Far from improving, the situation has become so bad that fans of Taiwanese singer Jay Chou petitioned for refunds after what they said was a disastrous concert there on Sept 3.

To be fair, not all comments about the sound at the National Stadium have been disparaging. Past reviews by this newspaper have included more positive comments such as “decent” sound quality at English-Irish boyband One Direction’s show and that the sound system was “clear enough” to make out the nuances in Taiwanese diva A-mei’s voice.

Still, the persistent negative feedback has raised several questions: Is the National Stadium an ultimately unsuitable venue for live music? Can its sound woes be fixed?

The venue management says it is not dedicated to music alone. A Singapore Sports Hub spokesman says: “The National Stadium’s characteristics, including amenities, location and, especially, capacity, make it a multipurpose venue with the ability to host large-scale, mega-stage concerts and shows in addition to sporting events.”

Ironically, the complaints about the venue’s sound is the latest in a litany of woes faced by the arena, which includes difficulty in getting the grass in the pitch to grow properly and protracted negotiations over rental cost for National Day Parade rehearsals. Many Singaporeans also seem to prefer the parade to be held at the Marina Bay Floating Platform because live audiences at the stadium cannot view highlights such as the flypast and parajumpers.

Sound engineers and concert producers The Straits Times spoke to offer a variety of technical solutions for concerts held at the stadium, noting that some may be unfeasible or too expensive.

For Chou’s recent concert, Multimedia Entertainment engaged sound engineers from abroad to provide advice on the sound system and set-up and said the quality of the speakers used had improved from those for 2014’s Opus 2 gig.

A spokesman for Unusual Entertainment, which was behind Sun’s and A-mei’s gigs, says: “Our local team supports the overseas tour team in the set-up and installation. However, the overall sound is controlled by the appointed sound engineers travelling with the tour. How to design and configure the sound system, taking into consideration the stage location, the show’s requirements and the audience capacity, is a challenge.”

Multimedia’s spokesman adds that other factors such as the building’s structure and design, height and material of the roof, arrangement of arena seats and safety requirement would determine the positioning of speakers.

He declined to reveal the technical specifications for Chou’s The Invincible gig or the amount spent on the sound component.

The cost of the set-up may be key. Mr Ngiam Kwang Hwa, 55, managing director of concert promoter One Production, puts it bluntly: “It’s not quite fair to say the National Stadium is a lousy venue. So far, unfortunately, most concert promoters haven’t done a wonderful job. Because of costs, they’re not investing enough in the sound.”

Mr William Lee, 46, project director at concert technical producer Showtec Group, says the addition of equipment could help to ameliorate the situation. He proposes using more delay towers – which help propagate sound to areas further from the stage – but noted that this might end up obstructing some views. “To have good sound, you need to sacrifice something.”

Another idea he has is to install overhead speakers, but the 2,000kg weight of each cluster has to be taken into consideration.

He estimates it would cost $80,000 to set up the sound at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, which has a capacity of 12,000, and at least three times that for the National Stadium, with a capacity of 55,000.

While there is anecdotal evidence that venues with larger capacities – from London’s Wembley Stadium (90,000) to the Beijing National Stadium (100,000) – are able to deliver good sound, the fact is that each venue comes with its own set of challenges. Singapore’s National Stadium, which opened in June 2014, has the largest freespanning dome structure with a diameter of more than 310m.

Veteran sound engineer Shah Tahir, 57, says of the venue: “It naturally has a lot of echo and reverb. The dome makes things worse as it’s permanent and the opening is only a small area. It’s a hard metallic surface and there’s no acoustical treatment of design.”

He notes there is no easy fix, given the structure contains cabling and other elements. The dome was meant to make the stadium an all- weather venue, but this has led to other problems. “This is the worst place to do live music for me.”

Mr Shah, who has been the audio consultant for the National Day Parade since 2009, says an “elaborate system” was used for this year’s event at the National Stadium. “It produced something acceptable that anybody seated anywhere can hear, but it’s not the pristine sound you get in a concert hall.”

