Worldly Beats, Woke Conversations: Tropika Returns For Its 2nd Conscious Music Festival

The Tropika Festival is back to open your mind, having previously hosted experimental artistes like NADA (Credit: Shiori Ori Photography)

As a cosmopolitan melting pot of cultures and minds, our city is a simmering hotbed of possibility where awareness can inspire change. I’ve shown that these collectives and pop-up promoters in Singapore have the impetus and instruments to educate with music, and now here comes another that’s stirring the pot with music of the world.

The flyer for Tropika’s 2nd Edition was designed by Reza Hasni (Credit: Tropika)

This is Tropika, a conscious music festival that first made its voice heard in 2018 with a multi-disciplinary festival at Fort Canning Park. Through eclectic musical voyages and open dialogues about mindfulness and sustainability, the movement made a sizeable impact in spreading its enlightening ethos.

Now a two-day event, Tropika kicks off its sophomore edition with a diverse curation of upcoming programmes. The Tropika excursion begins with an all-day fiesta and market on 3 August at Golden Mile Tower, spearheaded by a genre-crossing roster that traverses soundscapes from Nigerian funk and Cantonese disco to exotic flavours from the South Atlantic.

“For the second edition, we invited DJ Itch to open the event with his vintage selections from the region, with MOON warming up the spot for Singapore’s Instigator Afrobeat Orchestra,” reveals Ramesh Krishnan and Sharmaine Khoo, organisers of Tropika. “Our featured guest, Hugo Mendez, co-founder of Sofrito, will deliver exclusive tropical dance music from Africa to the Caribbean.” An afterparty is slated for the bill too – in collaboration with Kampong Boogie – featuring an open-format ensemble of A/K/A Sounds, Drem and Tom Shellsuit with MC SWTLKR on mic duties.

In keeping with Tropika’s mission of shedding light on its values of inclusivity, sustainability and wellness, a series of panel discussions is also scheduled for 4 August at Choice Cuts Goods + Coffee. “Singaporean journalist, Kirsten Han, and former Singaporean MP, Viswa Sadasivan, will discuss protest culture in Asia and effective engagement with officials; followed by an intimate chat with Hugo Mendez on tropical music,” the organisers elaborate.

Tropika believes in promoting inclusivity, sustainability and wellness, values championed by performing alumni like Deborah Emmanuel (Credit: Shiori Ori Photography)

On their inspirations behind nurturing the Tropika concept, they explain, “We were inspired by Oslo World Music Festival and wanted to do more than just throwing a party. We want to use global music to celebrate cultures because, more importantly, we believe that music serves as a universal language, one that traverses all barriers.”

Diverse and defiant, Tropika is the conscious movement that we need, helping us challenge the status quo and reshape our perspective of the world – one beat at a time.  

Tropika 2nd Edition, 3 August 2019 (all-day party), Golden Mile Tower rooftop carpark, 6001 Beach Road, Singapore 199589. 4 August 2019 (panel discussions), Choice Cuts Goods + Coffee, 451 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427664.

Tickets for Tropika 2nd Edition can be found at this ticketing website.