Singapore National Day Parade Songs (Patriotic Songs)
It's National Day in Singapore today (9 August 2014). As a Singaporean living abroad, it does seem like a day to reflect where I grew up. And for many other Singaporeans abroad, it's a day of thinking about their family far away back to a place where they call "home".
One of the things distinct about growing up in Singapore is definitely the National Day celebrations both at school the day before (Yay to half day and no classes!) and on the day itself. Most of us would be glued to the TV watching the National Day Parade (NDP). Most of us too would have been at a NDP or it's rehearsal at least once with our school. There's always that amazing once a year firework display at the NDP. And there is always the singing of patriotic songs, which we all started learning at nursery!
Song and music have a strong ability to evoke emotion. Patriotic songs tend to reflect on the country's history and bind people to an aspirational future. In Singapore, the type of lyrics in these songs have changed over time. These changes reflect how the country has moved from nation building with songs reflecting on the difficult past to a developed country with a large migrant population.
The nation building songs such as "Count on Me, Singapore", "Five Stars Arising" and "We are Singapore" has strong lyrics to emphasis on the difficult past particularly in the 1960s and how as a new country, each person has to give their best for the country to attain it's best possible future [1] [2] [3]. "No one owes Singapore her future" - I'm sure most Singaporeans would have heard that at some stage.
The newer songs such as "This is Home" and "It's the Little Things" does focus on the identity of individuals to what make them Singaporeans. The concept of "home" and the "little things that we share" do have a strong emotive towards patriotism.
There's also the few songs in different language other than your mother tongue. For example, in Tamil, "Mennaeru Vaalibaa"; in Mandarin "xiao ren wu de xin sheng"; or in Malay "Chan Mali Chan". Most of us are able to sing along despite not really having a clue what the song means!
Sadly, this is also true for the National Anthem - Majulah Singapura, which is written in Malay - the official national language. In every school, rain or shine, the day begins and ends with the flag raising ceremony where the National Anthem is sung. Despite that, recent Straits Times poll show that a majority Singaporeans understood the meaning of Majulah Singapura (as Onward Singapore), but could not understand the rest of the lyrics [6]. Probably that's why it reflects my experience when in Secondary School and Junior College, hardly anyone sings the National Anthem at flag raising. I do hope schools will teach what our National Anthem do mean, so that citizens will understand the meaning and have some pride in the Anthem.
Happy 49th National Day to all Singaporeans!
To subscribe to my blog, please Like on our Facebook page.
To support my blog, please click on one of my sponsor's advertised links :)
References
[1] Count on Me, Singapore
[2] Five Stars Arising
[3] We are Singapore
[4] This is Home
[5]It's the Little Things
[6] Majulah Singapura - Wikipedia.
One of the things distinct about growing up in Singapore is definitely the National Day celebrations both at school the day before (Yay to half day and no classes!) and on the day itself. Most of us would be glued to the TV watching the National Day Parade (NDP). Most of us too would have been at a NDP or it's rehearsal at least once with our school. There's always that amazing once a year firework display at the NDP. And there is always the singing of patriotic songs, which we all started learning at nursery!
Song and music have a strong ability to evoke emotion. Patriotic songs tend to reflect on the country's history and bind people to an aspirational future. In Singapore, the type of lyrics in these songs have changed over time. These changes reflect how the country has moved from nation building with songs reflecting on the difficult past to a developed country with a large migrant population.
The nation building songs such as "Count on Me, Singapore", "Five Stars Arising" and "We are Singapore" has strong lyrics to emphasis on the difficult past particularly in the 1960s and how as a new country, each person has to give their best for the country to attain it's best possible future [1] [2] [3]. "No one owes Singapore her future" - I'm sure most Singaporeans would have heard that at some stage.
The newer songs such as "This is Home" and "It's the Little Things" does focus on the identity of individuals to what make them Singaporeans. The concept of "home" and the "little things that we share" do have a strong emotive towards patriotism.
There's also the few songs in different language other than your mother tongue. For example, in Tamil, "Mennaeru Vaalibaa"; in Mandarin "xiao ren wu de xin sheng"; or in Malay "Chan Mali Chan". Most of us are able to sing along despite not really having a clue what the song means!
Sadly, this is also true for the National Anthem - Majulah Singapura, which is written in Malay - the official national language. In every school, rain or shine, the day begins and ends with the flag raising ceremony where the National Anthem is sung. Despite that, recent Straits Times poll show that a majority Singaporeans understood the meaning of Majulah Singapura (as Onward Singapore), but could not understand the rest of the lyrics [6]. Probably that's why it reflects my experience when in Secondary School and Junior College, hardly anyone sings the National Anthem at flag raising. I do hope schools will teach what our National Anthem do mean, so that citizens will understand the meaning and have some pride in the Anthem.
Happy 49th National Day to all Singaporeans!
To subscribe to my blog, please Like on our Facebook page.
To support my blog, please click on one of my sponsor's advertised links :)
References
[1] Count on Me, Singapore
[2] Five Stars Arising
[3] We are Singapore
[4] This is Home
[5]It's the Little Things
[6] Majulah Singapura - Wikipedia.
Comments
Post a Comment