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Bring in the Xiao Zar Bo’s

SINGAPORE — We can’t believe we are saying this, but a few Xiao Zar Bo’s (Hokkien for “crazy women”) will be getting together for a music showcase on Friday.

SINGAPORE — We can’t believe we are saying this, but a few Xiao Zar Bo’s (Hokkien for “crazy women”) will be getting together for a music showcase on Friday.

The brainchild of local singer-songwriters Inch Chua and Esther Lowless, XZB: Xiao Zar Bo is a platform for women working full-time in music to band together and celebrate their, well, craziness.

“I think it’s very funny. It sounds very derogatory but, really, for us, I think it’s very common for people to think that girls who do this full-time or have great and independent creative endeavours are crazy,” Chua said in a phone interview.

“If you are a girl and, somehow, you don’t fit into that pristine singer-songwriter mould — or any kind of a mould — a label like ‘Xiao Zar Bo’ would be slapped on you. We found it very funny that people do call us that, because we are just trying to do our own thing. So we thought, let’s just embrace this and call this show Xiao Zar Bo.”

In addition to Chua and Lowless, the show will also feature performances from cellist and vocalist Lisa Haryono and Kim Eun-hyung of alternative soul group The Good Life Project. The hope is that by openly showing their support for one another, more women would be encouraged to pursue what they love, no matter how insane their projects are or how much gumption is required to pull these off.

“The craziest thing (I have ever done) is to make the decision to do this for a living, and still stick to it even when there are months when my pay is not so good,” said Lowless. “There are months when I really have to depend on my savings, because these jobs come and go. I am still sticking by my decision because I know there are no other jobs I would rather do.”

Lowless, who is also an actress, says she hopes to expand XZB in the coming months to include more female artists and artistes working on different art forms, such as photography and film, while Chua says she has already received a few requests from friends in the industry to join future XZB shows.

“As it is, the moment I put up the poster, all my friends started talking about it, going ‘Oh wow, this is awesome. Can we play the next one?’” said Chua, with a laugh. “I think we already have the line-up for the next few shows!” HON JING YI

XZB: Xiao Zar Bo will be held on Friday, 7pm, at SingJazz Club. Early-bird tickets at S$12 from http://xzbmovement.peatix.com and S$15 at the door.

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