The Songs We Sang (我们唱着的歌)

The Best Newcomer of the 12th Golden Melody Awards goes to...

Stefanie Sun.

Congratulations, Stefanie Sun!

You've won the Best Newcomer Award!

Congratulations, Stefanie Sun!

Without xinyao,

there wouldn't be Billy Koh, there would be no Kit Chan.

Without Tan Kah Beng, there would be no Mavis Hee.

Without Li Wei Song and Li Si Song, there would be no Stefanie Sun.

When the sky is dark, I recall that song

I look forward to that quiet rain

Granny had sung the truth for me

That even when it rains we must bravely carry on

I was exposed to Mandarin songs only after I started attending Li Wei Song's school.

I wish I were back home

When the Li Brothers talk about music,

they can picture the song in their heads.

it's just like a painting.

The dialect wasn't foreign to me, because we lived with my granny.

The sky is dark, the rain is coming.

The sky is dark...

I face the crossroads every day

When I sang that song, I felt the melody was very simple.

But there was something in it I could relate to.

So lonesome

The award for Top 10 hits of 2004,

Hong Kong and Taiwan, goes to JJ Lin for "River South"!

The wind that blows here becomes a trap

That captures the thoughts of those who pass

Sing along!

Xinyao had a great influence on me

through its songs, and in my learning process as a songwriter.

This side!

Fate brought you to my side

A destiny written on the Rock of Three Incarnations

Sing along!

When I started learning music and the instruments,

it was just simple solo practice,

playing xinyao songs on the piano or guitar.

Which is why xinyao brings back memories of my childhood

and years of growing up.

Together now!

As a Singaporean songwriter,

I believe I can create Singaporean music for the world.

We who know not how to express tenderness

Believing that star-crossed lovers exist only in ancient folklore

The pain of separation

The intensity of this pain

Of dreams that are lost amidst the misty rain of the River South

Can only be understood after our hearts have been broken

Please share your umbrellas.

-Will the sun come out soon? -Yes!

Will it?

Yes!

Will you leave?

No!

Let me hear you!

What brings you here today?

Xinyao!

Long live xinyao!

What a lovely evening

With the cattle grazing freely

On this scenic mountain

The cows are so carefree

Sisters and brothers

Are you as innocent as the cows?

The sun will set in the blink of an eye

Come on out to the rolling hills

In those days, Chinese songs in Singapore came from overseas.

Songs from mainland China were mostly the rousing revolutionary type.

Not our cup of tea.

Songs from Hong Kong were the mainstream, mainly Cantopop

and theme songs from TV drama series.

As for Taiwan, in the '70s,

many of their songs were influenced by Japan and movies.

At Nanyang University, many students sang at Yunnan Lake in the evenings.

But they were usually foreign songs.

What about our own songs?

We felt that something was missing.

I was President of the Nanyang University Poetry Society then,

and my good friend Ken Chang was Head of the Music Society.

One day, while chatting we decided

to write our own songs!

Inspired, I wrote a poem, and gave it to him.

I asked him to set it to music and said we would sing it together after class.

And so, our very first verse song

was written in class.

I thought the poem was pretty good!

So I wrote a tune for this poem called "Story."

Pan Cheng Lui

You are a shooting star

You are a shooting star

I am a ferry boat

Ferrying beautiful stories

Members of the Poetry Society contributed their poems

which were collated by Cheng Lui.

He also invited some of the lecturers

to contribute their poems.

Bravo!

In 1976, when I entered Nanyang University, society was changing.

Most subjects, except Chinese Studies,

were switched to be taught in English.

The switch to a less familiar language

was stressful for the students.

Everyone was busy looking up words in the English dictionary.

Yet, despite these stressful times thrown into such an environment,

studying was no longer the priority in our university life.

As young undergrads at Nanyang University,

there were opportunities to participate in all kinds of activities.

From early in the morning till late at night,

we were busy with campus activities.

Studying was just one part of university life.

The environment on campus was amazing.

Two guitars, one harmonica and the choir,

plus, some recycled props as decor,

and we're ready for tonight's presentation.

They organized their first concert in 1978, at the Faculty of Arts.

I attended the performance that evening.

It was packed!

The lecture hall was full.

Even the corridors were filled with people.

At the beginning, the rise of verse songs came from Literature.

As undergrads, we were passionate about creative writing.

So the merger of poetry and music came to us naturally.

Secondly, it was the times we were in.

When verse songs first appeared in 1977,

it was then Nanyang University was facing its imminent closure.

After four months of private discussions,

the debate between the government

and members of the Nanyang University Council was brought out into the open.

Mr. Lee Kuan Yew was in favor of merging

the Nanyang University with the University of Singapore

in order to save Nantah from an inevitable death.

He based his arguments on the overwhelming preference of good students

for the University of Singapore.

We were halfway through our degrees at Nanyang University

when we learnt that the university was slated to be closed down.

It was earth-shattering news.

Frankly, we were not motivated to study.

Our strength was in writing and composition.

We spent most of our energies on that.

As long as we could graduate, wasn't that good enough?

Organizing activities gave us exposure

that we, as demoralized students,

would never have experienced in the classroom.

ME AND THE LITERARY ESSAY CONTEST AWARDS CEREMONY

The song "Outdoors" should be familiar to many of you.

Professor Wong Yoon Wah dedicated this poem to the graduating class.

One of the verses goes, "Three years...

Spring came, yet there were no flowers."

How do the students feel?

Let's hear it from them.

I am a camellia

Budding for three years

Spring came

Yet, there were no flowers

I ran for President of the Student Council in my third year.

CONFERENCE THE VISION OF OUR MUSIC INDUSTRY

I wanted to organize an ASEAN students' festival

to give us, Chinese-educated Nanyang undergrads, a platform

to showcase the leadership of

Chinese-educated youths on a global stage,

to gain recognition.

The choir from the Poetry Society was honored

to be invited to the ASEAN festival

to perform our own compositions.

"Nanyang and Singapore University Merged as National University of Singapore"

Regarding Nanyang University,

the issue was not about the closure of the university itself,

but rather a cultural one.

That was why, during that period, as students at Nanyang University,

we felt very strongly about the matter.

Look across the sky

Not see the wind and moon

In the verse song "Yellow River,"

I used a lot of metaphors,

such as "looking up at the Big Dipper," "a moving superstition,"

"I am a dragon light," "dancing a path of hope

to the end of the land."

I am a dragon light

Dancing a path of hope

To the end of the land

"Big Dipper," "Dragon light," these are strong cultural images.

The key imagery is the "Yellow River," which is the song title.

These images were inspired by the cultural climate of that time...

WHERE IS THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

...in expressing conviction towards one's ethnic language and cultural roots.

Just like the lyrics of the poem,

"Going towards the uninhabited east."

The east may be uninhabited, but we, being part of the river,

will still flow east.

Because the river must flow eastwards.

Hence, it was about cultural identity.

On the 7th of July, the National University of Singapore came into being.

There was little sentiment among graduands

at the last convocation of the University of Singapore.

Speechmakers hardly gave any prominence

to the significance of the historic occasion.

In contrast, the 21st convocation ceremony of Nanyang in August

marked its final end.