by Foo Ming Li 

Teochew opera is considered as one of the many ageing traditional cultures loved and appreciated predominantly by the older generations. This tradition, nevertheless, is losing its spark among the younger generations of today.

Willie Chew, a Teochew opera performer, said the younger generation individuals should not be embarrassed of having interest in the Teochew traditional culture.

For Willie Chew, it is a different story altogether. The HCUC alumni who graduated from School of Business and Management began fulfilling his interest in Teochew opera performances back in 2014 by joining a Teochew cultural club.

Chew said his interest in the Teochew opera grew when he was still a child; it piqued his curious mind to explore further the Teochew opera, and the cultural club became the platform for him to learn more about it.

Another reason for his interest in the opera performance is because of the meanings in the opera script as it contains valuable meanings which everyone can learn from the performance to become a better person.

When an artist chooses a character to play, there are several factors that require careful attention like the performer’s voice tone. If the performer’s voice is generally soft, then the performer will most probably cast for characters with softer voices too, for instance. The Teochew cultural club’s organiser holds the major responsibility to assign characters that best fits the members based on two prerequisites: their facial feature and height.

The Star Newspaper took a photograph of Chew dressed as the God of Fortune for the Chinese New Year performance during the year of the dog zodiac.

“This is due to every club member having different facial features and the make-up must look good on them or the character’s clothes should be comfortable for the actors, which means some adjustments before the performance have to be made before displaying themselves to the audience.

Sometimes there are female members playing male characters and vice-versa,” Chew said.

He felt fortunate being able to meet fellow opera performers from Thailand and for the opportunity of watching them perform and discussing the implicit meanings of their opera performance that are often abstract.

Holding a full-time job as a life-planner for AIA Insurance that also in a way contributes to him financially in the opera club, Chew has to manage his time to avoid clashing with the opera’s rehearsals.

Chew said the memory he cherishes the most is when their Teochew cultural club performed for an event at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to a packed house watching the opera performance.

“It was nerve-wrecking for us to perform for two to three hours for such a large audience, but it was fun and a great experience to remember,” Chew said.

Chew dressing as Hou Yi to add shades of colours to Penang Beach Street during the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2018.

He said he has the full support of his family in pursuing his interest in Teochew opera. His parents are proud of him, especially his mother who consistently speaks highly about his involvement in the opera to her fellow friends, neighbours and family members.

He does encourage the younger generations not to be shy of having interest towards the opera performance or wanting to participate in the cultural club to learn more about it.

“Feel free to message me on my Facebook, Willie Chew, to know more about the Teochew opera performance or wanting to join the Teochew cultural club,” Chew said.