Transcript of interview with Bryan Gan (conducted by Amanda Lee), 5 October 2016, 4 pm, Singapore Management University.
Bryan is a 24-year old male Chinese Singaporean and is a political science student at Singapore Management University. Bryan enjoys listening to heavy metal, extreme metal, Western classical music, jazz, progressive rock and guitar virtuoso artists. He likes metal as he grew up listening to it. Bryan also plays in a metal band. Bryan does not listen to much contemporary English pop music, and prefers artists like M2M and Backstreet Boys. He perceives English pop music to be something like fast food, where one gets a nice melody and hooks but that is all there is to the music. He does not think English pop music expresses his identity because it boils down to an individual’s musical preference. Bryan listens to a lot of Western classical music and enjoys the works of composers like Liszt, Paganini, Bach and Gustav Holst. He likes it as he finds the music to be layered and well-composed. He thinks that Western classical music can be considered as global culture as it has widespread influence all over the world. Bryan does not listen to much contemporary Chinese pop music, or identify with it as he finds it to be manufactured like English pop music. Bryan prefers Hong Kong pop music from the 80s, and enjoys listening to artists like Andy Lau, Beyond, and Jackie Cheung. He finds the music soulful and virtuosic. He does not think that Chinese or Cantonese pop music expresses a cultural connection between Singapore and other Chinese countries, as Western culture is the dominant and popular one, while Chinese culture is a niche and not as popular. Bryan does not listen to traditional Chinese music but thinks that it is undervalued and underrated. He does not think that one should try to preserve the genre because it is hard to preserve it meaningfully and genuinely. Bryan liked the arrangement and types of instruments used in the Chinese crossover music extract as he felt that it wasn’t forced or shoehorned. However, he felt that it would have been a better choice for the artists to play a self-composed song rather than an Adele medley. Bryan also enjoyed the experimental music sample and thought it was good. He thought that it reminded him of Western compositions played using Chinese instruments. He does not think it expresses contemporary culture as it sounds modern and does not seem to reflect Chinese culture. Bryan listens to Singaporean music mainly from the metal genre. He does not think that there is a Singaporean musical style and thinks everything is borrowed. He also thinks that the Singlish comedy songs might not be well-received or appreciated by a global audience as it is very specific to Singapore. Bryan thinks that Singaporean music is most important to him as he is involved in the local music scene and writes songs that he can identify with.
“I guess [my musical taste] is fairly eclectic – there’s a big band, a lot of classical, a lot of, er, heavy metal, extreme metal. A lot of Jap[anese] – Japanese pop. And, er, a fair bit of jazz but more on the – more on the – more on the fusion side. Ya. And a bit of, er, er, a fair bit of like progress – progressive rock, but mostly those that are like more focused on guitars and stuff.”
“A lot of my, er, a lot of my English pop rock stuff tends, er, tends to be a little bit older, like during early 90s, that kind of thing. So a lot of boybands.”
“I would say it’s a, um, [English pop music] does play a part but it’s one of a smaller facets of the factors that end up playing into [the connection between Singapore and other English-speaking cultures]. Which is things like, er, more of – more of things like movies and talk shows, and things like that. But of course music forms can sort of act like a backdrop for the whole thing, lah.”
“In the past I did also transcribe of like things like the Turkish March and all that, just to practice my guitar, lah. Um, er Handel’s Messiah (1741), I love Handel’s Messiah. Um, and I listen to a bit of like 21st century stuff also like, er, Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring (1913) and, er, Shostokovich. That one I listen to a lot also.”
“Er, I like listening to [Western classical music] because again it’s like got – it’s very, very – it’s very layered and well composed, so you can listen to like the same suite a lot of times and just follow different things.”
“Not contemporary [Chinese pop music], but I listen to a lot of like my parents’ generation. Ya. So like a lot of Andy Lau, a lot of Jackie Cheung, Beyond lah of course. I love Beyond.”
“Er, I would say [Chinese pop music is] just – it’s very alienating to me, in the sense that I don’t identify with it at all. And – and like a lot of English pop, it also feels very manufactured. Although to a lesser degree, lah.”
“That’s hard question to answer actually. Which actually – which sort of tells you something about it, right. That – ya, er, associate with, er, be – besides, er, I guess it’s a – I would consider [traditional Chinese music to be] very undervalued, underrated by myself included. Ya.”
“If I were to be very disturbed that [traditional Chinese music is] dying out then I – then the onus is on me to do something about it, lah. If – but the thing is if I don’t like it at all, but if I don’t like the idea of it dying out, to me that’s a bit of like cognitive dissonance.”
“I actually quite like the instruments used, and the way that they – the way that they incorporate – doesn’t feel shoehorn. I just wish that it wasn’t an Adele medley. Ya, because that sort of killed the whole cross-cultural thing for me already.”
“But as for the way that everything was arranged, I thought it was quite nice lah, as in [Chinese crossover music] doesn’t feel shoe-horned. A lot of times when you try to mix weird instruments together, er, unusual instruments together – if the arrangement is not well done, then it can feel very shoehorned or forced fed that kind of thing. But in this case not really lah. Ya.”
“I thought that [experimental Chinese music] was very good. It actually basically reminds me of using Chinese instruments but with a very like Western, 20th century sort of, er, composing? Ya. Like you now where there is a lot of creeping dissonance, and that kind of thing.”
“Although this is quite a modern thing – I assume lah – but, um, [experimental Chinese music] doesn’t seem to reflect any sort – anything of contemporary Chinese culture. The – the use of these instruments in this manner, lah.”
“In terms of – if you examine [the music and songs’] aesthetics right, I would – I don’t think that there’s a single one that you can point to which you can say is uniquely Singaporean, lah. It’s mostly just like everything else, just borrowed from here and there, lor.”
“[Singaporean music is] very hit and miss, lah. In terms of the quality, and in terms of whether they make it big or not. A lot of very good acts just fade into obscurity because no money, culturally we’re not – we are not – we are not super into that. That kind of thing, lah.”
“[Singlish comedy songs] sort of encapsulates local pop culture in a way lah, or local quirks and norms but just in terms of ... just in terms of, er, if you just look at aesthetic quality – number one – that’s a bit lacking. Second right, it’s a bit lacking in terms of – it’s very hard for non-Singaporeans to identify with it in any way.”
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