TRENDING

Beyond Multiculturalism: Being Intercultural in Singapore
In multicultural Singapore, crossing cultural boundaries does not occur commonly. Going beyond multiculturalism, Singaporeans need to enter the Other’s sphere to appreciate it better, even embrace it. This event brought together four talented intercultural individuals who are expert practitioners of art forms outside their customary ethnic cultural space: Malik Mazlan, a Malay who practices Chinese calligraphy; Govin Tan, a Chinese who has dedicated himself to Indian percussion instruments including the tabla; Evan Eng Yu Fan, another Chinese who has made a serious hobby of Javanese dance and gamelan music; and Amritha Devaraj, an Indian trained in Carnatic Music, who has crossed over into the world of Xinyao — a genre of Mandarin songs originating from Singapore.

Singapore Sikhs
The Sikh, meaning a ‘disciple’ or ‘learner’, is committed to the core tenets of Sikhism, which is a way of life that uniquely weaves together art, culture and faith. This amalgamation is deeply influenced by the principles of equality, social justice, service to humanity and tolerance for other religions.

Singapore Malayalees
CSTC, NLB and some Malayalee community organisations collaborated to provide a special introduction to the Singapore Malayalee community – a rich and diverse sub-ethnic group among Singapore Indians. Our audience got a glimpse of Malayalee cultural practices, artefacts, dance, music and, of course, a taste of their unique cuisine!
There are two videos of the programme. The first part contains the introductory talk by Dr Anitha Devi Pillai, the principal curator of this programme, and cultural exhibits and a multi-generation traditional dance. See https://youyu.be/ophQwUgQmBy
The second part features the discussion among the panellists and with participants. See https://youtu.be/tue-_47Q8LM
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Ramayana Retold in Chinese
The great Indian epic Ramayana has crossed many oceans to make an impact and leave an imprint on many cultures beyond India. In this English video presentation, Dr Chua Soo Pong shares some fascinating insights into his own efforts to retell the Ramayana story in Chinese, in different performance modes. Dr Chua is a doyenne of the Chinese opera world in Singapore. His retold Ramayana is a compelling guide to crossing boundaries across cultures.

Kamban: One of World’s Great Poets
The literary wealth in the Tamil language is immeasurable. One of the greatest Tamil epics is Kamba Ramayanam! One of the greatest Tamil poets is Kambar. Prof George Hart is an exemplary scholar of both Tamil and Sanskrit. He has written extensively on premodern Tamil, its relationship to classical Sanskrit, and South Indian religion and culture. In this talk, Prof Hart spoke and discussed why Kamban is considered one of the world’s greatest poets.

Building Bridges: Translating Chinese Literary Masterpieces into Tamil Malay Publishing Houses
Translating between two of the oldest languages in the world is a big challenge. Translating creative works is even more so. This talk in English will reveal the actual experiences of someone who translated the oldest Chinese classic and a Chinese Nobel Laureate’s novel into Tamil

Dravidian and Indus Valley Script By Professor Asko Parpola
Tamil is considered by many scholars to be the oldest spoken language in the world and is believed to have its roots in the Indus valley civilization. The Indus Valley scripts were discovered in 1921 and even after 100 years they have yet to be deciphered conclusively unlike Middle Eastern scripts like Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, etc.

Interior Landscapes, Intercultural Explorations: Curiosity, Openness, Pleasure
The speaker says: “This dialogue is inspired by A.K. Ramanujan’s The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Love Poems and by the work of the Intercultural Theatre Institute and the Centre for Singapore Tamil Culture

Munshi Abdullah: The Making of a New Man in the Malay World
Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (1796-1854) was a leading intellectual of his time whose legacy and contributions are still remembered and recognised today. Though Melaka-born, it was in Singapore that his illustrious career bloomed

The Centre for Singapore Tamil Culture
CSTC is a modest, but hopefully, effective, response to this challenge. For now, it is only focused on Tamil-Singaporeans and their culture because the founding group doesn’t have the means to address other ethnic groups and identities. If the CSTC survives and flourishes, then we will consider expanding our efforts to include the larger cultural canvas.
LATEST
ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ramayana Retold in Chinese
The great Indian epic Ramayana has crossed many oceans to make an impact and leave an imprint on many cultures beyond India. In this English video presentation, Dr Chua Soo Pong shares some fascinating insights into his own efforts to retell the Ramayana story in Chinese, in different performance modes. Dr Chua is a doyenne of the Chinese opera world in Singapore. His retold Ramayana is a compelling guide to crossing boundaries across cultures.

