Summary about Singapore Music INTRODUCTION Singapore has a diverse culture in music that ranges in many different genres.

Its various communities have their own distinct musical traditions. The Chinese people forms the largest ethnic group in Singapore, with Malays, Indians, and smaller number of other peoples of different ethnicity as well as Eurasians. In popular music or Pop music, Singapore has been a regional centre of music industry since the colonial period. Recordings of Malay popular music were done at the EMI studio in Singapore in the colonial period, but until the 1960s, recordings were sent to be pressed in the India and the records then sent back for sale. Singapore emerged as a centre of local Chinese recording industry in the 1960s with several recording companies producing Chinese records by local as well as Taiwanese singers. In 1960s Singapore began producing Chinese pop music in Mandarin with local singers. Starting in the mid 1980s, a genre of Mandarin ballads called Xinyao began to emerge with singers and songwriters. In ethnic traditions; The Chinese, there are speakers of various dialects amongst the Chinese population, such as Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, and Teochew, and Hainanese. Different dialect speakers may have their own clan associations which support ther respective forms of opera. There are many traditional full-sized Chinese orchestras in Singapore. The first Chinese orchestra was formed in 1959 by Thau Yong Amateur Musical Association, which was established in 1931 by former members of Er woo. The Singapore Chinese Orchestra is the only professional Chinese orchestra in Singapore, however Chinese orchestras formed by clan associations, community centres and schools are common. There are also chamber ensembles such as those of the Nanguan tradition. The Malay Vocal performances accompanied by kompang and hadrah drums are among the most popular types of Malay music. They are performed during weddings and official functions. The Indian Hindustani and Karmatic music are two forms of Indian classical music that may be found in Singapore. Other forms of music that are popular are the Bhajan and Bhangra music. The Peranakans are descendants of early Chinese immigrants who had intermarried with the local Malay population. Their fold music is noted for its fusion of English in Malay-inspired tunes, largely because the Peranakans themselves are often conversant in both languages. In rock music alternative and indie rock music influenced bands in the 1990s. Lion city hardcore is the hardcore punk scene of Singapore. The establishment of LCHC dates back to the late 80s. Pioneered and established by local hardcore group Stompin Ground. Singaporean Ex-Pat musicians, as Singapore is a small country without a large music scene, many Singaporeans have left the country in order to pursue their artistic interests or were moved by their parents at an early age.

In experimental/Improvised music Two Singapore rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s, Heritage and Zircon Lounge, showed tendencies to create music beyond conventional rock idioms. By the late 1990s and into the 2000s, a group of experimental laptop artists appeared: George Chua, Yuen Chee Wai, Evan Tan, Ang Song Ming, and Chong Li-Chuan, the last having received the bachelor's and master's degrees in music at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Straddling the world of digital effects and acoustic instruments was the duo aspidistrafly, who eventually gained an enormous following in Japan, producing their own music and running their kitchen Label. The Observatory, a supergroup formed from the ashes of Leslie Low's folk rock Humpback Oak trio, have been widely regarded as one of the best bands in Singapore. With every album, they have pushed at the limits of the song form, incorporating prog rock, jazz, avant garde guitar, drones, black metal, and more. Musical outsiders Engineered Beautiful Blood blazed a hot trail of no wave improvised rock, then stopped playing in 2009. However, their members eventually formed a larger improvised rock ensemble, I\D, which itself would splinter off into smaller groups and configurations. Around the middle of the 2000s, another grouping calling themselves Under the Velvet Sky wowed audiences with their performances that evoked prog rock, free jazz, traditional Malay and Chinese music, and more. Again, the loose nature of the collective enabled them to create other projects such as Gulayu Arkestra, Five Leaves Left. The influence of an expatriate community cannot be ignored. Lindsay Vickery (Aus), Tim O'Dwyer (Aus), Darren Moore (Aus), Brian O'Reilley (US), all at some point associated with the music programmes at LASALLE College of the Arts, were involved in organising showcases and festivals of experimental and improvised music. Their interaction and collaboration with local players energised the local experimental music community. Particular note to the Singaporean music scene is what are often collectively known as National Day Songs. Written as part of Singapores nation-building efforts, they either incorporate local folk songs, contemporary songs, or are specifically composed around a particular theme for the National Day Parade which is held every year on August 9. Music of Singapore in the broadest sense of the subject, given the multicultural character of the country and the sociopolitical emphasis on multiculturalism as the modus operandi for life and activity in the musical culture as well as various categories and levels of change. This study will cover two areas of music making in Singapore. First, it will give an overview description of the major musical forms in the traditional music area- the Malays, the Chinese, and the Indians. Second, in the area of Western music, which is a major element in the musical culture of Singapore, it will consider the works of small group in Singapore composers who have worked silently but ardently over the last 20 years.

