Mr Siah

Unforgettable Days sponsored by POSBank Songs of my soul All Singaporeans have at least one song they call their own. It might be tied to an era, a place, an event, or a personal relationship. It can bring back vivid memories and strong feelings. Music deejays, however, have more than one song they will never forget. Rediffusion executive producer, Siah Heng Meng, 58, plays back his memories with YONG SHU HOONG A world of songs opened up to me on Feb 1, 1962. This was the first day of a job that I've been doing for the past 36 years. At 22, having just graduated from River Valley High School, I started work as a producer assistant at the cable radio station, Rediffusion, then situated at Clemenceau Avenue. My starting pay was $200, a large amount of money in those days. But the big perk for me was the chance to listen to songs all day long. I have always been interested in singing. But I had no idea just how big music was to ordinary Singaporeans then. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese Singaporeans - from school girls to housewives - were listening to traditional Teochew operas. I was surprised to learn just how many listeners kept in touch with the station regularly to hear more such songs. Complaints They complained when parts of an opera were not broadcast for some reason. Popular operas included Cai Fang Hui (Meeting at the firewood shed). Opera actresses like Chen Chu Hui and Zhuang Xue Juan were idolised. Rediffusion then carried a lot of dialect programmes - prior to the Speak Mandarin campaign. When I became a Teochew broadcaster with the station's Gold Channel, I played Teochew songs for two or three hours a day. Listeners would often write in to request for their favourite tunes. I've played many other kinds of songs in my time. After 36 years, I've got millions of songs floating in my head. Chinese songs I sing this to my wife For Mr Siah, his unforgettable tune is a Chinese folk song called La Zi Zhi Ge (Song of La Zi), adapted from an Indian melody and first popular in the 1950s. "I am always singing it to my wife, right from when we were courting in the late 1950s till this very day," he said. Other songs have also entered their lives. In the 1930s and 1940s, Mandarin pop songs from Shanghai, sung by singers like Zhou Xuan and Yao Li, were big hits. 'Cultural' songs from China became popular after World War II. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Mandarin pop songs from Taiwan were hits here, spearheaded by singers like Feng Fei Fei and Teresa Teng. In the 1980s, Cantonese pop songs from Hongkong singers like Alan Tam, George Lam and Anita Mui, were hot. Malay songs I'll never forget Janji "I like an 1980s sentimental pop song called Janji (A Promise) because it has a very strong nature theme," said Mr A Ghani Hamid, 65, painter, playwright and poet. "The lyrics describe how a person can become more at peace with himself and others by bringing nature closer to his heart." In the 1950s and '60s, songs were influenced by Western trends like rock n'roll with limited interest in traditional Malay music like dondang sayang, zapin and ghazal. In the '70s and '80s, pop yeh-yeh, the Malay version of jitterbug music, was popular while rock and disco music also featured prominently in Malay songs. The '80s and '90s saw an equal interest in modern and traditional Malay songs. Dangdut, Indian- influenced music with a techno beat, has been popular since the late '80s. Tamil songs Changing my man Mrs Parvathy Raju, 42, a housewife, said: "I like the 1970s song, Oru Naal Unnodu Oru Naal (A Day With You). It has very meaningful lyrics, reflecting the storyline of its movie, Uravaadum Nenjam (Matters of the Heart). "It was about a housewife who tried to change her hot-tempered husband with love and patience." In the 1950s and '60s, Tamil songs used a lot of classical Indian instruments. The lyrics made use of very archaic and poetic language. Nature was a common theme. From the mid-'60s to '80s, the songs were influenced by Western pop songs. Songwriter Kannadasan was a big hit. In the '90s, rap and dance music featured in Tamil pop songs. Music director A R Rahman is noted for his catchy, upbeat tunes.   Miss Evangeline Tan, 20, Singapore Polytechnic: What were the sentimental songs of the 1960s? Mr Siah: Mostly Mandarin "cultural" songs with a slower tempo. One popular song, adapted from an English hit, was By the Light of the Silvery Moon. Songs by Shanghai singer Zhou Xuan were also popular, for example, The Roving Songtress and Where Do I Find My True Friend. Request programmes were popular too. Listeners wrote in to dedicate songs to their boyfriends or girlfriends. But, of course, people were more reserved at that time - no mushy love messages. Jonathan Kok, 20, Singapore Polytechnic: What songs did teens sing in groups? Mr Siah: Songs like In Springtime, a Mandarin pop song from China. Young people sang along to this tune when out on excursions or picnics. They were accompanied by an accordian - our version of karaoke in those days. -- The New Paper, Dec 16, 1998 Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.