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PopLore #3: Threads that tie Singapore Malay pop

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PopLore #1: Origin stories

Published: 22 Feb 2022
Updated: 27 Nov 2025
Time taken: >15mins

PopLore: Stories of Singapore Pop

PopLore #3: Threads that tie Singapore Malay pop

Nurturing a unique sound through community

Music
22 Feb 2022
27 Nov 2025
>15mins

Download the transcript here

PopLore #3 - Transcript

PDF • 131.31 KB

PopLore #3: Threads that tie Singapore Malay pop

This may sound like a very self-evident point to make, but perhaps it’s important enough to risk stating the obvious—for music-makers to thrive, they need ecosystems that can nurture and showcase their music. In this episode, narrated by Esplanade producer Hanie Nadia Hamzah, we explore some of these ecosystems.

During the golden age of Singapore Malay movies in the 1950s and 1960s, the infrastructure that sustained these homegrown films became an important ecosystem for Malay music as well. Find out how the movies helped the sunny sound of the pop yeh yeh movement find its groove.

The vibrant club scene of 1970s Singapore was another critical ecosystem that helped to kickstart the careers of singer Rahimah Rahim, and the band Black Dog Bone. Hear Rahimah and Black Dog Bone’s Jatt Ali recount how they were able to hone their craft by performing in Orchard’s buzziest hotspots with top-notch artistes.

Supportive networks of mentors, family, and peers are essential ecosystems too. In the 1980s, singer-songwriter Art Fazil got his big break thanks to rock icon Ramli Sarip. In the 1990s, Rudi Salim found his way into music through dikir barat, a form of Malay choral singing that got a new lease of life here thanks to an ecosystem fostered by people like Zaharian Osman.

Dikir barat is just one example of how a rich musical heritage—another ecosystem—has informed Singapore’s Malay pop. Art, Zaharian, and Rudi (whose father is pop yeh yeh musician Salim I) share more about the themes and sounds of tradition and its interactions with contemporary Malay music.

Some of these ecosystems were disrupted by Singapore’s 1965 split from Malaysia, and some by an exodus of homegrown talent to Kuala Lumpur in the 1980s. But the inventive music they nurtured continue to inspire the creation of new sounds, and new creative ecologies.

PopLore: Stories of Singapore Pop, produced by Hong Xinyi and Dorothy Ding, is commissioned by Esplanade as part of PopLore: A Year of Singapore Popular Music in celebration of its 20th anniversary in 2022. 

Catch Art Fazil live in concert on 27 May 2022, performing his landmark album Nur in its entirety.

Watch Malay music icons Jatt Ali, Hady Mirza and Sufi Rashid perform live in Fenomena on 27 May 2022.

Don't miss An Evening of Dikir - Teraju Tiga on 28 May 2022.

PopLore #3: Threads that tie Singapore Malay pop

Learn more about the golden age of Singapore’s Malay film industry here.

Find out more about the musicians and songs of the pop yeh yeh movement here.

Read more about Art Fazil’s thoughts on the Malay music scene and his 2015 exhibition, Ole Ole Temasek: 50 Years Of Singapore Malay Pop Music, here and here.

Song credits

Suzana
Artist: M. Osman
Composer: Kamalshaa bin Kamaroodin
Sound Recording: Life Records
Usage of the song is courtesy of Life Records

Gadis dan Bunga
Artist: Rahimah Rahim
Composer: Johari Salleh
Sound Recording: Life Records
Usage of the song is courtesy of Life Records

Dhikir Fikir Fikir
Artist: Rausyanfikir
Music and Lyrics: Art Fazil
Publisher: Nusantara World Music
Usage of the song is courtesy of Art Fazil

Pujaan Hatiku 
Artist: Salim I
Composer: Salim I (GoodSound Music Publishing SDN BHD)
Performed by Rudi Salim on 4 Aug 2016 at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s Songs of the Stars, part of Pesta Raya – Malay Festival of Arts.

 

About the narrator and artists

Listen to the music mentioned in this episode.

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PopLore #3: Threads that tie Singapore Malay pop | Offstage | Artist interviews,Pop / Rock music,Singapore musicians,Southeast Asia,Singapore composers | PopLore | PopLore: Stories of Singapore Pop
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