Music of Singapore
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Folk music
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.Pop 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, Pug Jelly, TypeWriter, The Observatory, I Hate This Place, The Old Kings, E.P.I.C and The Ocean Band.
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.
- 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
- 1999: "Moments of Magic", by Fann Wong, Tanya Chua and Elsa Lin
External links
| Southeast Asian music |
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| Brunei - Cambodia - East Timor - Indonesia - Laos - Malaysia - Myanmar - Philippines - Singapore - Thailand - Vietnam |
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