Channel News Asia: 50 Years of Singapore Music

On Screen

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In February 2015, John Leong (below), anchor for Singapore Tonight, introduced a special news piece on Channel News Asia where Dick Lee, Yiren Cai, Audie Ng and I were interviewed regarding 50 years of Singapore Music.  The programme was in conjunction with this year's SG50 celebration. 

What has been music to Singaporeans' ears? The show takes us down memory lane to see how the music has evolved through the years and where bands like Silver Strings, Black Dog Bone, Sweet Charity, Siglap Five and singers Anita Sarawak, Stefanie Sun, A-Do, JJ Lin, Mavis Hee and Shirley Nair were discussed.  The song You're The Boy remains steadfast as a background anthem during our interview.

Behind The Scene 

We had pretty and sophisticated CNA producer Syahidah Othman (below) to conduct the whole affair with much calm and decorum.  The camera was positioned for appropriate angle shots; the white guitar was placed in a strategic position behind the interviewees (image above) and photographs were selected for the news documentary. Ms Syahidah was also the narrator on screen.

As it was usual, although the chat lasted for a few minutes on TV, shooting took some time. The interview was held on a lovely afternoon and we enjoyed ourselves throughout in the large, airy and air-conditioned hall.

Many thanks to Mr Malvin Chua (image below) who coordinated the afternoon's project with a quiet but experienced eye.  Some snaps on my iPhone were taken by Malvin.

Video footage on right side-bar from Channel News Asia:

Excerpt below from:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/swinging-to-50-years-of/1669930.html

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/video/50-years-of-singapore/1632746.html

“Even though some songs were so-called ‘imports’, the local bands still made it their own."

In fact, a home-grown 1960's pop band did just that. The Silver Strings stood out with their stylish silver suits and blue guitars. But it was not just their image that made headlines. The band also started the trend of playing alongside female singers like Shirley Nair and Anita Sarawak.

Their biggest influence however, was a performance in 1961. "When Cliff and the Shadows came we saw them on stage, with three flashing red guitars,” said Andy Young of The Silver Strings. “And I said to myself that I want to be like Cliff Richard; I want to sing like him."

The Silver Strings played their biggest shows when they opened for the Rolling Stones at the Singapore Badminton Hall and in front of 20,000 spectators in a Malaysian stadium for the Miss Universe pageant.

But as the heady days of the 1960's came to an end, so did The Silver Strings. In recent years, Young, who was one of the band's pioneer members has begun keeping a blog about those memories. "It's so important that we all get together, gel and become one nation,” said Andy.

His fellow band member from The Silver Strings is fully supportive of the blog. “It will be good for the younger generation,” said Audie Ng. “At least they can go through his blog and learn about sixties music. And at the same time, they will get to know us; otherwise we will just fade away."

Images from Marcus Loh Collection and A Private Collection.