To him, this is not something that can be plastered over with speakers. “Take the F1, for example. If the car is a fast car, but the track is not right, then it can’t perform. The speakers can produce the correct sound, but because the space is challenging, the result is bad sound.”

Sound engineer Alan Mathew, 38, who has worked on gigs by American group Backstreet Boys and Hong Kong singer Aaron Kwok, says that Singapore Sports Hub should not bear the brunt of the blame. He notes that the arena was designed for big events and the acoustics were “not bad”.

Moreover, he believes it is a concert organiser’s responsibility to bring in the right sound designer and sound system. “If you have only a small budget, get a smaller venue,” he says.

This was what happened with Taiwanese band Mayday’s gig here last month. Mr Ngiam brought their concert producer Baboo Ting, 43, to the National Stadium to scope out the venue during A-mei’s concert in January.

Mr Ting told The Straits Times that the sound problem was not insurmountable, “but you’d have to spend a lot of time, money and expertise to upgrade” the speakers.

Mayday are no strangers to mega venues, having performed at the Beijing National Stadium thrice. The set-up involved installing more than 220 speakers of the same brand. But Mr Ting had concerns over the availability of hardware in Singapore and whether there was a need to import equipment, which would lead to a spike in costs.

In the end, Mayday performed at the indoor stadium.

While there are alternatives to the National Stadium, they come with other considerations and potential problems.

American hard-rock band Metallica played for 40,000 at Changi Exhibition Centre in August 2013. While the sound quality did not appear to be an issue, crowd dispersal at the venue was a problem, with massive queues for taxis and a long wait to get out of the carpark.

But, as Mr Ngiam says, the more the National Stadium comes under fire for poor sound, the harder it is for promoters to hold events there as concertgoers equate the two.

Engineer Tay Chin Meng, 37, who attended Chou’s latest concert, says he would be “scared” to attend future gigs at the venue because of its poor acoustics.

Health coach Jennat Tan, 40, who caught Sun, A-mei and Chou’s concerts there, says: “It doesn’t do any justice to the artists, especially when they’d have practised hard for the concert… only to be criticised due to the bad sound system.”

Of course, all the prestige and respect gained as a budding musician went down the chute when he fell flat on his behind, not knowing how to tip the cinema seat down to sit on.

Pedigree was always there, though. He was playing the rebana and singing by seven, earning the princely sum of RM1.50 for his first professional gig at 10. He was also the first student in primary school to play in a dikir barat band.

However, childhood interest doesn’t always blossom into adulthood passion. But Kamrul has come a long way since his early days in Banggol Gelang Mas, Pasir Mas in Kelantan.

In fact, the musician, schooled in traditional Kelantanese music, has travelled far and wide, well past the comfort of his quaint village. But those worldly experiences have all come from a firm grounding in his traditional upbringing.

“I followed my dad, riding pillion on his motorbike, to his performances around the area, eventually joining his troupe,” revealed the 38-year-old musician.

“My siblings and I grew up with music. My dad not only played, but he made musical instruments, too, so, we were very familiar with all that was happening around us,” he added.

Kamrul eased into the music world taking the percussive route – playing canang at main peteri (ritual healing) ceremonies, then the gong. “It’s easier to begin by playing with percussive instruments,” he explained, saying that everyone has rhythm, so the playing field is fairly level.

Given his surroundings, Kamrul almost had no chance, but to be involved in the arts in some form or other.

“We had different themed nights every week … main peteri, silat, tarian inai, dikir barat and so on all the time in our village.”

Mentors, were aplenty, too. Without even having to leave his house, his first and foremost influence is his rebab-playing, singing father, the revered Hussin Yusoff.

The late Pak Hamzah Awang Amat, a National Laureate and Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize Winner, and Pak Nasir Yusoff, would play instrumental roles in shaping his approach to music.

