And here we are again. Summer is basically over, and so are the traditional holidays. The two Macaus are back to their usual pace and business, with new casino properties opening on one side; and the International Music Festival starting on the other side.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had the same impression, but all these years I’ve been living here, for me there were at least two Macaus – and I would say even three, but I’ll leave the ‘Portuguese Macau’ out of it this time.
There’s the glittering city where you can see fancy cars and suits, brand new promenades welcoming Wynn Palace and The Parisian, five-star hotels, beautiful restaurants and luxurious shopping malls. And there’s another city – a city of busy streets, narrow alleys and all those traditional Cantonese restaurants; a city of scooters and traditional commerce packed together with locals and Southeast Asian migrants; a city of shops that are forced to move from the city centre, just like happened to our beloved Pin-to Bookshop, in Senado Square.
This is all goes back to our cover story and is to say that, as it celebrates its 30th anniversary, the Macau International Music Festival is still pretty much an event for this second city, for the locals. Some may argue that’s not such a good thing, that the festival should be capable of attracting tourists and bringing more people in. I’m sure the Festival brings in some people from Hong Kong and a few neighbouring cities too, but that isn’t and shouldn’t be its main purpose.
There are dozens of corporations and events putting all their efforts into attracting tourists, which is all very well – afterall that’s what generates the majority of the city’s revenue. But if we want Macau to be vibrant in its own way, to have a soul that we can feel and a heart we can hear beating, locals do need to be exposed to the best there is – and jazz musician Roy Hargrove is clearly one of the best.
The Grammy Award Winning trumpeter is going to perform on October 21, at the Mount Fortress, a beautiful place, where in previous years we’ve had the privilege of seeing artists such as Laurie Anderson. Hargrove is just one of the many highlights of this 30 th International Music Festival programme, a programme filled with diversity and quality.
No matter which Macau you live in, make sure you get out to enjoy it.