We Followed Getai Performers The Shining Sisters For A Night — And This Is What Happened

For about one month every year, over-the-top stage shows take over Singapore’s heartlands. Cue bright lights, gaudy stage outfits, and flamboyant performers singing and dancing to Mandarin and Hokkien tunes. Welcome to the Seventh Month of the lunar calendar, when it is believed that the gates of hell are opened and spirits are free to roam the land of the living during this period (Aug 1-29 this year). Getai shows are among the traditions during the Hungry Ghost Festival, which is why getai performers get very busy during this time, rushing from one show to the next (and the next, and the next…) all over the island, cramming as many performances they can in one night.

What goes on in the harried everyday Seventh Month routine of getai performers? To find out what goes on behind the scenes of this boisterous tradition, we decided to follow getai duo and twin sisters, The Shining Sisters, on a work night.

Twins Thien Si Si and Jia Jia, 24, (you may know them from Ch 8’s Getai Challenge) make up The Shining Sisters, and they’ve been performing at getai stages for nine years, making their debut under the tutelage of getai veteran Wang Lei at age 15, who took them under his wing.

“We’ve always loved singing and we first started performing at a temple owned by our relatives just for fun. They happened to know Wang Lei, and introduced us to him when they knew we wanted to further our career in singing,” Si Si reveals of their 58-year-old mentor, who also helped them snag a bit part in Ah Boys to Men.

The girls have day jobs — Si Si is an associate at a production house, while Jia Jia is a social media content creator — but carve out time during the Seventh Month every year. They perform about two shows per night, and up to four sessions on good nights, and command about $100 to $150 in total per 20-min performance. In a month, they can rake in about $5,000 to $6,000 in earnings in total, which they will also split with their driver who ferries them around nightly, and spend some on make-up and stage costumes.

“We don’t earn a lot of money lah, it’s just a side hobby, and additional pocket money for school fees,” Jia Jia muses, who recently graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Professional Communications from RMIT together with her twin.

We meet Si Si and Jia Jia at their Serangoon HDB flat, where they’re preparing for the first show at 7pm. The sisters share a cramped make-up table, and they’re glamming up simultaneously.

Their mum, Sandy Chng, is a housewife-cum-manager, has been following the sisters around since they started performing. She’s also their unofficial hairstylist. “My mother has been tying our hair for nine years!” exclaims Si Si.

Getai costumes are often elaborate and not cheap, but the Thiens have managed to overcome that hurdle by finding bargains on Taobao, and make alterations themselves. They also sometimes custom make their outfits in Malaysia. In total, they’ve spent “a few thousand” dollars on their outfits so far.

Before leaving the house, Si Si (left) and Jia Jia do a vocal warm-up by way of a short karaoke session.

They’re so used to traipsing around in super high heels, they don’t even bring slippers to change in between shows.

The sisters have a healthy meal in the car, lovingly prepared by Mum. They're on the way to their first show of the night at Bukit Merah.

They arrive at the first venue. The twins and their mum make it a point to pray before starting their first show of the night.

Turns out, they weren’t told that tonight’s gig wasn’t a regular getai show — it’s actually a neighbourhood National Day event. Nope, the sisters don’t panic. Instead, they ditch the Hokkien song they were initially planning to sing, and spontaneously decide to go with xinyao hit, ‘Voices from the Heart’ (‘Xiao Ren Wu De Xin Sheng’).

They confidently belt out their last-minute song to get the crowd going.

Nope, these aren't runaway brides. The twins are zipping off to the next stage, after successfully wrapping up their first performance of the night. But the show has overrun slightly, which means they have to rush for their second gig tonight all the way at Yew Tee industrial park.

On the way to Yew Tee, the girls are panicking a little in the car, wondering if they'll be on time. They're due on stage at 8pm, and it’s customary for the girls to arrive at the venue 15 minutes beforehand to prep. Which is like...now?

Si Si and Jia Jia arrive in the nick of time, with just five minutes to spare before going up on stage. It’s a getai stage this time round, so they sing the songs they had planned for earlier on.

The audience of slightly over 100 people is mainly made of middle-aged uncles and foreign workers. During their performance, the twins receive a red packet from a Thai migrant worker who had been dancing along.

“I want to thank all our foreign workers for coming here and experiencing our local culture! Thank you for building our HDBs, and for sacrificing so much at home just so we can live in Singapore comfortably!” the sisters exclaim in unison. The entire audience erupts in cheers and applause, and the group of foreign workers reciprocate by whistling and cheering. Aww. Who knew getai would be filled with heartwarming moments like these?

After blazing through an energetic performance, Si Si and Jia Jia are greeted off stage by a group of their new-found fans, many of whom wanted selfies with the duo.

The Shining Sisters make sure that everyone gets a pic before waving goodbye and heading home for the night, to rest before they start work at their day jobs at 9am the next morning.

Photos: CY