Music tourism the Bhutanese way

IF YOU’RE a music fan who travels wherever your favourite star goes, you’re well familiar with the routine: ridiculously expensive tickets, cookie-cutter stage setups, portaloos and long queues for merchandise. And then Ed Sheeran performs in Bhutan and totally changes your view of what a global concert should be.

Music tourism has become one of travel’s fastest-growing trends, with the industry valued at US$6.6 billion and set to expand to US$13.8 billion by 2032. But in contrast to the formulaic nature of such shows, Bhutan’s first concert by an international artist – a gesture that the isolated kingdom is ready to engage more with the world – offered a more original, uncommercial way to do things. In Friday’s edition of BT Lifestyle, our writer who was at the Ed Sheeran gig writes about the experience and the lessons developed countries can learn from Bhutan’s example.

Meanwhile in Design, we show you how you can turn your apartment into a dual-key unit with some clever design. One interior designer turned her 1,600 square foot flat into a spacious space for her family as well as a separate granny flat for her elderly mother to move into in future.

Are you a fan of the Japanese restaurant drama La Grand Maison Tokyo, and still waiting in the vain hope that its sequel Grand Maison Paris will stream in Singapore soon? Until then, read our exclusive interview with Kei Kobayashi, the three Michelin-starred chef who was the consultant chef for the series and taught its star Takuya Kimura how to cook.

And if that makes you hungry, make a reservation at Yong Fu, a fine dining Chinese restaurant in Suntec City that serves up authentic Ningbo cuisine in its first outpost outside China.

For all this and more, don’t miss Friday’s edition of BT.