His education process would see Kamrul learning various percussion cultures, like Indian from Kirubakaran Narayana, Chinese from Hands Percussion’s very own Bernard Goh and Latin from Steve Thornton, among others.

And the course of his work has captured him working with the likes of Tan Sri SM Salim, Datuk Siti Nurhaliza at her landmark Royal Albert Hall concert in London in 2005, Zainal Abidin, M. Nasir, Ning Baizura, Ramli Sarip and many more. International collaborations number highly, too, with his work with Sadao Watanabe and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt easily deserving mention.

Kamrul has reached some lofty heights, but he’s no mere dreamer, though. He is a doer, too. Practical knowledge has understandably led him to learn that the fusion of traditional sounds with western music is the way forward in reaching a larger audience.

And he has a game plan for it, as well, and it’s backbone is very much about contemporising.

“We want to play traditional instruments differently … do different kinds of songs. For instance, I’ve played the Titanic melody on a Chinese flute,” he shared.

“This approach of colouring the music, makes it less difficult to market shows,” he added.

He recalled how he got a taste for fusion through his musical exploits, intimating that his first (recognised in the Klang Valley) band was Aseana Percussion Unit (APU), a band renowned for its good time-music and 1Malaysia-themed anthems. Then he joined gamelan ensemble Rhythm In Bronze.

However, it was the professional training he received at Hands Percussion – which grew from a humble percussion troupe to the entertainment organisation it has become today – which has underscored his career in music.

Today, he proudly leads his family troupe, Geng Wak Long (Wak Long taken from his affectionate nickname) which had previously featured his dad. Three brothers and a sister-in-law accompany him.

Family-formed work units have not often thrived, but like any kind of human relationship, there is always an ebb and a flow.

“I don’t know them as well as I probably thought. But them going and learning at Aswara (Akademi Seni Kebangsaan) helped us gel together better.

We have since developed a good chemistry,” said the Aswara graduate and current lecturer in Malaysian traditional music at UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA).

Geng Wak Long has begun to gain traction for its eclectic musical flavours and uniqueness, but he extracts greatest satisfaction in having released the group’s debut album, a collection of traditional songs woven from the mitt of traditionalists and artisans.

Everything from the sparse, cheeky intro tune, Tok Selampit, which was tailored for the times to inculcate the buy-original culture, to the free-for-all jam on Medley Bertabuh, Part 1 of The New Authentic Kelantanese Traditional Music Of Malaysia is an invigorating cultural immersion.

The album, as a highlight, according to Kamrul, can only be equalled by the opportunity of having taken the troupe to a highly prestigious festival in Santiago, Spain.

“I’m very pleased that I managed to take them to Womex (World Music Expo). That was a great experience for all of us.”

Kamrul brings his music to Kaleidoscope 4: Drumming Nation, the fourth edition of Hands Percussion’s International Drumming Festival.

Drumming Nation takes place on Sept 10 at the Plenary Hall, KLCC, where he promises a unique experience for the audience.

It is part of Diversecity 2016, the Kuala Lumpur International Arts Festival.

“It won’t be just about playing music, but will include performance arts, too. There will be movement, the playing of characters and experimentation with traditional instruments.”

The improvisational nature of the music, according to him, won’t be unlike the spontaneous jam sessions in drum circles.

“It will include drums played, not just as accompaniment, but featuring solo spots as well,” he described the unconventional approach.

Dan Ariely, a psychology professor at Duke University, writes about his findings in his newly published book entitled “Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations”.

Ariely conducted his research at a factory in Israel, where employees received messages telling them that once they achieve a certain amount of work done, they will receive a special prize. One group of workers were notified that they would receive $30 upon accomplishing a certain task, while another group was promised with a free pizza voucher. The third group would receive an encouraging text from their boss, and the last group had no incentives or rewards.

