Tristan Ong - Beo Crescent Market - 5 Jul 2025

Meet Tristan Ong (王志文) (@oldboytristan), one of Singapore's most prominent buskers in the busking scene. He is a staple of the vibrant local busking community, and one of the greatest of all time, having been busking for around 10 years.

Tristan is also a songwriter, having penned songs for local artists such as Joi Chua (蔡淳佳) and The Freshman (插班生), and has built an extensive experience performing at busking spots and gigs such as community events and live venues.

Most of you may know him as one half of The ETC (闲杂人等), the winning duo in the Mediacorp reality singing competition Battle of the Buskers (游走的歌王). In February 2025, more than a year after winning the competition, The ETC had parted ways. This disbandment is a lot to process for me even until now, especially since The ETC had been a familiar fixture in the busking scene for a decade with three members initially (one of the members had passed on in 2019), later retooled as a duet, and finally made a high-profile appearance in Battle of the Buskers that propelled them to fame. Currently, only Tristan remains busking on the streets, the other having left the scene to focus on her solo music career.

But that bump in the road did not derail Tristan's musical ambitions, and he has since moved forward. He is still busking on the streets, in addition to gig performances (solo or with other collaborators), and has released a new single titled "消磨殆尽", with more new singles to come.

More recently in May 2025, Tristan was cast in a local musical, "Out of the Red Box" (红箱缘又圆), written by playwright Lim Hai Yen and starring opposite Lee Pei Fen (who would later be on radio), Terri Chua and Shaun Lee. This is a stage production by the Nam Hwa Opera and The ETCeteras (a theatre company founded by Lim Hai Yen) that centers on a Chinese opera artiste who dreams of performing on the lively getai stage. The production was commissioned by the Singapore Heritage Fest, and tells a touching story of conflict between traditional heritage and modern entertainment, as well as passion, family and romance.

Two songs picked from this busking session are:

• Angel (originally performed by Sarah McLachlan)
  • This song is from the Canadian singer-songwriter's fourth studio album Surfacing in 1997, inspired by the death of musician Jonathan Melvoin from a heroin overdose. The song became a massive international hit and remains the unofficial song of mourning, loss and healing. Sarah McLachlan has also recorded the song "When She Loved Me" from the film Toy Story 2, written by Randy Newman.
• 兰花草 [originally performed by Yin Shia (银霞) / Pao Mei-sheng (包美圣)]
  • This song is probably one of the more recognizable Taiwanese campus folk songs. It was originally performed by two singers, Yin Shia and Pao Mei-sheng, who both released their separate covers, though this song arguably became a regional hit when Liu Wen-cheng (刘文正) also covered the song.

Angel (originally performed by Sarah McLachlan)

兰花草 [originally performed by Yin Shia (银霞) / Pao Mei-sheng (包美圣)]