Most comebacks arrive with a stadium, a tour bus, and a ticket price that stings. J. Mizan’s arrives in a park. The singer, who recorded for the EMI label in the 1970s, makes an exclusive return at the first-ever Kampong Gelam Festival this weekend, on 12 and 13 September 2026. The Malay Heritage Centre (MHC) is running the festival, and it charges nothing for his set or for nearly everything around it.
He plays the Sultan Gate Park stage with Sanggar Irama on Saturday, 12 September, and he’s doing it twice: 6pm to 7pm, then 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Hari Ini Dan Semalam and Hujan Sore Sore are on the setlist. If you miss the early set, you have time for dinner in the neighbourhood before the late one.
He shares the bill with veteran multi-instrumentalist Kadir Lontong, best known for his 1970s hit Lontong. He and Kadir & The Breakthru lead a masterclass ensemble through Latin jazz, Samba, and Rumba beats. So you get two 1970s veterans, a Latin rhythm section, and an open-air park, with no cover charge. That’s a nostalgia gig you can dance at.
Saturday Starts with Stories
The big sets wait for evening, but Saturday’s programme starts at 10am. At 11am and 2pm, Asiah & Surya from Kampung Kaji by Hannah Cherita follows a 10-year-old girl and her beloved cockatiel (burung kakak tua) through 1950s Singapore. It’s based on a story by local writer Hidayah Amin. When Asiah’s grandaunt, Wak Jara, arrives from Jalan Eunos and stirs up Kampung Kaji, Asiah saves the day with what she’s learned from the neighbourhood shopkeepers.
If you don’t speak Malay, start here. Each 75-minute sitting runs in English, Malay, and Javanese, with a craft session based on the story afterwards. It’s the easiest way into the weekend’s theatre.
Between the two sittings, Teater Kami’s Badang takes over from 12.15pm. The 45-minute retelling follows the strongman of Malay folklore, including the tale of the Singapore Stone, an inscribed sandstone slab tied to his story. The audience gets pulled in too, since interaction is part of the show.
Malay Opera, 30 Minutes Flat
If Bangsawan (Malay opera) sounds like a three-hour commitment, Opera Academy‘s Bangsawan Ramayana runs 30 minutes. Prince Rama rescues Sita from the demon king Ravana before the ice in your kopi peng (iced local coffee) melts. Catch it at 1.30pm on Saturday or 5.45pm on Sunday, both at Sultan Gate Park.
Opera Academy also runs the try-it-yourself side. At its Asian Operatic Museum on 12A Pahang Street, 45-minute tours run at 2pm and 6pm on both days. You meet Singapura’s five medieval kings, take a virtual reality palace tour, and look at Chinese operatic arts before trying on Bangsawan costumes. It’s one of only two ticketed items on the programme and each tour takes 20 people, so book this one first.
Saturday Night, Mapped Out
Back at the park, award-winning singer-songwriter Art Fazil opens the evening with a solo acoustic set at 5pm. It lasts 15 minutes. Get there by 4.45pm, because it’s over if you blink.
After that, the evening fits together neatly. At 5.15pm, NADI Singapura’s traditional Malay percussion rolls onto Baghdad Street, a short walk away. It wraps at 6pm, the same minute Mizan starts in the park, so leave a few minutes early if you want his first song. The Samrah Club then takes Baghdad Street at 7.30pm with Hadhrami Arabic cover songs and Samrah poetry in honour of Singapore’s Yemeni diaspora.
Mizan’s 8.30pm set ends at 9.30pm, which leaves the last half-hour of The Samrah Club’s 9.15pm slot to close the night. One clash to know about: the Rebana Drumming Circle runs 6pm to 7pm, at the same time as Mizan’s opening set. Anyone who gets one of its 30 places can still make the 8.30pm show.
Register Before the Seats Go
The stage acts are free to watch. The smallest sessions work differently, and they’re the ones to plan around. The Rebana Drumming Circle by Genbano takes 30 people at the MHC Auditorium on Saturday. In an hour, it teaches the traditional rebana drum, five fundamental Malay beats, and the hadrah rhythm.
Kebaya in Conversation: Wearing Heritage by Baju by Oniatta takes 25 people on Sunday, from 11am to 12.30pm at Serambi. The hands-on workshop was first presented at London Craft Week 2026. It treats the kebaya, the fitted blouse worn across the Malay Archipelago, as living craftsmanship.
The Haji Yusoff Memorial Museum Tour takes 15 people per session, from 2pm to 4pm on both days. Hidayah Amin, the same writer behind Asiah’s story, presents it. The talk and tour use the life of pioneer merchant Haji Yusoff to explain Kampong Gelam’s past as a publishing powerhouse, pilgrim hub, and merchant post.
On Saturday at 2pm, Evolution of Nusantara Music brings oud master and Sri Mahligai co-founder Azrin Abdullah to Serambi for a 90-minute live demonstration. It covers 400 years of Arab musical traditions settling into Malay music across Nusantara, the Malay Archipelago. On Sunday from 2.30pm, Batak Ulos invites visitors into Serambi’s historic shophouse to learn the sacred meanings behind the revered Batak textiles. It’s the first time the session has been presented in Singapore.
All of these are free, but you have to register on the festival’s registration page. Thirty seats isn’t many for a festival that runs 12 hours a day, so sign up before you leave the house.
