Are you a composer?
In response to the article "Sing Singapore" by Tan Shzr Ee dated on Thursday, Nov 23, 2006 in the Life! section of Straits Times, I think that music is indeed none other than just MUSIC."Let tomorrow be the test of courage, cross-cultural understanding and ethical responsibility. Because it's not about writing "Singapore-styled" or "Nanyang-inspired" music, or being Singaporean or South-east Asian, but being a good - and culturally-responsible - composer." (Excerpt from the above mentioned article.)
I've never thought so much about it before I read that.
Why this topic? Ok. There was this Singapore Chinese Orchestra competition some months ago, that has the topic of something like "to come out with something in the great 'Nanyang' tradition". And the interesting thing was that there was only one (out of the 13) finalists was a Singaporean. So controversy arose.
The question is "Was there not enough talent in Singapore that only one musician had managed to enter the finals?"
Perhaps we should consider the number of Singaporean participants in this competition. If there is a substantial number of Singaporeans who took part, then at least Singaporeans bother to write something about their homeland, although the results showed that they aren't as good as others. But isn't that also a way of learning? That is a way in which we can grow up and be better.
In fact, I would be happy to see that foreigners even bother to write something about Singapore. If there's no value in a certain thing, no one would be bothered by that at all.
Indeed, having a theme in a composing competition may have caused a little confusion in understanding the essence of music composition. Music is an innocent entity that man has perverted. Whether you are writing about your own country or others' country, music is music. Why put music into a box labeled "Culture" or "Ethnicity"?
Because music existed for the benefit of man (and woman), let's be open-minded about it and help one another to unleash the musical potential within them.
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"A song is a pillow you can lay your heart on." - Corrine May
posted by Sarah Loke @ 2:15 PM
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