Singapore sings

Singapore's annual Mosaic Music Festival returns for its fourth edition from March 7 to 16, bringing together musical acts and genres from across the world, and showcasing them at the Esplanade Theatres by the Bay.

Thailand's favourite rock group, Modern Dog, and pop rockers Silly Fools will be among the bands from Asia. This is the first time the two groups have joined the festival.

Veteran artists include Lee Ritenour and Chicago's renowned jazz vocalist Kurt Elling, who will be crooning his hits "A Time For Love", "My Foolish Heart" and "The Very Thought of You".

Not to be missed is legendary musician Eddie Palmieri, one of the foremost Latin jazz pianists. Not only being a master in his own music realm, Palmieri is also known for his eclectic blend of Latin and non-Latin music.

Other headliners are Grammy-winning jazz vocalist-pianist Harry Connick Jr, British boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader Jools Holland, jazz guitarist Raul Midon and celebrated rap/hip-hop collective The Roots from Philadelphia. Danish saxophonist queen Saskia Laroo is queuing up to perform with her full band while old-school funk-jazz collective the Earth, Wind & Fire Experience is set to perform with special guest The Al McKay Allstars.

And it's not only contemporary music. Newer, cutting edge talents are also included. Icelandic pop experimentalist group, Mum, will make their Southeast Asian debut. World and ethnic music talents comprise oud player and vocalist Dhafer Youssef from Tunisia, Cuban impressionistic musician Omar Sosa, African folk musician Vusi Mahlasela and Jamican reggae singer Desmond Foster.

Among the other performances is UK retro electronic pop duo The Bird and the Bee. They will make their Singapore debut at the festival. They answered some questions fromWeekend.

What are you guys up to now? 

We just released another EP on Valentine's Day called "One Too Many Hearts", and then we'll have another full-length album in the fall, so we have been writing. We love to write and record music, so the idea of an EP is a great one for us because it's an opportunity to keep putting out music as fast as we make it.

Were you familiar with Mosaic Music Festival before? 

No, but we're very excited to be a part of it this year. We have no expectations, but we're told it's really wonderful. We've only been to Tokyo and the Asian crowd was very different, but very kind and attentive - great listeners.

Do you have different set when you perform in festival?

We always like to add new songs to the set, so the list will be different. 

And we are using the production crew at the festival, so we should be well taken care of.

What will the show be like this time? 

We try to have fun. We'll be playing with the full band, so it should be exciting.

The Mosaic Music Festival runs from March 7 to 16

at Esplanade Theatres by the Bay in Singapore. The shows run from 7pm until late daily. Tickets are from SG$38 (Bt874), available from Sistic. For details, call hotline 6348 5555 or see mosaicmusicfestival.com.

Manta Klangboonkrong