Socio-Cultural Background The resident population is approximately 2.7 million. The median age is 30 years, making the Singapore population generally a youthful one. Literacy rate is 90% with 36% having at least a secondary qualification. (Census, 1991) There are four official languages in Singapore, which are, English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. TRADITIONAL MUSIC IN SINGAPORE Malay Music Pantun Pantun is a Malay literary poetic form that is closely identified with some songs forms, particularly in dondang sayang (event for love songs). It is also commonly used in bagswawan, asli and dikir barat. Pantun can be written in dua baris (two line couplets) or empat baris (four line quatrains). The latter normally suggests ideas about dipper meanings one could draw from the pantun. That is the reason why the pantun is called the high art of the Malays. Pantuns are known to be the purveyor and conveyor of the Malay customs and manners. Singapores transformation, this art had not been used widely in the community except by few specialized groups mainly in the verge of extinction as even these sectors seemed to wane in interest for its use. Mardian Bakar (1987) described the elegant way the presenter of that radio program referred to above, Mr. Mohd Ashik, handled man conversations done pantun-style. An example is quoted below:

Jala-jalan ke bukit dan paya Jalan lagi de tepi perigi Wahai Enchik Ashik saya bertanya Adakah leleki setia ke mati English: (Enchik Ashik, I would like to ask: Will a mans love last until the day he dies?)

One of the best examples where the art of pantun is called to use is during the delicate and sensitive marriage proposal done, on behalf of the young man, by an elderly couple who would Be well versed in this art and highly respected in the community. Joget and Ronggeng. Joget is a modern Malay dance and Ronggeng is a traditional Malay dance, both were popular dance forms in the 1950s. Various dance spots or nightclubs, the most famous of which was Bunga Tanjong at the New World Amusement Park, were the venues for these forms to flow and develop.

Kuda Kepang. Kuda Kepang is a dance form originated from East Java and used to be a popular dance at weddings in Singapore. Commonly known as the Horse dance, it is one of the colorful dances in the world of hobby horse art forms. A reduced version of Javanese gamelan is the usual musical accompaniment. In the original dance, the stories were exclusively from the Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Kuda Kepang came to Singapore through the migration patterns of East Javanese as well as the movement of this dance form and the gamelan through the Malay courts in this part of the world. Asli. Asli is a collective reference to paraphernalia that are of original Malay heritage, they reflect a distinctive Malay musical heritage. An Asli song is highly melismatic and uses pantun for its lyrics which could be about anything ranging from love stories to nature, patriotism and nationalism. The genre or Asli songs performed today are the ones that developed after the coming of western influence to the Malay areas in this part of the world. This style of Asli has great flexibility where accompaniment is concerned and the trend is for more Western musical instruments to be included. Asli songs in Singapore are a front-line musical identity of its own. Dondang Sayang. Pantun plays a central role from this song form. The high art of pantun in songs was the medium of entertainment when there were festivities among the royal families and the nobles. When the Portuguese arrived in 1511, dondang sayang did not diminish. In fact it grew even more popular because the new conquerors began to like it. Dondang sayang is not widespread and neither is it sustaining old levels of popularity. The art form could be in serious erosion soon. The main difference between the Malay and Baba versions of dandang sayang lies in the use of language in the pantun. The melodic line is also less mellismatic than the asli style found in Malay dandang sayang. Musical accompaniment in traditional Malay dondang sayang is usually limited to the violin, gong, and hand-drum. The usual accompaniment is the violin, gambus (lute), guitar or piano-accordion, flute and percussion. The pantun dialog is the highlight of the dondang sayang event. There may be a number of such dialogues in one event and each is usually sung by two persons (most often male and female). Orkes Aslirama under the late Pak Malim Asman was one of the pillars for this art form in Sngapore. Bangsawan The literal translation of the words bangsa (people of one race) and wan (royal lineage) has come to collectively refer to Malay opera. Bangsawan drew from multifarious sources and quite indiscriminately so, because its basic purpose was to entertain. Sabri Buang (1990) observes that Singapore was not only a place where bangsawan took root and from where it spread to other parts of the Malay; it was archipelago but also the place which witnessed the arts demise. In its heyday, many of the bangsawan were adaptations of Shakespearean plays or of the penglipur lara (stylized entertainment) variety based on stories from the Malay annals or the Hindu classics. A new genre of bangsawan, janaka bangsawan

