Transcript of interview with Daphne Teo (conducted by Amanda Lee), 16 August 2016, 3 pm, Daphne’s residence.
Daphne is a 34-year old female Chinese Singaporean and is a creative consultant for a photography and videography company. She enjoys listening to jazz and English pop rock of mainly 80s bands like U2 and Queen. She likes rock music as that was the type of music she heard while growing up and it brings back memories of when she was younger. She does not listen to Western classical music but has recently started to as she finds it works well as white noise music. Daphne thinks that she does not listen to it initially because she did not grow up with it or learnt how to appreciate it. She enjoys watching musicals but has not been to any recently as she has been busy looking after her daughter. Daphne used to listen to Chinese pop music growing up and especially to music by artists like Tanya Chua and Stefanie Sun. Daphne used to accompany her mother to watch Teochew operas but did not really enjoy it. She thinks it might be due to the language barrier. Daphne thinks that traditional Chinese music expresses her identity as a Chinese person but not completely as she does not think she connects with it. However, she thinks she might be more receptive to it if they played more contemporary music on Chinese instruments. Daphne thinks that Singaporean music has been evolving, noting that National Day songs used to be for group sing-along but the songs now sound different. She thinks that Singaporean music is heavily influenced by music from other countries like Taiwan or the US.
“I’m not into a particular genre of music, but you know, I – I listen to anything from like, er, I would say like from rock music from the 80s, to a little bit of pop, and then there’s like a little bit of, um, like you know, chill out, and like white noise music.”
“Er, I don’t usually listen to [Western classical music]. But I kind of started because, er, it was – it was really good white noise music for my kid and me, if I need to sleep. So, er, occasionally I would tune in to like, er, er, classical, er, station on Spotify.”
“I mean, probably the only way, like you know, [Western classical music] – it’ll excite me is like, you know, like back like if you have like Vanessa Mae, you know those fusion classical. Ya, probably that was only time that it seemed really exciting.”
“[Musicals] are quite different from, um, watching a movie. Like it’s, er, pretty much, you know, the actors are right there – live performance. And then you – you get to see like, um, I mean the – the – the – the way they stage everything. It’s a completely different experience.”
“We should keep [Western classical music]– we should teach our – our kids. You know, and make sure like the next generation knows like what you have today, and what you had previously is somehow connected in a way.”
“So I think [Western classical music] – it’s – it’s definitely something that we should – we should keep – we should teach our – our kids. You know, and make sure like the next generation knows like what you have today, and what you had previously is somehow connected in a way.”
“I guess pop music in general is quite a fast-paced. You know, it’s really a fast-paced industry, you know. So I – I, somehow after awhile maybe I just lost – lost track of it somewhere. But I do remember listening to [Chinese pop music] back in secondary school.”
“My mom is actually a very big fan of the Teochew opera. So I’m – I’m not a big fan of it, but she used to try and bring me when I was young, so I would see, ya, when you see like the – the musicians on-site playing with that – that also kind of associate – is my association with, um, traditional Chinese music as well.”
“I mean, I found [Teochew opera] intriguing, you know, that, you know, now when you think back, “Wah this is actually like a really, um, like it is a pretty age-old tradition.” Like people still do it in a similar way, painted faces, the same instruments as they did back in the day and all. But somehow that’s where, um, that’s where [my interest in this music] ends.”
“[Traditional Chinese music] reminds me where – you know – my roots, and, um, ya, you know I’m Chinese and this is what – is part of my heritage and my culture. Um, but I don’t ... I – I don’t completely identify with it in a way, ya.”
“Like [Traditional Chinese music] wasn’t really part of my daily life. And it’s not as if I learned how to play any of the instruments, or learn to really appreciate like, um, the type of music or the type of sounds that you could make from, you know, these like traditional instruments.”
“I think Singaporean music has kind of, um, it’s kind of evolved. I think it’s – I think it always had – probably had an identity issue. Because we’re – I find that we’re very influenced by, um, overseas music.”
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