Songs of Singapore（新謡 しんよう）

黃譓禎 - 巫啟賢 - 邂逅
3 November 2009 (Tuesday): CK chuckled when I remarked in office today that I am going spread the 'Singapore soft power' in Vietnam. He thought it was just one of those fatuous comments that came from me.

I encountered a few educators of Chinese language schools in VN who were interested in procuring new language materials. One of them asked me if I could find books on Chinese riddles so that students would be stimulated to stretch their vocabulary in Mandarin. I tried to look for such materials, but ended up with none. The Popular Book Store in Bras Basah was one of my stops for book hunting but finding suitable ones for children was a task. Finally I settled for a pictorial book on proverbs.

The prices of Chinese language books here are generally rather high- approximating four to five times the price of what you pay in China with costs of operation, freight, etc. incorporated in them. Besides, Chinese publications sold outside schools are mostly published in China and reflect the values, customs and ideals of the society of Mainland China.

Up to Unification in 1975 in Vietnam, Chinese language and subject materials in Chinese-medium schools in Central and South Vietnam were imported from Taiwan. In the case of Singapore, locally written and published books in Mandarin already existed shortly after Independence in 1965. Outside school, however, many literary materials and stationary were imported from Taiwan. Movies, TV serials, variety shows, music, and story books which originated in Taiwan, for instance, have shaped the culture of many educated Chinese overseas; scholarships from Taiwanese institutions of learning also attracted the Chinese-educated in Southeast Asia to pursue higher learning there. It was an era of Taiwan's 'soft power' when the wave of Taiwanese 'campus songs' starting from the mid-1970s innundated our media and spurred Chinese-educated students to creative pursuits. Many started jotting down rhythmic phrases and added musical notes to their terse poems and in some cases, carefully crafted lyrics. A special genre of light-hearted melodies -- contemplative, subtly romantic, or heartwarming -- which were Singapore's own songs --thus called xin yao in Mandarin, emerged. One of the two syllables in the appellation xin is derived from the name of the country; the other syllable yao denotes 'songs'. Their composers were youth ranging from teenagers to adults mostly in their twenties.

Sung on TV, radios, school and community concerts with the accompaniment of the most common instrument, mainly the guitar and piano, they soared in popularity. These songs were the conduits to the young writer's inner world - of innocence, purity, awe and curiosity, sometimes angst and cynicism to societal demands and changes. Sentimentality weaves through the melodic lines, invoking the ephemeral joys of childhood, school days and friendship and the lightly depressing reactions to a transforming society and cityscape but occasionally a pronounced pride towards the city of Singapore.

梁文福 ,劉瑞政, 王邦吉- 細水長流
The beauty of these songs lies in the spontaneity of their creation,unmotivated by commissions and profit. They were written for the pure joy of personal or shared expression. The music is soothing and contents are eclesiastically poetic, replete with youthful idylism and sentiments. None conveys the profound morose of life, the puerile and fractious voice of frustrated teenagers, or the pernicious grudge of adults. The rhythm may be fast or slow but never like a funereal dirge.

This xin yao wave raged but subdued by the turn of the 1990s before they began fossilizing in the collective memory of a group of people who grew up in the late 1970s to late 1980s. Soon these songs evanesced into the historical immortality of this society. Once played, they whip up the nostalgia for some pristine state of human feelings and relationships that seem to be more common in the past.

As CDs, I think they will make meaningful gifts and teaching materials (for certain levels of Mandarin learners) for my acquaintances...

写一首歌给你-梁文福
In the midst of these thoughts, CK, barged into my office again and recommended a new tear-jerking Hokkien fado that he recently found. I exploded into laughter and was baffled - after all these years of Speak Mandarin Campaign?!