SINGAPORE – Concertgoers at a recent local charity gig did not need a ticket to get through the door. Instead, a can of mushroom soup or a jar of Nutella was enough to gain entry.<\/p>\n
Now in its second year, Beatback combines live performances by local artistes with a food donation drive, aiming to raise both funds-in-kind and awareness for those facing food insecurity in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Rather than buying tickets, attendees \u201cpay\u201d for entry with grocery items such as cooking oil, canned foods and bread spreads. The donations go directly to charity partner Food from the Heart (FFTH), which will redistribute them to families and seniors in need.<\/p>\n
The concert, co-organised by FFTH and Singapore-based creative collective Dreamsound, was held on June 28 at Mandala Club in Tanjong Pagar.<\/p>\n
It drew around 405 attendees, more than three times the turnout of its inaugural run in 2025 at Glass Dome, which attracted 132 attendees.<\/p>\n Inter-generational dance crew AK Kreates performed to an audience of 405.<\/p>\n PHOTO: COURTESY OF DISRUPT<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Together, attendees donated 3,426 food items – from cans of baked beans priced as low as $1.39 to jars of Jif peanut butter worth $10, said Robin Lee, chief executive of FFTH. About 2,720 items were collected during the first edition.<\/p>\n Lee said these items would benefit between about 280 families under one of the charity\u2019s programmes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe liked the simplicity of the idea (of donating for entry),\u201d Lee said. \u201cIt shifted the focus from attending an event to taking part in a collective act of giving.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that the initiative also showed that helping others does not always require a large financial commitment.<\/p>\n The concert offered something for everyone, said founder and director of Dreamsound, Sharham Sridhar.\u00a0<\/p>\n PHOTO: COURTESY OF DISRUPT<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Lee said this year\u2019s jump in turnout reflects growing interest, especially among younger Singaporeans, in supporting social causes through more accessible and unconventional platforms.<\/p>\n Organisers hope that events like Beatback can prompt wider conversations about food insecurity here.<\/p>\n Around one in 10 Singaporean households struggled to get sufficient, safe, and nutritious food at least once in 12 months, according to a study in 2020 by researchers from the Singapore Management University\u2019s Lien Centre for Social Innovation.<\/p>\n In 2025, FFTH supported more than 70,400 beneficiaries across nearly 23,000 households, distributing food packs worth a total of $9.7 million.<\/p>\n \u201cBy bringing local artistes and audiences together for a common cause, Beatback showed that entertainment and social purpose can go hand in hand,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n The concert offered something for everyone, said founder and director of Dreamsound, Sharham Sridhar. The line-up included a violinist-DJ mashup set, electronic, hyperpop and hip-hop acts.<\/p>\n The line-up at Beatback included a violinist-DJ mashup set.<\/p>\n PHOTO: COURTESY OF DISRUPT<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n More than 10 homegrown acts took the stage, including Dreamsound artistes Amos Judah (@amosjudahhhhh), BDK NIP (@bdknip), Azzy (@wtfazzy) and Syaz Smooth (@syazsmooth), alongside bands SCUMBOYS (@scumboysonline) and Krunkle (@krunkletheband) and dance crews Equipo (@eqpocrw) and AK Kreates (@ak.kreates).<\/p>\n Much of the show\u2019s costs were covered by Teresa Tso, a volunteer with FFTH and a songwriter herself, Sharham said, adding that she had floated the idea of combining a food drive and concert.<\/p>\n He <\/i><\/b>said Tso\u2019s belief in music and dance had been instrumental to the event from the outset, driven by her hope of introducing more young Singaporeans to FFTH\u2019s work.<\/p>\n Beyond the food donations, Sharham hopes the concert will also change Singaporeans\u2019 perceptions of homegrown talent, which he believes continues to struggle for the same level of support as touring international acts.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like calling them local artistes – I see them as artistes who just happen to be Singaporean,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n More than 10 homegrown acts took the stage, which Dreamsound founder and director Sharham Sridhar said made the atmosphere \u201cculturally vibrant\u201d.<\/p>\n PHOTO: COURTESY OF DISRUPT<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n To help change that, Dreamsound has invested more in every aspect of the concert experience, from lighting and sound to programming, so audiences enjoy performances that match the production standards of international touring acts.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like\u00a0the (local music) scene is worth fighting and pushing for,\u201d Sharham said.<\/p>\n For concertgoer Aldric Foo, 23, the night offered a rare glimpse of the local music and dance scene.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a meaningful event, and I liked that I was able to give back to society in a fun and enjoyable way,\u201d he said, adding that the low barrier to entry made it easy to support local artistes while also doing good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE – Concertgoers at a recent local charity gig did not need a ticket to get through the door. Instead, a can of mushroom soup…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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