XiangHui is a Senior Producer at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and the festival lead of A Tapestry of Sacred Music 2025. Capturing the liminal moments before a performance and cinematic stills of artists in motion, he delivers nuggets of information from the perspective of a festival insider, sharing anecdotes from behind-the-scenes of Esplanade’s most unique festival.

A masked figure spits out a ball of flame in the dark of night; the thovil ceremony is a healing ritual that is of cultural significance in south Sri Lanka. It is entrancing to experience with the rolling of hypnotic drums, dance and fire.

“It wouldn’t rain”, we were told. And since this was a sacred music festival, I never fretted too much about the weather. If ever there was an occasion for us mortals to accept our earthly limitations, this felt like one, meteorological phenomena being outside of our control. We have done our part, planned thoroughly, and gave our best efforts. If it were not to be, so be it.

But this time, the stakes felt different. Over 300 volunteers had taken time off to help recreate the procession of the Nine Emperor Gods, pouring in their resources and energy to share endangered temple art forms with a wider public. Months of discussion had led to this moment, and the thought of it all being washed away was a heavy one. As storm clouds gathered above the deities’ palanquins, we huddled in a small briefing room, setting our contingency plans into motion.

Ganesh, our senior production coordinator, knows the festival like the back of his hand, and poured his heart and soul into it. He was deep in the trenches during those six-hour planning sessions where we pieced together the crazy jigsaw puzzle which is our programme schedule. He bridged communications between various teams, and tackled anything from troubleshooting show crises to physical tasks like shifting barricades.

Sometimes, Esplanade might seem like a monolith from the outside but in truth, every win is built upon the presences of invaluable individuals like this man. Behind the smooth rhythm of the festival was his indispensable, often unseen, contribution. Here’s a photo of him smiling triumphantly as the temple palanquins were sent off at the end of all the processional excitement.