Lydia Tan received a scholarship and represented Singapore at the Asian Cross-Cultural Exploration (ACCE) held at Daegu, South Korea. It is a programme organised by ASEAN University Network (AUN), Multicultural Education and Research Institute (MERI), and Yeungnam University, bringing people from all ten ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and South Koreans together to have an arts, musical and cultural exchange.

Learning the Galgo, a traditional Korean drum

Wai Yan with his Saung, a traditional Burmese harp

Chamy playing the Khim, a traditional Lao instrument

Nicky playing the Luntang, a traditional Philippine instrument

Lydia Tan also spent two years learning about World Music, specifically on African, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Japanese Music, and furthered into in-depth studies on Northern and Southern Indian Music, and Javanese and Balinese Indonesian Music for another two years.

Gamelan workshop at National University of Singapore (NUS) – Balungan instruments

Hindustani Music, Gat demonstration in class

Having lived in Istanbul, Turkey for four months, Lydia Tan was introduced to the musical culture of odd-meter time and quarter tone scales, and picked up basic Turkish language. Other than being fluent in English and Mandarin, Lydia Tan has also learnt basic Italian, French, Spanish, and Korean. With her insatiable curiousity about cultures, she has met people from almost 60 different countries and gained insights into their musical perspectives.

The historical ceremonial dance by the Whirling Dervishes with the Mevlevi ceremonial musicians playing on the upper level in Istanbul, Turkey.

Header photo: Pungmul, Korean folk music tradition performed at Daegu, South Korea. Photo by Lydia Tan.