IT TOOK THE Festivals Office just one month to get Omara Portuondo to open next month's Latin Passion programme, with nary a tantrum from the Cuban singer. Elaine Yeung Chi-lan, senior manager for the office, was pleasantly surprised - and greatly relieved.
Nailing down an appropriate act to open a festival is often a race against time, says Yeung, whose Festivals Office is a unit of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). Once, she couldn't find an act big enough to be the headliner. 'That was a real worry,' she says.
But with Portuondo, a member of the famed Buena Vista Social Club, it was a simply matter sending her agent a direct invitation. 'We just stated that we wanted her to open our festival,' Yeung says. 'And he expressed interest straight away. [Portuondo] hasn't toured Asia extensively since 2003, so she was happy to come out here.'
Given her hectic schedule, the singer wouldn't undertake a single-stop performance in Hong Kong. But the Festivals Office found sufficient interest from regional organisers to put together a tour that takes in more than 10 Asian venues, including Singapore, Macau, Shanghai and Tokyo.
'Macau will be splitting the costs with us because Portuondo, who's never performed there, is very keen to visit,' Yeung says. 'She'll be giving a free al fresco concert at the ruins of St Paul's [8pm, October 18]. So that's worked out well for everyone.'
Life at the Festivals Office isn't always this simple. Wrangling with demanding agents about costs and dates, liaising with other festival organisers to get the best deals and trying to survive on a shrinking budget are all par for the course.
