Where Got Singapore Sound? Representing National Identity in Music: Conundrums and Alternatives

Abstract

A lot of talk has been going around about the “Singapore sound”. Government officials, Singapore’s national newspaper The Straits Times, culture magazines, blogs, musicians and music industry professionals have all been weighing in on the matter. Some proclaim such as sound in connection to particular local music groups, styles or genres, others ponder about its unique characteristics, and others yet enquire as to whether it actually exists or not. This search and preoccupation with the existence and nature of the Singapore sound has, however, not been the subject of much academic research to date. This chapter therefore aims to further the discussion and unpack what exactly is meant by the “Singapore sound”, as well as the perspectives of young local musicians about it. During the research, I identified two interpretations, or approaches, towards thinking about the Singapore sound. The first part of the chapter is dedicated to the first approach which posits such a sound as a function of how well it represents the country’s multicultural and ethnically diverse society. Advocates of this approach associate the Singapore sound to two cornerstones of national identity, namely, racial harmony and the upholding of “ethnic” and musical heritage(s). Since this approach is aligned with official discourse, I begin by exploring the way in which the Singapore state has deployed music for the purpose of nation-building. I then briefly outline the current cultural policies and institutional incentives that support this ideologically informed Singapore sound. I follow with several examples of music groups that actively engage with, and attempt to embody, this idea of the Singapore sound through their music-making. The second part of the chapter explores some of the most commonly held critiques of this so-called Singapore sound whose ideology is decidedly multiculturalist. We will discuss the problematically ambiguous use of the terms “ethnic” and “traditional” often associated with this sound, the risk of incentivising formulaic fusion music, the essentialising of “racial” categories, as well as the way in which the institutional environment that is promoting this Singapore sound may in fact produce conditions that discourage creativity and innovation.

I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.

—John Cage