Sunday Belongs to Baghdad Street
At 2pm, Take the Stage turns Baghdad Street into an open mic for selected emerging local acts until 4pm. That’s two hours of new music in a conservation district, free for anyone walking past. You’ll either discover a name you’ll know in five years or get a very good afternoon, and both are fine.
In the evening, the street goes acoustic. Shaminor, who performs as J. Sham, is the son of the late Bangsawan legend Haji Jaffar Aris. He plays fingerstyle Bossa Nova and Rumba on Baghdad Street from 5pm, then at Sultan Gate Park from 7.30pm. If Saturday’s opera won you over, think of his family tree as the encore.
Iman’s League plays at 6.15pm on Baghdad Street and 8.45pm in the park, with acoustic versions of pop songs from the 1960s to the 2000s. Five decades of pop in 45 minutes is a brisk pace.
Walk the Streets Between Sets
The Kampong Gelam Eras Trail is a 90-minute guided walk around the neighbourhood. Docents share forgotten tales of royal residents, trade pioneers, and historic landmarks. It runs at 11am and 3pm on both days and is free with registration. If you only know Kampong Gelam as a place to eat, an hour and a half with a guide will change that.
ArCH Square covers the district’s link to the sea. Its free 30-minute tours of Shipped! Memories from the Sea (registration needed) look at underwater archaeological finds from Singapore waters. They suit a district whose history runs through the sea trade. On Saturday morning, ArCH Square’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Open Studio, run with Sendok Rakyat, looks at how traditions and skills pass between generations. It’s the programme’s other ticketed item.
Most of the stage programme is outdoors at Sultan Gate Park, from 10am to 10pm. Pack a poncho and a water bottle. An umbrella is one more thing to lose on Baghdad Street.
The Communities Tell It Themselves
Kampong Gelam is used to crowds. When DANAMIC previewed Gemilang Kampong Gelam 2025, that street festival packed 35 days with workshops, performances, lights, and a massive bazaar. It drew a reported 900,000 visitors.
The Kampong Gelam Festival takes a closer look instead. Heritage booths at Sultan Gate Park represent eight communities: Arab, Banjar, Bawean, Batak, Bugis, Javanese, Minang, and Orang Kallang. The booths run from 10am to 10pm on both days. Persatuan Bawean Singapura shares traditional recipes and martial arts demonstrations, and it stages a two-hour Pencak Bawean Dheun silat (Malay martial arts) performance on Sunday from 11am. Sri Kallang has archival photographs and oral history interviews from 19th-century stilt villages.
Sunday’s talks go further. From 11am at the MHC Auditorium, third-generation Kampong Gelam resident Faizah Jamal, founder of Alunan Kampung Gelam, joins graduates of the Intercultural Theatre Institute. At 2pm, the Arab Network @ Singapore tells the story of the Arab families who shaped the district’s trade and social life. At the same hour in the park, Kerukunan Bubuhan Banjar covers the Banjar community’s contributions over the generations.
At 5pm, Nassir Ismail, who once lived in the Kampong Kuchai stilt village, joins researcher Aisha Omar. Together they share rare oral accounts from descendants of the Orang Kallang and Orang Laut (literally “sea people”). That’s Singapore’s stilt-village past, told by someone who lived it, for the price of a walk to the park.
The Malay Heritage Centre sits in a National Monument, the former 19th-century Istana (palace) Kampong Gelam and once the seat of Malay royalty in Singapore. The National Heritage Board runs the centre with the Malay Heritage Foundation. For this weekend, the centre teamed up with community groups, businesses, and cultural institutions across the district. The theme, Through the Eras, follows Kampong Gelam from its maritime past through its royal, trading, publishing, and pilgrimage years to the creative quarter it is today.
Bringing little ones? The playspace at Sultan Gate Park has capteh (a feathered shuttlecock you keep up with your feet), congkak (a board game of seeds and pits), and batu seremban (five stones), plus a mural activity. It runs from 10am to 10pm, which is longer than most parents will last.
🗓️ Date: Saturday and Sunday, 12 and 13 September 2026
⏰ Time: 10am to 10pm daily
📍 Location: Sultan Gate Park, 85 Sultan Gate, Singapore 198501, with satellite venues at the Malay Heritage Centre, Baghdad Street, Serambi (45 Sultan Gate, Singapore 198492), and more
🎟️ Admission: Free, with some ticketed activities (Asian Operatic Museum Tour and ICH Open Studio)
🎤 Headline Act: Sanggar Irama and J. Mizan, Saturday, 6pm to 7pm and 8.30pm to 9.30pm, Sultan Gate Park
🥁 Register Early: Rebana Drumming Circle (30 places), Kebaya in Conversation (25 places), Haji Yusoff Memorial Museum Tour (15 per session)
🚶 Walking Tour: Kampong Gelam Eras Trail, 11am and 3pm daily, free with registration
The full programme and every sign-up link are on the Kampong Gelam Festival page, so book the capped workshops, talks, and trails before Saturday morning. Put Mizan’s 8.30pm set in your calendar and send this to whoever still hums Hujan Sore Sore. Then bookmark the page to see what the festival does after its first year.
Photos and Visuals courtesy of the Malay Heritage Centre, Sultangate Music Collectives, Asian Operatic Museum, Baju by Oniatta, and Friends of the Museum.
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