Singapore went through quite a number of national anthems before Majulah Singapura (composed by the late Che Zubir Said). We sang God Save The King, then Kimigayo, God Save The Queen and Negara Ku before our independence in 1965. That's four national anthems.
But wait a minute. During colonial days, the Chinese students sang Sun-Min Zhu Yi (三民主义), refusing to follow the British and following Nationalist China's anthem instead. So that's five anthems that some Singaporeans had to sing.
The Indian National Army which had its headquarters in Singapore during the Japanese occupation had their own anthem too. And they sang it in Hindi. So if this anthem is included, our citizens would have sung six anthems before our present original one.
Now that's a lot of anthems for a tiny dot like Singapore.
HAPPY NATIONAL DAY 2019 TO ALL SINGAPOREANS.
BI-CENTENNIAL YEAR.
Images and video:
Information: 'One More Story To Tell. Memories of Singapore 1930s-1980s': Chan Kwee Sung: Anthems: Page 130-132. Landmark Books 2003.
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/search?q=chan+kwee+sung
Flags of the United Kingdom, Japan, Nat China, Malaysia.
1 comment:
Great info, Andy. Didnt know SG had 5 other national anthems. Ramli sang it with so much soul in his unique style. I like it.
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