(comedy opera) came the scene in 1982 with the staging of Raja Dangdut by Sriwana. Hadrah and Kompang These two are choral music forms tied closely to rhythms played by accompanying rebana which are hand-drums. There are two types of such hand-drums which are the rebana hadrah (with small clinkers attached to the rim) and rebana kompang (larger hand-drums without the clinkers). This genre of music came to this part of the world from the Middle East via India as early as the 13th century through trading activities. Hadrah and kompang music spread through the Malay region of Southeast Asia with the advent of Islam and took on different shades of development at different destinations. These songs are in chant style and sung over interlocking rhythms classified as the lead, basic, and rhythm beats. The major use of Hadrah and Kompang music is at Malay weddings where the chanting of Arabic verses announces the arrival of the groom at the brides house.

Diker Barat This is yet another Malay choral music form which has the pantun art very much as its central feature. There are strict rules for the creation and performances of song forms, as well as rules for the structure of the groups. This was introduced into Singapore from Kelantan in the 1940s by Pak Leh Tapang and Haji Salleh. Today the Singapore Diker Barat Federation, which is very active in the promotion and development of this art form, keeps in touch with their Kelantanese counterparts but also has made great strides towards localizing elements through calls for creativity in its practice, classes and national competitions which began in 1993. The schools were keen to promote diker barat mainly because it helped with the teaching and learning of the Malay language. A diker barat ensemble has four key elements; the tok juara (leader), tukang karut (song initiator), the awok awok (the chorus) and the musicians. The songs are classified according to three categories: Lagu Juara (Tok Juaras song form), Lagu Karut (tukang Karuts song form) and the Wau Bulan (the concluding song form). Gamelan Gamelan literally meaning (gong-chime ensemble) music-making is now regaining a foothold in Singapore through the activities of the Pachitan Gamelan at the Kampong Kembanggan Community Club. The Kampong Kembangan Community Club provides leadership in organizing and steering this group along a path that would not only popularize the gamelan as a cultural activity but also as a creative art projects that would be able to express a musical genre which they hope would be restored to its former revered place in the community.

CHINESE MUSIC Chinese traditional music of the just-intonation-pentatonic variety had a strong foothold in Singapore in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the Chinese migrant communities were living in clan-based communities. Singapore inherited both of these categories of Chinese music. Chinese orchestra There are over 100 active Chinese orchestras in Singapore spread out among the schools, community centers, and some civic organizations. Chinese orchestral music contains ver-tical harmony and contrapuntal melodic lines both of which does not exist in traditional Chinese music. The Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) is the only full time orchestra of its kind in the country. The instrumentation of the SCO falls under four divisions: strings, plucked instruments, wind instruments, and percussion.

Chinese Opera The popularity of the opera waned as he movie industry grew. There are two major groups promoting the performance and appreciation of Chinese opera in Singapore today, namely the Opera Society of Singapore and the Chinese Theatre Circle. Nanyin The nanyin is a rare genre of Hokkien traditional music that has been preserved in Singapore by the Siong Leng Musical association. The music of nanyin is based on the just intonation modal pentatonic scale system. The birth of nanyin music took place through fusion of local and foreign musical cultures.

INDIAN MUSIC Indian classical music is very much rooted in Singapore because of dedicated private schools, organizations, and individuals keeping the art alive for many decades. There are four major sources for Indian music education in Singapore: Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society, Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society, Kala Mandir (Temple of Fine Art), and Apsaras Arts. The music schools and the individuals who keep the art of Indian music alive in Singapore live and work in this balance between tradition and the natural pull in the country to innovate and adapt in a rapidly changing environment.

Dance-Dramas There is close relationship between dance and music evident in the highly structured dance forms like bharata natyam, katakali, odissi, katak and many others. There are also some exclusinve performances of these dance forms with the appropriate musical accompaniment spread out through the year by local as well as foreign artists. The major dance-dramas have surged in Singapore in the last three years. The art of writing music for Indian dance-dramas is taking more definite form as seen from recent productions at the time of the writing of this essay.

