images, a host of other events and exhibitions is set to keep the festivities humming along nicely, as people are encouraged to watch and participate in musical performances and other cultural celebrations.

Vivid Sydney comes packaged in six segments: Vivid Live at Sydney Opera House, Macquarie Visions, Fire Water, Creative Sydney, X Media Lab and Song Summit.

Vivid Live (May 28-June 11)

A music festival with an edge, Vivid Live is held at the Sydney Opera House and highlighted by the lighting of the sails. It is being curated this year by two cultural heavyweights, legendary rock musician Lou Reed, founder of the Velvet Underground, and Laurie Anderson, who is known for her music, composition, poetry, filmmaking and audio-visual work.

Being a multi-media festival, it is expected to showcase ground-breaking film, theatre and visual arts. By the way, did I forget to mention that Grammy Award-winning singer Rickie Lee Jones is also scheduled to perform?

Fire Water (June 11-14)

Under normal circumstances, fire and water are two things that don’t mix but since this is a festival that is anything but ordinary, they do! Fire Water is a free show featuring flames, food and fire sculptures revolving around the voyage of the Sydney Cove, a ship sent from Calcutta to Sydney in 1796 by merchant Robert Campbell, of the Campbell Cove fame.

This contemporary reinterpretation is told from the perspective of an 11-year-old Indian-Australian girl, using live performances, pop-up sets, animation, You Tube-styled projection and multimedia to create a theatrical event of epic proportions.

The show includes a Bollywood-styled, song-and-dance performance featuring tall ships arriving in the midst of Deepavali celebrations.

The soundscape is by world famous tabla player Bobby Singh and multi-instrumentalist Shenzo Gregorio.

Macquarie Visions (May 27-June 20)

Macquarie Street, Sydney’s ceremonial thoroughfare, is transformed into a fantasyland with huge immersive light displays to celebrate the 200th anniversary of two visionary personalities, Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth.

Creative Sydney (June 5-13 June)

Creative Sydney gathers the luminaries of the creative industries from across the globe for some awe-inspiring exchange of ideas, debates, presentations and performances.

As one-third of Australia’s creative minds live in New South Wales and 82% live in metropolitan Sydney, the city is well equipped for this pow-wow, so get ready for some fireworks of the creative kind.

X Media Lab (June 18-20)

As the creative industries’ think-tank, XML provides a platform for the planet’s leading lights in the creative, business and technology fields to share ideas. It also helps local businesses to develop new, radical thinking in tough times.

XML has been held in 13 cities previously, and the theme for the Sydney edition is “Global Media Cultures”. It will link Australia’s media practitioners with their peers in global digital markets.

Song Summit (June 19-21)

Song Summit gathers talents of the music industry and spans all genres of music. The three-day conference is an invaluable network for songwriters, musicians, singers and those involved in the music industry.

There will be a nightly programme of shows and singing, so even those who are tone-deaf and can’t read a note, can enjoy it.

Shopping & nightlife (anytime)

When it comes to shopping, you will be spoiled rotten, regardless of whether you are into arty handicraft, designer gear or aboriginal art.

Sydney’s nightlife can also be as ritzy or decadent as you please, so now is the best time to sample the best and most riotous aspects of the city.

The Malaysian market is deemed so important that we even have our own Vivid Sydney website in collaboration with Malaysia Airlines! Check out vividsydney.com.my