The Skeptical Optimist

It’s obvious that one of the most crucial factors in the annual drive to drum up patriotism is the National Day theme song. Growing up in the 80s and early 90s the ones that have really stuck in my head have those punchy sing-along choruses: think “Count on me Singapore”, “We are Singapore….” and “Home” (which I happen to think is the most successful in the ratio of cheesiness to ability to move). I look back with amusement and nostalgia when I think about how we used to mangle the words and melody as we enthusiastically or sometimes only dutifully sang along.

Catchy music coupled with skilfully written lyrics go a very long way in producing a heady mix of heart swelling emotion and inexplicable pride. Successful timing in the planning of the National Day Parade show is also very key in producing a sort of tears welling up – wave of emotion that keeps those crowds balloting and queuing up for tickets every year. It is a “show” after all – a show of how we feel about our country, something that is kept fairly quiet the rest of our year.

One of my memories of covering the parade as a reporter is standing in the bleachers of the old National Stadium as the last spectacular burst of fireworks and music gave way to the opening strains of the national anthem. I turned to a colleague, who gave me a look that said “I know exactly how you’re feeling and what you’re thinking”. You couldn’t help but feel that surge of emotion that singing the anthem and reciting the pledge after all the fanfare and bombast. But I was also aware at that moment that the reason why these words seem to strike some primeval chord in my head was because of the 16 years of prior conditioning that had me singing and reciting these words every single school day of my life. It was a very strange sort of double awareness.

Not having had to sing the anthem or recite the pledge for some years now, I’ve been able to take a clearer, more objective look at this engineering of national pride. (Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of Singapore – of its achievements and of its efficiencies. There is also nowhere else in the world that I would rather just wander around small HDB shops and sit down at a coffeeshop for some noodles…) But somehow, it’s the heavy handedness with which we sometimes find ourselves being told to be patriotic, to be proud, to remember a certain kind of history, that I find myself recoiling from.

So a particularly interesting thing for me this year was finding out that the National Day theme song was by local band Electrico . I can see where this idea to get an “indie” band to write the song came about – it’s really an attempt to engage a segment of the population – who like me – has become more wary of this whole top down approach to national feeling.

So how successful is it? I’m really not sure… yes it captures a certain Coldplay-lite moodiness and angst but I’m not sure it’s for me. I think one of the prerequisites of a successful National Day song is whether the crowd can easily sing along to it. So there we go, I don’t see many people who aren’t auditioning for Singapore Idol going for the slightly more complex melodies and key signatures in this particular piece. Also, while it’s not exactly obnoxiously prescriptive – I’m really not sure what it’s trying to say: what do you see?

Well, if I am ambivalent about this year’s song – one thing I am not ambivalent about is this parody version by our local internet satirist Mr Brown.

Even though Mr Brown has been “co-opted” into this year’s National Day Parade – I still really enjoyed his spoof. From the use of Ah Beng Hokkien to the familiar car-centric gripes, it’s difficult not to relate to the song. Plus, brownie points for his not so subtle poking fun at the essentially meaningless art direction of an alternative music video.

In my mind, this is the spark of hope for our attempts to create and cement a national identity: humour. As a country, we really need to learn to laugh at ourselves and at the powers that be. I don’t mean a comedic, slapstick, low-brow sort of humour- but an intelligent, knowing and engaged humour. One that sees bureaucratic attempts at foisting patriotism onto its citizenry for what they are and that takes everything with a pinch of salt. Note, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be proud of Singapore – but that we should be completely aware of what we are proud of and how it is not really connected to repeated singing of national day songs or even a spectacular fireworks display.

Tags: Electrico, Mr Brown, music, national day parade, national day songs, patriotism, Singapore

I have to admit that I have a real soft spot for the Esplanade’s Mosaic Music Festival. Into its 5th year now, the festival programmers love charging ahead and challenging the Singaporean prediliction towards safe, boring, MOR (middle of the road) music. While they might bring in one or two big names – they seem to always make an effort to bring in at least one cutting edge rock band, a few experimental electronic groups, jazz stalwarts, international and regional musicians, and indie faves.It’s truly eclectic programming, but one that has also shown a consistent commitment to quality, diversity and an adventurous spirit not often seen in the music concert scene in Singapore.

In the previous years, I’ve enjoyed acts like Broken Social Scene and Yo La Tengo – one of my all time favourite bands. And this year I found myself happily soaking in the sounds of toytronica group Psapp, a Brit group who use toys to add textures to their music and have a slight obsession with cats. You might be familiar with their sound, seeing as they are behind the theme music of the popular show Grey’s Anatomy. Plus, just revelling in the wonderfully moving, long and discursive jazz solos of the Brad Melhdau Trio.

I know it’s not music for everyone – but listening to Brad Mehldau, one of the greatest living jazz pianists, I realised the importance of complexity, experimentation, improvisation and grasp of a certain kind of culture.

We live in an increasingly fast paced society where we need things to be simple, quick and to the point because of constant updates and feeds, etc. Think twitter, facebook updates, news headlines short enough to fit into an iphone screen or a 2 minute hit. We have opinion columns, aggregators, Digg, google, wikipedia – all providing answers and ideas that are here one minute and gone the next. It’s difficult to find long, complex sentences and thoughts that have been probed and prodded for all their nuances and shadings. And so it is with the music that is popular – there are too many 2-3 minute songs with one emotion, one thought: usually about heartbreak, sex, violence or so-called female empowerment. It’s music that has a catchy beat, memorable but simple riff or loop and it doesn’t stray too far from the formulaic verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Sitting there and listening to Mehldau and his talented bassist and drummer take apart jazz standards, dissect them for the emotion of their melodies and exploit the possibilities of their chord progressions until they became wholly new compositions was just eye-opening. I’ve aways liked Mehldau and own many of his records, but to hear it live was just quite an amazing experience. It reminded me that music can hold so many ideas and thoughts and feelings – especially when it’s allowed 10-15 minute piano solos, long takes on songs that unfold and envelope you in their multiple strands of harmony and melody. It’s not easy to listen to sometimes, and I noticed people around me checking their mobile phones for SMSes and flipping through the programme during the show – but I believe it’s a discipline of concentration that’s worth working on.

Music like that reminds you that there is a world that can be brought into greater clarity through the abstraction of music. That there is an aesthetic nature to it all that transcends the mundane and even language itself in its capacity to communicate sentiments, memories, nostalgia and newness. Mehldau and Mosaic also tell us more about the richness of what humanity is capable of and how much more there is to discover. It’s not all about pop queens and boy bands out there – there is music being made out there that is able to make you think harder and better – if you’re only willing to listen.

Tags: brad mehldau, complexity, mosaic music festival, music, psapp