Music at Festivals Religious and social festivals are venues for various forms of music-making in the Indian community. Although Singapore is a very urban city, the traditional festivals from the homes of Singapore Indian forefathers are still adhered to Holi and Pongal, the spring festivals of the North and South Indians, respectively, are occasions for music. Indian Orchestra The instrumentation of this orchestra consists of sections of veena, sitar, and violin, a flute, clarinet, and percussion consisting of midangam, table, ghatam, ganjira and other small percussion instruments. This orchestra plays two types of music: Indian classical and new music which is usually tagged as experimental.

WESTERN BASED MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS OUR SONGS Series This national song competition was launched which managed 51 entries. Eight of these entries won prizes. These compositions obtained widespread coverage over radio as program fillers and background music. The purpose of this activity as to encourage the development of a body of songs which Singapore could call its own. The popular song movement ebbed away but resurfaces in the late 1980s as a powerful national song movement called Singapore, Singapore. Review and comments on the efforts of the Our Songs movement noted that the music writing skills were good but the lyrics were weak. To improve on the lyrics, the Composers Circle began to collaborate with local poets. Thirteen song compositions were performed which had positive reception. A base had begun to form for serious music-writing. The composers who participated in the seventh presentation were Samuel, Shen Ping, Lee Yuk, Lee Tack, Quek Yong, Lim Tiap, Tan Wee, Bernard, Leong Yoon, Phoon Yew, and Robert. The general complexion of the compositions was western. However, much Chinese musical aesthetics played an important role in many of the works. The use of pentatonic scale, in particular, based on the western tempered scale was predominant. Music characterizing of many works were obvious and drawn from experience of writing music for the Chinese orchestras. Leong Yoon Pin and Phoon Yew Tien used serialism in their works, Largo and Vivace and Autumn, respectively. An important point manifested in these works was that composition in Singapore could be presented in a rather unique way; the marrying of Chinese elements with some Western compositional techniques to produce original sound works. In his Largo and Vivace for string orchestra, Yoon Pin created two distinct sections. The Largo bordered on a atonality, and by using the serial technique, he created two important melodic lines juggling the tone rows and their inversions. The Vivace broke off as a contrast, using a Chinese folk song Fujian, but in an orchestral technique that was familiar. It was classical but at the same time colored with Chinese musical aesthetics. Yoon Pin contributed a second work written for SATB Chorus in this presentation. Titles as Four Song Settings, Yoon Pin utilized a variety of techniques in his treatment of the choral settings and they included the pentatonic mode, serialism, and even organum. Autumn by Phoon Yew Tien was written using the serial method but pentatonic-based, the row having three variations. He wrote this work for string orchestra, harp and percussion. It was an impressionistic piece of music that was based on an ancient Chinese poem by Fan Chung Yan in which autumn in China is described in literal and metaphorical terms. This composition also won Yew Tien the Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize in 1984, awarded under the Asian Composers League. The work which was written in uncompromising Western terms was Sinfonietta for String Orchestra by Bernard Tan. The first Allegro Moderato had the trappings of an outline sonata with two contrasting themes.

The second movement Andante Grazioso afain extended the idea of contrast, this time written in ternary form. The third movement Allegro Vivece had virtuosity in mind building up over three sections to end very familiarly, in gusto. Samuel Tings Lone Rocj on a Far Away Hill drew its song material from a poetic Chinese text revolving around a sad young lady who used to look out to seat from the rock in question waiting for her loved one to return safely and soon from a mission at sea. The music was straightforward and communicative for all purposes, it was serve as an example of what an art song could be like, based on Western music but leaning heavily towards Chinese musical aesthetics. The Chineseness in this song relied very much on the Mandarin language it employed. He had another song, To give, features in this same presentation, a powerful declamatory song dedicated to teachers whom he saw as the engineers of mankind. Two works for violin and piano were part of the Seventh presentation. They were similar in approach, because they were written for a specific performer, but they differed in form. In the string quartet work, Dawn at the Garden City, by Shen Ping Kwang, the two movements it contained shuttled between the classical mold and romatic descriptiveness. The first movement Allegro Moderato Grazioso opens with a Hadynish eight-part sequence and then, surprisingly, goes into an extended descriptive episode.

