National Day songs of Singapore

A well-known note of the Singaporean music scene is that of the collective which is known as national Day songs and it is written as part of Singapore’s nation-building efforts, they either join indigenous traditional songs (such as Chan Mali Chan), current songs like The Magic You, or are specifically composed within a particular theme for the National Day Parade which is held annually in August 9.

source of picture: remembersingapore.wordpress.com

In the year 1984, Stand Up for Singapore was formerly formed for the sole objective of celebrating Singapore’s success in 25 years of self-government. It was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and also composed by Hugh Harrison, the song struck a string with Singaporeans, particularly when they heard it performed by the New York Philharmonic group, and so the first formal National Day Song was initiated. The government later saw how much the public enjoyed singing as a way of celebrating, and later commissioned a current song in the year 1986. With that, Count on me Singapore, was also composed by Hugh Harrison, arranged by Jeremy Monteiro and performed by Clement Chow, which became the 2^nd formal national Day song. The movement continued the following year, 1987, with We Are Singapore, again it was composed by Hugh Harrison and arranged by Jeremy Monteiro. Later, in the year 1990 with the addition of One People, One Nation, One Singapore was composed by Jeremy Monteiro with words by Jim Aitchison for the nation’s Silvers Jubilee for 25 years of independence, the list of formal National Day songs peaked out at four.

Since the year 1998, National Day Songs have become less magnificent and more renowned in nature being composed and songs are been chosen by musicians and in time to time include their albums to be marketed abroad.

Some of the national day songs include;

·         1998: Home composed by Kit Chan

·         1999: Together composed by Evelyn tan and Dreamz Fm

·         2000: Shine on Me composed by Jai (in English version) and Mavis Hee (Mandarin version)

·         2001: Where I Belong composed by Tanya Chua

·         2002: We Will Get There composed by Stefanie Sun

·         2003: One United People was composed by Stefanie Sun

·         2004: Home remixed version was composed by Lin Junjie Kit Chan

·         2005: Reach Out For The Skies, a duet by Tuafik Batisah and Rui En, composed by Elaine Chan (in Chinese version is sung by Rui En only

·         2006: My island Home composed by Kaira Gong

·         2007: There’s No Place I’d Rather Be composed by Kit Chan and Will you in different indigenous Artiste

·         2008: Shine for Singapore composed by Hady Mirza (in English version) and Joi Chua (in Mandarin version)

·         2009: What Do You See was composed by Electrico (in English version) and Kelvin Tan (in Mandarin version)

·         2010: Song for Singapore composed by Corrinne May

·         2011: In a Heartbeat composed by Sylvia Ratonel

·         2012: Love At Light was composed by Olivia Ong and Natanya Tan

·         2013: One Singapore composed by Sing A Nation Choir

An ad-hoc offshoot of these National Day Songs was the songs specially composed for groundbreaking occasions. A notable instance was the song Moments of Magic which was written by Hype Records CEO Ken Lim especially for Singapore’s millennium festivities towards the end of the 1999. This was performed by three renowned singers such as Elsa Lin, Fann Wong and Tanya Chua. The music is video was directed by Singapore filmmakers Eri Khoo.