1st of August marks not only the beginning of a new month but also the start of our city’s most well known festival, the Kuching Fest. This year, for its grand opening, the annual City Day Parade was held in conjunction with it. The band had been invited to participate in the event.
It had actually been 3 years since the band last joined the parade so only the Form 4s and the Form 5s knew what to anticipate. Our last parade had lasted for 3 miserable hours with eternal stops. For most, it had been a horrible experience.
City Day Parade 2005
But! Alas, the parade was nothing close to miserable. It was fun. Nobody fainted. Nobody complained. Even the Form 4s who had expected the worst enjoyed themselves that night. They had their supporters, they said – their friends who came to visit them even though one of them could not even cross the longkang properly.
Drum Majorette, Siti Nor Amirah with Erica Thian as the club bearer, led this parade. The band played 3 numbers – Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, P. Ramlee’s Kwek Mambo and the ‘80s hits, The Hustle.
City Day Parade 2008
The parade officially began at about 7.00 p.m. Along the way, there were many short stops to allow the band to rest. The band could talk, could move and could drink or eat at those times. It was probably the talking that helped the most. The Form 5s were the water girls, also dubbed the Fan Girls because they went around with those mini Chinese fans to fan the hot members (pun intended). They would fan each member for 10 seconds before moving the next one. 20 seconds for those with big instrument. 😀
Band girls have always been known to be quite creative though. When 3 fans could not circle fast enough, what would we do? We improvise.
Suddenly, our heroic club bearer’s assistant came with the club and started fanning 5 people at one go. “I-say-man”.
The water girls who never left
At one stop, the band had so conveniently stopped right next to a satay stall. Whoosh… the wind came blowing. And all at once, the entire band started coughing. Out of the blue, our heroic club bearer’s assistant appeared once again with her club. With all her might, she started fanning the choking fumes away… right in front of the stall. The poor Apek. Business must have been ruined for him for the 5 minutes we rested there.
Marching away from the satay stall
As the band neared the Grand Stand, those short stops started to last a little bit longer. It was during those stops that the band received surprise visits from their supporters who had gone to the Kuching Fest; they came with food. Glorious food. One horn player was so hungry she gobbled up 3 and a half Taiwan sausage (the other miserable half was eaten by a miserable tubist).
Finally, it was the band’s turn to perform. At the Grand Stand, we performed P. Ramlee’s Kwek Mambo to fit the 3 minutes time allocation. After that, the band was dismissed. Some screamed shouts of joy, others grinned foolishly, but all were glad that it was all over. We made our way back to school from Padang Merdeka by foot. After keeping our instrument, we bade each other goodbye. Some stayed on for a while to cool down before leaving.
The front line
Anyway, to all the members who had worked so hard for this performance and who had persevere to stay in the block even when your limbs felt like falling, thank you. To the water girls whose appearances there had just made the parade even more interesting and bearable, thank you. To the teachers who had accompanied us, thank you. To the instructor who had helped us prepare, thank you. To the Red Crescent members who had walked with us to ensure our wellbeing, thank you. And to the suppliers of Taiwan sausage, thank you. Without you, we couldn’t have made it that far – literally!
Quote of the night:
No one fainted! When I asked if they are okay, they answered, “I’m ok! Hand blister NIA!”, “A bit tired NIA!”, “Thirsty NIA!”. Haiya!
-Ervina, the RC member who accompanied us that night.
