To celebrate their 10th anniversary, renowned local band Blademark is organizing their first Rock and Roll themed festival – the Blademark Festival, on the 5th of September at Albergue SCM.
Formed in 2005, Blademark is one of the most renowned bands in Macau, with music focusing on metal with a blend of funk, rap and heavy melodic rock. The band’s founder and front man, Fortes Pakeong Sequeira, and bassist Raymond Nogueira are Macanese, guitarist Akitsugu Fukushima is Japanese, and drummer Darren Kopas is from Canada. Different cultures within the band collide creating different creative sparks; the band is like an epitome of cosmopolitan Macau.
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, Blademark decided to hold a Rock and Roll themed festival, the Blademark Festival, to share the Rock and Roll spirit in Macau.
Though organized by a rock band, the Blademark Festival will not only highlight live rock music, it will also gather like-minded alliances from music, fashion, visual arts and the catering industry, incorporate lighting projection performances, a runway show and a creative commodity showcase exhibition, etc. The festival will be a big gathering of music, arts and creativity, all in the spirit of Rock and Roll.
The festival is now being prepared and operations are in full swing. Apart from stage performances, the festival will also provide spaces for invited shops and companies to showcase their products, and won’t charge a fee. Blademark’s original intention is to provide local creative businesses a platform to be seen, “but it was not easy to convince people to join, they have doubts, so we started with inviting companies who know us, and have been in cooperation with us,” according to the band.
“We want to make it an annual event, if the result of this year is good,” says Sequeira . He explains that the aim of the festival is to promote the Rock and Roll spirit in Macau, and that spirit, per Sequeira’s understanding, is independent thinking and action. “We wish to show people who join our festival a kind of attitude to life, to show them that rock and roll is not just a genre of music, but also a lifestyle. This is what we want to bring to Macau’s neighbourhood.”
As a Rock and Roll themed festival, the live rock concert is particularly noteworthy. Blademark will present three new songs together with their other popular tracks at the concert. Blademark has also invited two local bands, LAVY and Catalyser, and a Hong Kong band, Qiu Hong, to join the event, aiming to bring the audience an inspiring day of rock.
Before the festival, at the end of August, Sequeira will have a solo exhibition in Albergue SCM. The theme of the exhibition is Blademark, and will exhibit the illustrations he drew for the band’s songs.