NEW MUSIC FORUM A new development took place in 1987 with the start of the New Music Forum. It was the beginning of an ascent in Western musical composition in Singapore. Four music Forums were stages, the second in 1988, the third in 1990 and the fourth in 1992. A core of Singapore composers assemble through these forums giving for the first time a clearer identity as to the nature and musical orientations of composers and composition in Singapore. These forums revealed some huge compositional capacities and wide array of styles that existed among these composers; it also generated renewed vigor for composition and communicated to the public the importance of this activity. Leong Yoon Pin Leong Yoon Pin wrote Strands for chamber orchestra and Sketches for oboe and piano which were in great contract to each other, the former bring constructive and structural in emphasis and the latter, more descriptive, Yoon Pin, had this capacity to work in vastly different styles developed, most probably, by the fact that he has pioneered the idea of serious musical composition in Singapore and, therefore, the need to at least map out styles for local composition and open doors for the future. In 1980 Yoon Pin wrote one of his best works, Overture: Dayong Sampan, which holds the distinction of being the first local composition to be performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Temasekian, written in 1990 and performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra

in the same year, as a contribution to the 1990 Singapore Arts Festival conducted by the SSO resident conductor Choo Hoey, is a tone poem that pays tribute to the early Singaporeans whose pioneering efforts laid the foundation for the growth and development of modern Singapore. Phoon Yew Tiens Meditation of a Poet for the First Forum is an extension of the experiences of composition based on imagery drawn from a Chinese poem written by a Singaporean artist and poet. Bernard Tans contribution to the 1987 Forum were Hors Doeuvres for string orchestra and the premiere presentation of Sinfonietta No. 2 for string orchestra, flute, oboe and clarinet. Sinfonietta No. 2 is less straightforward, its abstraction lying in the conflict-resolution philosophy the work attempts to paint in three movements: andantino, allegretto, and allegro. Melody is a preoccupation in this work, some of which are in long beautiful lines. In the same year as this Forum, Bernard wrote his Symphony No. 1 which was premiered by the Singapore Youth Orchestra and then performed again later in the year by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Tsao Chieh participated in the Second Forum with Veriations for Chamber Ensemble, best described as a chamber concertino with much opportunity for improvisation. Nevertheless, his initial impact in the Singapore musical scene was not through this Forum performance but in 1986 with Singapore- Symphonic Suite for Large Orchestra which was performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Er Yenn Chwen was the youngest composer in the group, and who could be seen in some ways as the beginning of the second generation, Er Yenn Chwen participated in three of the four forums, beginning in 1988 with the Second Forum. John Sharpley, although not a Singaporean by nationality, John Sharpley has been a resident in Malaysia and has contributed in a significant way through his compositions. One of Sharpleys important works elaborating this important Asian theme is Lupa, the meaning of this Malay word vacillating between to forget and trance and in keeping with the deeper philosophical intentions of the work. Tan Chan Boon was the final composer identified with the Music Forum series. He participated for the first time in 1992 in the Fourth New Music Forum. Robert Luse wrote mainly for the guitar in various combinations, one Robert Luse s first works that made an impact was Childhoods End Concerto performed in 1984 by an ensemble of guitars made up mainly of his senior students with the solo played by Luse himself. Kam Kee Yong who is presently living away from Singapore, Kam Kee Young, as early as 1975, had compositions performed outside Singapore, notably Chung Kuo Kuang His Chii for solo violin, piano, harp and percussion by the TOKK Ensemble of Tokyo and Ku Wu Chii, a six-minute orchestral work performed by the Seoul Philharmonic which received its world premiere in 1977 in Singapore.

Conclusion

There is a purposefulness in Western-based musical composition in Singapore, despite the lack of a long tradition and the infrastructure of academia. Perhaps, it is because of the void that there has been self-motivated interest among Singaporean composers to ensure that there is some form of original musical expression in Singapore. The efforts of many Singaporean composers over many decades were not in vain. Most music composition in Singapore is dominated by male composers. There are signs that among a new group of budding composers connected with a series Music Space run under the Substation, an arts center growing in significance in Singapore, song younger women are beginning to compose. The Singapore composer is part of a very small cohort and the composer enters the arena with no mean compositional skills. The composer learns these skills himself, and applies them in various other circle before joining the base process. Despite being self-relied, his priority seems to stem from a nationalistic mode of thought and thus accounts for the large number of works that are written with this slant. Much has also to do with the awareness composers have of the need for repertoire that is descriptive of the country. Nationalism should be an operating factor for composition in Singapore far into the future. The Singapore composer relies heavily on the language of western music. One sees this as the foundation upon which he could be innovative even to the point of incorporating elements from other music in relation to the multiracial cultures of Singapore. It is an equitable stance for the first base for musical composition to take because the options, not just in this respect, but also in the interplay of multiple musical languages in composition in Singapore, could become one of the new propelling forces for composition in Singapore in the future. Source Asian Music History book and Internet.