According to the result, the pizza group dominated the experiment, with an astounding 6.7 percent increase in output compared with the bonus group’s 4.9 per cent productivity. After a few weeks, the “Well done!” text team finished with 6.6 percent increase, beating the fourth group, the New York Magazine reported.

Making staff feel appreciated at work is a key to better work performance. Tangible things such as pizza and cash bonuses are just a second option for the workers.

“Extrinsic motivators can stop having much meaning—your raise in pay feels like your just due, your bonus gets spent, your new title doesn’t sound so important once you have it,” Adam Grant, a psychology professor, told The Wall Street Journal last year.

“But the sense that other people appreciate what you do sticks with you,” he added.

Most well-known is the haj – for which Muslims travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, to perform one of the five pillars of Islam. Jains make pilgrimages to Shatrunjaya in India, which is home to nearly 1,000 temples and shrines.

These rituals are highlighted at the Ministry of Home Affairs’ new Harmony in Diversity Gallery at the Ministry of National Development Building in Maxwell Road. It was launched yesterday by President Tony Tan Keng Yam.

Part of the SGSecure counter- terrorism movement’s community cohesion pillar, the new space features four galleries aimed at sharing the importance of religious harmony.

The first features an interactive quiz that seeks opinions on the country’s religious diversity and harmony.

The second features the commonalities across different religions such as values and practices.

It also highlights that Singapore is not immune to religious conflict and tensions. Among the examples featured are two online petitions last year. The first was against mass animal slaughter as part of the Korban (sacrificial offerings) ritual, which resulted in a counter-petition calling for the banning of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Another highlight is a multimedia exhibit on the Maria Hertogh riots featuring re-enactments based on sources such as court affidavits and oral history interviews.

The third highlights common spaces and “streets of harmony”. One example is Telok Ayer Street, home to the former Nagore Dargah shrine, Thian Hock Keng temple, Al-Abrar Mosque and Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church.

The showcase ends in the fourth, with visitors being encouraged to make a personal pledge to protect Singapore’s religious harmony.

The new space was created in collaboration with community partners such as the Inter-Religious Organisation, which mooted the idea last year. The facility’s board of advisers will be chaired by Singapore Management University provost Lily Kong, who also served as adviser for the project.

The S. Rajaratnam Endowment (was set up to achieve development, peace and stability in the region by deepening international friendships, promoting regional cooperation) will sponsor and support outreach and engagement programmes.

Dr Tan said theHarmony in Diversity Gallery exemplifies what the SGSecure movement is about. “It is the community identifying what is important to Singapore and developing solutions to preserve and strengthen our values and way of life.”

Raffles Institution student Jared Foong, 16, who toured the gallery with his classmates, said: “The gallery covers how we can find similarities among our differences.”

The biggest crowd was recorded on the event’s second night on Aug. 20 when one of Indonesia’s most iconic bands, KLa Project, entertained thousands of spectators, many of whom were fans that had faithfully supported the band since its rise in the 1990s.

It was nearly impossible to find empty space in the manicured garden of the 1.8-hectare Taman Bhagawan, the festival’s main venue in Tanjung Benoa, when KLa Project’s frontman Katon Bagaskara serenaded the audience with memorable hits such as “Menjemput Impian” (Fetching the Dream), “Tak Bisa ke Lain Hati” (Cannot Love Another) and “Yogyakarta”.

The festival also featured scores of other top quality performers including Lisa Soul, Erik Sondhy and White Shoes & The Couples Company as well as Dialog Dini Hari and Endah N’ Rhesa. Showcased local talents included The Blessing Child, Rockabilly Mob, Fendy Trio, Sound of Mine, 4units, Sunday Jam and Gypsy Jazz.

Drawing inspiration from the island’s traditional pasar seni (art market), Jazz Market by the Sea also featured more than 80 curated market stalls, including traditional cuisine, refreshing beverages, fashion, accessories and jewelry, amusements as well as plenty of engaging activities for children, such as face painting and a petting zoo.

