Music of Singapore

Singapore has a diverse music culture that ranges from rock and pop to folk and classical. Its various communities have their own distinct musical traditions: the Chinese people form the largest ethnic group in Singapore, with Malays, Indians, and smaller number of other peoples of different ethnicity as well as Eurasians. The different people with their traditional forms of music, the various modern musical styles, and the fusion of different forms account for the musical diversity in the country.

It has an urban musical scene, and is a centre for pop, rock, punk and other genres in the region. The country has produced in the 1960s bands like The Crescendos and The Quests, right up to the new millennium with pop singers such as Stefanie Sun and JJ Lin. Folk music of Singapore includes the ethnic music traditions of the Chinese, Malay and Tamil communities. Singapore also has a lively Western classical music scene.

Singapore has been a regional centre of music industry for a long time. Recordings of Chinese and Malay popular music were done at the EMI studio in Singapore in the colonial period, but until the 1960s, recordings were sent to be pressed in India and the records then sent back for sale. It was a centre of Malay popular culture where Malay stars such as P. Ramlee were based, but after Singapore independence in 1965, the Malay music industry began to shift to Kuala Lumpur.

In the 1960s, local bands in Singapore were inspired by Western groups such as Blue Diamonds, Cliff Richard & the Shadows, and The Beatles. Popular groups of the period included The Crescendos who performed in English with hit songs like "Mr Twister", The Quests who had hits like "Shanty", "Don't Play That Song", "Jesamine" and "Mr Rainbow", as well as other pop-rock bands including The Thunderbirds, The Trailers, The Crescendos, The Western Union Band, October Cherries and The Silver Strings. A Malay genre influenced by British rock and pop called Pop Yeh-Yeh emerged in the 1960s. The bands performed in the Malay language, although some may also performed in English or were instrumental. Malay pop bands of the 1960s included Naomi & the Boys who produced a household hit song "Happy Happy Birthday Baby", D'4 Ever, Antarctics, Mike Ibrahim & the Nite Walkers, Swallows, Ismail Haron & the Guys, and Les Kafila's. In the late 1970s and early 1980s saw the rise of rock bands such as Sweet Charity fronted by the vocalist Ramli Sarip. The band had such an influence in the Singapore and Malaysia music scene that it later led to a rock explosion in the mid 1980s.

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