How The People Behind Rasa Are Enriching Singapore's Nightlife
A new home for Southeast Asia's multi-disciplinary community, right in the heart of Singapore
This month, corporate Raffles Place will get an unlikely and ultra‑groovy new inhabitant: the 6,114sqft Rasa, which touts itself as a “community space for arts, music and culture”, and is the brainchild of local nightlife legend Kavan Spruyt. We find out from the man and some of the co‑conspirators he has roped in – marketing and music head Cindy Tan, creative designer Efy Ramdan, and Chris Shearmon of Wild Pearl, which will help to curate some of the programming – on why this new venture is much more than a club and nothing like what Singapore has had before.
HI, TEAM RASA! LET’S START WITH TELLING US MORE ABOUT EACH OF YOU IN THE CORE TEAM.
Kavan Spruyt (KS): “Hi! I’m Kavan Spruyt, co‑founder of Rasa. I’ve launched several clubs and bars in Singapore, including The Vault and Kyo, and spent 2016 to 2023 based in Berlin (where he worked with the now‑defunct Ostgut Booking, the booking agency for Berghain). I’ve also been running a record label called Midnight Shift since 2009 alongside a few talented individuals such as Aya, Basil, Debbie Chia, Clifford, Haan, Jo, Rothsman, Shoon, and Naomi (the label is one of Singapore’s pioneering and most progressive champions of electronica music).”
Cindy Tan (CT): “I handle marketing and music programming at Rasa alongside Kavan. I’m a passionate advocate for the creative and electronic music scene, driven by my love of exploring new sounds and perspectives. Through extensive solo travels across Europe over the past decade and, more recently, four years living in Tbilisi, Georgia, I’ve been exposed to a broader spectrum of electronic music and underground culture. Professionally, I’m a journalist, copywriter and digital marketer.”
Efy Ramdan (ER): “I’m the creative designer for Rasa and was formerly a graphic designer with (the live music promoter) Collective Minds Asia for a bit. I also helped to design for the Goodman Arts Centre as well as Jigger & Pony Group."
The name “Rasa” comes from the Sanskrit term for “juice” or “essence” and is often used to refer to stirring works of music, literature or the visual arts that are otherwise hard to describe. The expansive space located in Republic Plaza – still a work in progress when we visited in early December for this story – was designed by Studio Karhard, the Berlin‑based architecture and design firm behind Berghain.
SOUNDS LIKE RASA HAS ALL THE MAKINGS OF A SUPER HOUSE AND ELECTRONIC CLUB. IS THAT THE IDEA?
CT: “Rasa is first and foremost supposed to be a multi‑disciplinary community space for talents to showcase their creativity, be it in music, visual arts, performing arts or other mediums. It just happens to also be a space where club‑like events are held, but creating a club‑like space is not the sole raison d’etre for Rasa.”
KS: “We’ll also be serving late‑night gelato (in partnership with organic acai supplier Selva Foods) and burgers (prepared by Chix Hot Chicken, which touts itself as Singapore’s first Nashville‑style fried chicken cafe) – shameless promotion plug here!”
SO HOW DID THE CONCEPT FOR RASA COME ABOUT?
KS: “Rasa was an idea that I pitched to a few good friends. I envisioned it to be a conducive and well‑designed space that members of the music and arts community can use as a platform to express themselves, highlighting particular talents from Southeast Asia and the region. It has been an extremely long road relocating back to Singapore from Berlin and finding the right space for Rasa – location, infrastructure, licensing, et cetera, are all essential factors and getting the perfect mix was almost impossible. This project has been over a year in the making, hatching from an idea that started through a discussion among friends.”
With all three of its main team members with rich backgrounds in the underground music scene here and abroad, Rasa is a promising cross‑disciplinary, genre‑spanning space and platform for musical artistes and their enthusiasts. Besides helping to launch the now‑defunct but still iconic Kyo (above), Spruyt was part of the independent grassroots event series Soy&Synth in Berlin that aims to highlight Southeast Asian music (all other insets above).
WHY THIS EMPHASIS ON SOUTHEAST ASIAN TALENTS?
CT: “It’s 2025 – Southeast Asia should be considered as part of the international cultural landscape and there shouldn’t be a distinction between the two. However, the reality, unfortunately, is that Southeast Asian talents remain often overlooked globally … Creatives from the region are just as good as so‑called international ones, and we want to offer another platform for them to showcase their talent.”