Kamban: One of World’s Great Poets
The literary wealth in the Tamil language is immeasurable. One of the greatest Tamil epics is Kamba Ramayanam! One of the greatest Tamil poets is Kambar. Prof George Hart is an exemplary scholar of both Tamil and Sanskrit. He has written extensively on premodern Tamil, its relationship to classical Sanskrit, and South Indian religion and culture. In this talk, Prof Hart spoke and discussed why Kamban is considered one of the world’s greatest poets.

Building Bridges: Translating Chinese Literary Masterpieces into Tamil
Translating between two of the oldest languages in the world is a big challenge. Translating creative works is even more so. This talk in English will reveal the actual experiences of someone who translated the oldest Chinese classic and a Chinese Nobel Laureate’s novel into Tamil

Dravidian and Indus Valley Script By Professor Asko Parpola
Tamil is considered by many scholars to be the oldest spoken language in the world and is believed to have its roots in the Indus valley civilization. The Indus Valley scripts were discovered in 1921 and even after 100 years they have yet to be deciphered conclusively unlike Middle Eastern scripts like Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, etc.

Interior Landscapes, Intercultural Explorations: Curiosity, Openness, Pleasure
The speaker says: “This dialogue is inspired by A.K. Ramanujan’s The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Love Poems and by the work of the Intercultural Theatre Institute and the Centre for Singapore Tamil Culture

Munshi Abdullah: The Making of a New Man in the Malay World
Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (1796-1854) was a leading intellectual of his time whose legacy and contributions are still remembered and recognised today. Though Melaka-born, it was in Singapore that his illustrious career bloomed

The Centre for Singapore Tamil Culture
CSTC is a modest, but hopefully, effective, response to this challenge. For now, it is only focused on Tamil-Singaporeans and their culture because the founding group doesn’t have the means to address other ethnic groups and identities. If the CSTC survives and flourishes…

Bridging Cultures
CSTC Events
Our events aim to deepen understanding of Singapore cultures and help cross boundaries.





Connecting with community
CSTC Events
Our events aim to deepen the learning about Tamil culture as well as develop an appreciation of other cultures

Connecting with community
CSTC Events
Our events aim to deepen the learning about Tamil culture as well as develop an appreciation of other cultures





Bridging cultures
CSTC Projects
Our projects focus on preserving Tamil language and culture while educating the community of its various aspects

Bridging cultures
CSTC Projects
Our projects focus on preserving Tamil language and culture while educating the community of its various aspects
Building Knowledge
CSTC Projects
Our projects focus on building knowledge of Singapore cultures and providing interesting insights.


Tamil Digital
Heritage of Music
ARCHIVES

Tamil Digital
Heritage of Dance
ARCHIVES

Tamil Digital
Heritage of Theater
ARCHIVES

Tamil Digital
Heritage of Literature
ARCHIVES

photos, videos, interviews, speeches
Media
Here you will find digital records and publicity materials, capturing our events and activities

photos, videos, interviews, speeches
Media
Here you will find digital records and publicity materials, capturing our events and activities

eight directions
About the Logo
The logo is made up of eight arrows and three primary colours. The big and small arrows depict the “eight directions,” which in Tamil connotes all directions, from which Tamil culture has been influenced in big and small ways. Tamil culture is a distillation of such multidirectional influences. Likewise, Tamil culture has influenced others in many directions. The arrows are arranged with gaps in between to indicate the open and dynamic nature of Tamil culture, instead of being fossilised in a closed, exclusive environment. Just as the three primary colours of Red, Green and Blue, when combined, create a multitude of other colours, so are the numerous cultural manifestations based on a few fundamental values of the culture.


eight directions
About the Logo
The logo is made up of eight arrows and three primary colours. The big and small arrows depict the “eight directions,” which in Tamil connotes all directions, from which Tamil culture has been influenced in big and small ways. Tamil culture is a distillation of such multidirectional influences. Likewise, Tamil culture has influenced others in many directions. The arrows are arranged with gaps in between to indicate the open and dynamic nature of Tamil culture, instead of being fossilised in a closed, exclusive environment. Just as the three primary colours of Red, Green and Blue, when combined, create a multitude of other colours, so are the numerous cultural manifestations based on a few fundamental values of the culture.


Documenting Media
CSTC Media
Our documentation captures digital records and media coverage of our events and activities.

From All, To All
About the Logo
The logo is made up of eight arrows and three primary colours. The big and small arrows depict the “eight directions,” from which all cultures have been influenced in big and small ways. Culture is a distillation of such multidirectional influences. Likewise, each culture has influenced others in many directions. The arrows are arranged with gaps in between to indicate the open and dynamic nature of culture, instead of being fossilised in a closed, exclusive environment. Just as the three primary colours of Red, Green and Blue, when combined, create a multitude of other colours, so are the numerous cultural manifestations based on a few fundamental values of the culture.
