Music of Singapore

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Singapore has long had a burgeoning urban musical scene, and is a center for rock, punk and other popular genres in the region. Rock was popular in Singapore by the 1960s, and that decade produced legendary bands like The Quests, who had huge hits like "Shanty", "Don't Play That Song", "Jesamine" and "Mr Rainbow"; as well as other pop-rock bands includingThe Thunderbirds, The Trailers and October Cherries. Folk music includes the ethnic Chinese, Malay and Tamil sounds.

The launch of the nation's premier arts centre, Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay, has served to focus the island's classical music making. It is now the venue for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra's subscription and gala concerts. In addition, the arts centre has ensured a good representation of classical music from the four primary cultures in the land. In particular, the regular festivals of Hua Yi, Pesta Raya and Kalaa Utsavam ensure that world-class interpreters of these different repertories are heard on a regular basis.

1 Folk music
- 1.1 Peranakan
2 Pop and Rock music
3 National songs
4 External links

[edit] Folk music

[edit] Peranakan

Peranakan folk music is noted for its fusion of English in Malay-inspired tunes, largely because the Peranakans themselves are often highly conversant in both languages. Contemporary tunes continue to be composed based on the Peranakan culture, such as "Bunga Sayang", a theme song from Dick Lee's musical "Kampung Amber". The song became an often-sung staple of the National Day Parade, and gained international exposure when it was performed for the opening ceremony of the 117th IOC Session at the Esplanade.

[edit] Pop and Rock music

Singapore's pop scene began in 1960, when the Blue Diamonds performed, and really launched after Cliff Richard & the Shadows arrived a year later, thus launching the beat boom. Like much of the world, the British Invasion began in 1963, led by The Beatles. Some bands remained instrumental, while others incorporated singers. Soon, British R&B became popular, and spawned a local Malay variety. Pop stars of the 1960s included Naomi & the Boys, D'4 Ever, Antarctics, Mike Ibrahim & the Nite Walkers, Swallows, Ismail Haron & the Guys and Les Kafila's.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s saw the rise of rock bands such as The Sweet Charity fronted by the charismatic vocalist Ramli Sarip. The band had such an influence in the Singapore and Malaysia music scene that it later led to a rock explosion in the mid 1980s.

More recently, local bands include Lilac Saints, Teamjs, Ronin, Electrico, Saw Loser(formerly known as Pug Jelly), TypeWriter, heavy metal outfits Psychotherapy, The Observatory, I Hate This Place, The Old Kings, E.P.I.C, Beloved Memory and The Ocean Band.

[edit] National songs

Of particular note to the Singaporean music scene is what is often collectively known as National songs (国庆主题歌). Writtern as part of Singapore's nation-building efforts, they either incorporate local folk songs (such as "Chan Mali Chan"), contemporary songs ("The Magic Is You"), or were locally composed specifically for this purpose ("We are Singapore", "Stand up for Singapore").

Since 1998, theme songs were composed for the annual National Day Parade held in August. These songs were composed for and sung by selected local artists (as opposed to regular national songs, which were not attributed to any one singer), and sometimes included in the albums of these respective singers to be marketed overseas.

"Reach out for the Sky", a duet by Taufik Batisah and Rui En

1998: "Home" (家), by Kit Chan
1999: "Together" (心连心), by Evelyn Tan and Dreamz FM (Evelyn Tan only for Chinese version)
2000: "Shine on Me" (星月), by Jai (English version) and Mavis Hee (Mandarin version)
2001: "Where I Belong" (属于), by Tanya Chua
2002: "We Will Get There" (一起走到), by Stefanie Sun
2003: "One United People" (全心全意), by Stefanie Sun
2004: "Home" (家), remixed version by Lin Junjie, Kit Chan
2005: "Reach Out for the Skies" (勇敢向前飞), a duet by Taufik Batisah and Rui En, composed by Elaine Chan. (The Chinese version is sung by Rui En only).
2006: "My Island Home" (幸福的图形), by Kaira Gong

Other community-building songs:

2005: "Sing Our Wishes" - Also used as official song for Ministry of Education schools for Racial Harmony Day 2005
2005: "We Can"

Some older but probably similar efforts are:

1985: "Stand Up For Singapore"
1986: "Count On Me Singapore" , by Clement Chow
Late 1980s: "We Are Singapore"
Late 1980s: "One People, One Nation, One Singapore"

An ad-hoc offshoot of these national songs are the songs specially composed for groundbreaking events. A prominent example was the song Moments of Magic, written by Hype Records CEO Ken Lim specially for Singapore's millennium celebrations towards the end of 1999. It was performed by three notable singers - Fann Wong, Tanya Chua and Elsa Lin. The music video was directed by Singapore filmmaker Eric Khoo.