2021 Recipients

2021 Recipients

Almahdi Al-Haj Ibrahim

Bangsawan and Malay Poetic Forms

Image Credit: National Heritage Board

Mr Almahdi Al-Haj Ibrahim, also known by his stage name Nadiputra, is a veteran thespian, playwright, director and producer. He has received many accolades, including the Cultural Medallion and the Aungerah Tun Seri Lanang, for his extensive contributions to Malay cultural arts for more than five decades. He has been promoting public awareness of and interest in bangsawan and Malay poetic forms through staging, directing and script writing for multiple productions over the years. In addition to conducting workshops on bangsawan and Malay poetry with schools and community groups, he has also encouraged more Malay cultural arts practitioners to be involved in bangsawan and have nurtured and mentored younger generations of bangsawan actors, script writers and directors.

Bhaskar’s Arts Academy

Indian Dance Forms

Image Credit: National Heritage Board

Bhaskar’s Arts Academy was founded in 1952 by the late Mr KP Bhaskar, who was later joined by his wife and Cultural Medallion recipient Mrs Santha Bhaskar. Bhaskar’s Arts has been promoting Indian dance through a wide array of local and international performances, many of which have drawn on multicultural influences in Singapore and Southeast Asia. In addition to performance training for its dancers and conducting workshops with schools and community groups, it also has a dedicated teaching wing, the Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society, which offers classes in Indian dance to hundreds of students. Over the decades, they have nurtured many dancers who have gone on to become Indian dance teachers themselves, both at Nrityalaya and around the world, including in Malaysia, Germany and the United States.

Siong Leng Musical Association

Nanyin

Image Credit: National Heritage Board

Established in 1941, Siong Leng Musical Association has pursued their mission of preserving nanyin in Singapore by actively training and nurturing younger generations of nanyin practitioners, including through its apprenticeship programme. Siong Leng also provides local and international platforms for youths to learn and engage with nanyin, through educational workshops and outreach programmes with schools, and organising the International Youth Nanyin Festival in 2015 and 2018. In addition to its regular heritage performances at Thian Hock Keng Temple and for the annual pilgrimage to Kusu Island, Siong Leng has also explored innovative approaches to promote nanyin to contemporary audiences, such as incorporating or collaborating with cross-cultural musical influences in their nanyin productions, including elements of jazz, Malay music, Mandarin pop.

Tan Poh Choo

Making of Soya Sauce

Image Credit: National Heritage Board

Mdm Tan Poh Choo is the 2nd generation owner of Nanyang Sauce, which has been making traditional soya sauce since 1959. As the sauce master of Nanyang Sauce, she has continued to preserve their traditional methods of hand-brewing soya sauce and draws on her 48 years of sauce making experience to ensure the consistent quality of their sauce. She has also been passing on her sauce making skills and knowledge to her son and 3rd generation practitioner, Mr Ken Koh. Together, they regularly conduct sauce appreciation and sauce making workshops for the public and educational programmes for students, to promote awareness of and share the skills involved in making traditional hand-brewed soya sauce.