Monday, 20 June 2011
ORIGINS OF XINYAO. - part 1 @ 09:31
Hello MUSIC LOVERS :)
I hope all of you are excited to start off our journey to explore the many wonders of Singapore Pop music.
I hope all of you are excited to start off our journey to explore the many wonders of Singapore Pop music.
This post would be about the origins of XINYAO and some back ground information.
I know this can get a little dry but it's really intersting if you continue to read on.
Here we go!
DID YOU KNOW?
Singapore’s local Chinese music scene started out from Xinyao in the 1980s, and developed into local Mando-pop around the 1990s.
WHAT IS XINYAO?
Xinyao literally means “Songs by youths in Singapore” or “新加坡年轻人创作的歌谣”.
It was first started by the Singapore youths who have completely no prior musical training, thus the melodies of xinyao are simple accompanied by basic chords. Giving it is own unique style.
COME ON... READ ON...
The lyrics of xinyao depicts the lives of the youths, their aspirations and views about societal issues.
One of the pioneers of the xinyao movement, Billy Koh, said:
“The true spirit of xinyao is to reflect the feelings of youth and growing up” (The Straits Times, 4 July 1985).
AND IT GETS INTERESTING...
Competitions and concerts were held in school campuses starting from 1983, where students performed their own songs in their singing groups.
In 1984, a trend in commercialism started, when the first xinyao album was released, and became increasingly evident from 1985 to 1989.
With the introduction of recording companies in 1985, early xinyao groups had to give way to individual musical careers. Xinyao even entered the Taiwanese market by 1986.
XINYAO NOW.
In the 1990s, xinyao had fully commercialised.
Professional xinyao singers moved on from guitars and simple melodies to intricate music with technology-enhanced effects.
This music produced detached itself from its origins and proceeded to Mandarin pop sounds, influenced by foreign music like Taiwan, Hongkong and Japan.
Xinyao is still popular in Singapore, and many activities are held to promote it further.
Xinyao is still popular in Singapore, and many activities are held to promote it further.
Such activities include a public lectures on the xinyao movement by Dr Liang Wern Fook and invitations to perform in local variety shows.
If you are reading this, it means that you have read the entire chunk of information above.
WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!
Thank you for reading it. It really meant a lot to us and we hope that you are able to take away a lot of interesting facts and information.
Honestly, isn’t the history of xinyao interesting? We were so awed by the rate of its development when we first read up about it.
We really hope the xinyao movement will live on to produce more music unique to Singapore and make us all proud!
Guess what? SURPRISE! This is only part 1 of Xinyao's history. Part 2 will be posted soon so look forward to it!