The Mambo Jambo movie needs your help

SINGAPORE — Making a documentary about an iconic Singapore dance-party night, chock full of music licensing fees for some of this generation’s most popular hits, is no mean feat.

Which is why Dave Tan, the frontman of Singapore’s rock trio Electrico, is looking to fans of Zouk’s inimitable Mambo Jambo night for help in getting his maiden film project onto the silver screen.

Hosted on Starhub’s Crowdtivate platform, Tan has started a crowdfunding campaign for his documentary Mambo Jambo—Blame It On The Boogie, his indie passion project about the retro-themed longest-running party in the history of Singapore’s nightlife. Officially launched today (July 23), Tan hopes the campaign will hit the goal of S$75,000. It has already raised S$1,420 at press time with 59 days remaining.

Said Tan: “Crowdtivate is the perfect alternative for us, a Singapore based platform for a Singapore based phenomenon.” The bulk, which is a whopping 70 per cent of the total contribution, will go to acquiring music licensing and rights, which are generally incredibly pricy. The remaining 30 per cent will go to production costs, crowdfunding rewards and processing fees.

According to Tan, the film has been laboriously self-funded so far, “on a credit card, a laptop, and calling in a lot of favours”.

“It’s unimaginable for us to make a Mambo film without all the favorite songs”, said Tan. “But even for hits that are decades old, music rights still amount up to many thousands of dollars. So we’re asking the fans for help.”

Backers who choose to sponsor a specific song will be mentioned in the film credits along with other incentives which range from T-shirts, framed posters and digital film downloads to official co-producer credits and VIP tickets to the finale filming party on Aug 8. And who knows, maybe even appear in the documentary itself.

According to Tan, the finale scene of the film is scheduled to be shot August 8 at Zouk, at a special SG50 Mambo Jambo reunion. Zouk aims for the event to be the largest Mambo reunion since stopping the weekly event in 2012. Said Tan. “We’re asking the crowd to contribute what they can, and we hope everyone will show up for our finale filming event, all prepared to bring down the house by partying hard, singing loud and celebrating Mambo Jambo in all its glory.

“When it comes down to it, the magic of Mambo isn’t the music or even the club. It’s the crowd,” shared Tan. “We’re hoping that crowd will bring the same kind of magic to our film.”

For more information and how to contribute to the campaign, visit the crowdfunding website at www.mambojambofilm.com.