KS: “To do so, we’ll be focusing on having detailed discussions with these individuals, and developing strong partnerships and activities that would showcase their talent and allow their voices to be heard globally. All the initiatives are at an infancy stage at the moment (this interview took place in early December 2024) and we really can’t say anything as of yet, as we’d love to let the results speak for themselves … We’re also dedicating specific weekend time slots to showcase emerging and established artistes and artists of other genres. Whether it’s for an album release or an art exhibition, our door is always open to creatives. Drop us a DM anytime at @rasaspace on Instagram!”
Creative designer Efy Ramdan has worked with some of the biggest names in music here, including Collective Minds Asia and its now‑defunct multi‑purpose events space 222 Arts Club, of which branding she designed.
WE’VE HEARD THAT THE SINGAPORE‑BASED MUSIC PROMOTER WILD PEARL WILL BE CURATING THE PROGRAMMING ON WEDNESDAY NIGHTS. CAN YOU AT LEAST TELL US MORE ABOUT THAT?
KS: “I’ll let Chris (Shearmon, co‑founder of Wild Pearl) do the talking.”
Chris Shearmon (CS): “Initially, we wanted a place to meet up during the week – away from the chaos of weekends – where we could hang out with people in the scene and get to know one another better. We also wanted a way for other people to hang out and listen to great music in a more casual setting. Wild Pearl (which is based in Pearl’s Hill Terrace, and offers a space for emerging DJs to practise and perform) has hosted more than 75 community nights and we’re super proud of what the place has become. It has given newer DJs the chance to use professional‑level equipment, for example, while big promoters have dropped by with their headline DJs from other events … Kavan and I share a love of the scene and have benefitted from having a supportive group of people around us. Now, we want to build something special together, investing in creating a long‑term platform that gives everyone opportunities. Wednesdays at Rasa will be a ‘greatest hits’ of everything we at Wild Pearl have done so far, as well as a space where we can experiment even more. We’ll also be more deliberate about our sound, pushing underground club sounds such as UK garage, and the rawer side of house and electronica.”
ER: “From 7pm to 8pm on Wednesday nights, Chris will be on site recording a conversation with someone we want to know better. This could be a DJ, a promoter or anyone who inspires us. Then, we’ll have DJs – our resident DJs, those who’ve submitted mixes and possibly even surprise guests – playing back‑to‑back sessions. We aim to launch this series on Jan 15 and the first person having a conversation with Chris will be Donovan Wang, the founder of the Shanghai‑based entertainment content and creative agency Bassis (and a major tastemaker across Asia’s nightlife circuit, having launched the Budweiser Storm Electronic Music Festival – China’s first and largest EDM event).”
Marketing and music head Cindy Tan has honed her taste for house and electronic music as well as experiences built on them from having regularly attended raves in Europe for the past decade, then living in underground nightlife haven Tbilisi, Georgia, for the past four years.
CAN YOU SHARE ANY OTHER NAMES ON YOUR UPCOMING PROGRAMMING TO GET PEOPLE EXCITED?
CT: “We’ve got eight talented resident DJs: Anwar, Ape, Daryl Knows, HBN, Leland, Loyboy, Matty Wainwright and The Professor – all of whom have been invited due to their great selections and dedication to moving the Singapore scene forward. On Thursdays, when we’ll be playing R&B from the 1990s and 2000s, and Fridays, when we’ll be playing house, we don’t intend to share who’s on the line‑up as we want people to come no matter who’s playing and whether it’s a name they know or not. We hope people can trust our curation and this also offers an element of surprise. On Saturdays, people can look forward to a mix of electronic music that they don’t typically hear on a night out here – the likes of acid house, electro, broken beat and more. For now, what I can share beyond our regular nights is that we have Indonesian city pop act Precious Bloom and Singapore‑based ambient artist Kin Leonn on our programming this opening month.”
WHAT DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE WILL TAKE AWAY FROM RASA?
KS: “I hope Rasa will be a space where friends of friends can get to know one another – and enjoy our late‑night gelato!”
THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED FOR BREVITY AND CLARITY.
This article first appeared in the January/February 2025 Art Edition of FEMALE