“It is designed to be a family-oriented festivity and that’s why we went to great lengths to ensure that the needs of each family member, from kids to adults, were catered for,” festival cofounder Jappy Sanger said.

Most of the stalls, particularly those serving hot foods, coffee and beverages, enjoyed good sales throughout the festival as visitors treated their families and friends to impromptu picnics on the festival’s lawn.

This year the festival took “Clothing the Nation” as its main theme, reflecting its commitment to the nation’s cultural legacy. In line with the theme, it organized a fashion show, classes on batik-making, weaving and embroidery, as well as educational workshops on traditional textiles.

From Oct 13 to 30, more than 20 free and ticketed concerts and workshops will feature Singapore musicians alongside soloists from hip Norwegian string ensemble 1B1 and the storied Chamber Orchestra of Europe, hailed by BBC music reviewers as the “world’s best chamber orchestra”. The orchestra was founded in 1981 and the members are musicians of nationally based orchestras and music academics.

The festival curated by well known conductor Darrell Ang and violinist Loh Jun Hong began last year, with six concerts played in different rooms of The Arts House.

This year has many more events at The Arts House, National Gallery Singapore and Victoria Concert Hall, divided into the ticketed Chamber Series and free Festival Fringe performances.

From next week, a parallel outreach programme will have festival musicians presenting concert excerpts at heartland libraries and malls.

Organisers say the festival costs about $300,000 to produce this year. It is run by new company Sifom, in collaboration with Arts House – which manages The Arts House and presents the Singapore International Festival of Arts – and home-grown opera company OperaViva.

Festival tickets are priced from $32 to $72 for individual performances, with discounts for viewers watching multiple shows.

Ang, 36, sees this as a festival showcasing the “cream of the crop” of classical musicians in Singapore, notably younger professionals.

“This festival is to focus on, in the space of a month, all the talent we have in Singapore.”

On Oct 13, he leads members of the top-ranked Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the festival orchestra – young professional musicians not with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra – in music from Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy and RimskyKorsakov’s Scheherazade.

On Oct 14, 1B1 play Vivaldi’s famous The Four Seasons, with four young string players from Singapore aged 10 to 16.

Among them is violinist Basil Ong Tze Wee, who turns 15 this year and is a third-year student at Raffles Institution. He is excited about performing with 1B1 after seeing videos online. He says: “They look very active and energetic. I’ve not seen any other ensemble move a lot as such. It’s unique.”

The festival includes vocal recitals from Singapore Lyric Opera’s honorary artistic director Nancy Yuen, Chinese bass-baritone Ao Li and Russian soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, a 23-year-old guest soloist at the State Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theater in Vladivostok.

Going beyond the traditional repertoire of classical music, Ding Yi Music Company joins Vietnam’s Song Hong Chamber Music at Victoria Concert Hall on Oct 16 for an evening featuring commissioned works by Ang and 20something Singaporean composer Phang Kok Jun, among others.

Then there is Ikan Girl (Fish Girl) on Oct 21 and 23, a 40-minute dance performance with music written by Syafiqah ’Adha Sallehin for The Bhumi Collective, comprising seven Singaporean students aged 30 and younger studying overseas.

The collective brings elements of traditional Malay dance and music to contemporary works and this month showcases an original production, Bhumi (Soil), at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Ikan Girl is based on a Malay folk tale similar to Snow White, about a beautiful girl targeted by a jealous queen. The project is a first for Syafiqah, who graduated last year with a master’s in composition from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and teaches at the School of the Arts.

She says: “It’s an unbelievable thing to happen to me. I’m so excited about working with The Bhumi Collective. This will be my longest work and also my first full work with another art form.”

Ms Lee Chor Lin, chief executive of Arts House, says: “This year, it’s grown into a more diverse festival with exciting offerings that will really change people’s minds about classical music.” She hopes to see a third edition at The Arts House next year.