"Why Singapore Rocks" by Carol Cooper. Extract One:
A contentious and solidly middle-class rock underground exists in the island nation of Singapore. It's unofficial mission? To keep alive a diversity of creative expression and dissent that was all but paved over during S'pore's 30 year rush to become a fully competitive First World nation.
A contentious and solidly middle-class rock underground exists in the island nation of Singapore. It's unofficial mission? To keep alive a diversity of creative expression and dissent that was all but paved over during S'pore's 30 year rush to become a fully competitive First World nation.
Having been a multi-ethnic center of global trade and culture since the 1500s, the Malaysian peninsula - to which Singapore is attached like the dot of an exclamation mark - has long been a dynamic cultural melting pot even more fervid than our own....
Extract Two:
By using Pony Canyon resources to host and film band showcases at Fire Disco and the Substation, Jimmy Wee is generating the promotional tools the local underground has always needed. "I believe the Singapore scene can happen because I've seen how Hong Kong and Malaysia have come along,"
Wee insists. "Fifteen or twenty years ago, Hong Kong was a hopeless market. A lot of the Hong Kong artists were nothing until there was this big hype about Cantonese pop singers. What made these artists happen was media support. If you're in Hong Kong, you pick up every magazine and you'll see all these local stars in color. You turn on the radio or TV and you'll hear these same stars! "
He concluded and exclaimed, "So I've been making noises about that here to all the local radio and tv people. There's no harm in promoting international music, it's good because we learn from them. But don't forget the local music!"
(Read the full article on her Website.)
(1) Didn't our 60s pop groups start it all?
(2) Do you agree with the article?
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