SINGAPORE — Once again, Esplanade’s annual music festival, Baybeats, is preparing to pay tribute to local musicians both past and present, but this time it has come up with a segment called Mixtape.

Curated by Wake Me Up Music’s John Chiong, Mixtape aims to be a platform for veterans of Singapore’s music community to inspire the next generation of musicians. Apart from the usual Powerhouse and Arena stages outside the main building, another outdoor stage along the Esplanade Waterfront, called The Lawn, will be set up this year especially for this segment.

“I felt that because of the nature of how Baybeats is presented each year with its transitions, some stories were lost,” said Chiong, who was the founding producer of Baybeats. “There is a need to tell this story based on the people who were part of forming and building the festival. I hope this can be represented well through Mixtape with the help of this curation, and also a mini-documentary that we are now producing.”

Mixtape will feature an exhibition that will tell the Baybeats story from the beginning. It will also hold nightly performances by bands such as The Fire Fight, which got through the first Baybeats audition held in 2007, “power band” TypeWriter, which features members that include Desmond Goh of Electrico, Yee Chang Kang of The Ordinary People and Patrick Chng of The Oddfellows, and Surreal, which made an impact in the Noughties, and played at the very first edition of Baybeats in 2002.

“It’s great to see Baybeats evolve and grow to be recognised as one of the biggest indie music festivals in the region,” said TypeWriter guitarist Chng, who added that the band is currently recording a new EP. “Baybeats has given opportunities to young bands to perform and be guided by more seasoned musicians. Not only is it a festival for music, budding music writers and photographers are given mentorship too with access to the artists.”

Mixtape will also give musicians the opportunity to re-live some of their best memories of the festival. “If I recall correctly, we almost didn’t get to play due to the rain in 2002,” said Chiong, who is also Surreal’s bassist. “However, I think our best experience was in 2005, when we launched our EP on the same day we played at Baybeats. That was an amazing experience with thousands rocking it hard with us.

“Some of my best memories were the opportunities to meet some of my favourite bands face-to-face,” said Surreal lead vocalist Gordon Khoo. “The bands that I used to listen to growing up, such as Brandtson and The Gloria Record, seeing them in person and then having dinner with them at a local hawker centre — that will always be special to me.” HON JING YI