Sonic weapon... (not the blue critter)

*Tom toro tom tom tom*
*Clash Bang*

Ahh... Chinese Lunar New Year would not be complete without this familiar sound of lion dance rythm. Pretty good entertainment!

That was what I initially thought as I was having my meal in a hawker center a few days back.
But wait a minute... the sound is getting louder, are they going to perform somewhere nearby? It turned out that I was right. These "dancers" were "performing" right beside my seat. Or rather, their drum was. And it was madly annoying.

I thought that if the hawker center was going to hire these guys to perform and bring good luck for them, they should have arranged for the troupe to perform at the open space just next to the stalls, and not have the lion stroll among the customers.

That was when I went: "Wait a minute... This does not seem right." A proper lion dance performance usually involves a 'chai ching' (picking the greens) and the arragement of an elaborate lucky symbol on the ground using fruits and vegetables, as well as some 'standard' lion dance moves that have special meanings. These guys were just shaking the lion head right in front of each stall, and not even perfoming a single "stand" (where the "head" - the guy acting as the front 2 legs - hops to stand on the "tail" - the other guy acting as the rear 2 legs.). Adding to the weirdness is that they were using a Black Lion - that is supposed to have the most aggressive, to make their limp "performance".

Then it dawned on me. These are equivalent to those 'pengamens' (so called "street performers") back home! They operate in much the same way those "street performers" in Indonesia operate: annoy the heck out of the customers until someone pays them to go away. (Believe me those drums were annoying when played less than 1 meter away from you.) It felt a lot like extortion to me though.

I have witnessed a new breed of 'pengamen', and I find it ironic that a symbol that traditionally is invited to bring good luck, is being paid off as they are bringing "bad luck". I wonder if this will catch on in Indonesia too :P

It is called a "Lion Shake".
(See if you can see the pun :D)