Transcript of interview with Rina Ho (conducted by Amanda Lee), 25 August 2016, 2.30pm, National Library.
Rina is a 56-year old female Chinese Singaporean who works in the book distribution industry. She does not listen to English pop music at the moment. She finds that she does not have the habit of listening during her commute and this is also because she is always rushing for time. She listens to English pop music through her colleagues and daughter, and sometimes finds out about new songs. Her favorite artists are ABBA and The Carpenters. Rina does not listen to Western classical music but hears it while shopping sometimes. She thinks Western classical music is fantastic, and thinks that one needs to have the time and money in order to appreciate it. Rina enjoys musicals and has seen The Lion King as well as The Phantom of the Opera in London and Singapore. Rina used to listen to Chinese pop songs by Teresa Teng. At the moment, she listens to music by artistes such as Mayday, S.H.E, and Huang Xiaohu. When Rina was younger, she used to watch her grandfather play the erhu, and she still enjoys listening to it now. She also enjoys watching Chinese opera or daxi [Chinese opera] whenever she is in Hong Kong or Guangzhou. She thinks that traditional Chinese music expresses her identity as a Chinese person, as the music features Chinese singers singing Chinese songs. Rina thinks the experimental Chinese music sample was acceptable, but she thinks she will need to listen to more of it to appreciate it. She is also not very interested in it yet. Rina does not think that the music expresses her identity as a Chinese person as she thought there might have been other instruments used that were not of Chinese origin. Rina knows several Singaporean artists like Dick Lee, JJ Lin, Stefanie Sun and Kit Chan, but thinks that only Dick Lee’s music represents Singapore. This is because the rest of the artistes ventured overseas for their career while Dick Lee did not. Besides that, she also thinks that Stefanie Sun and JJ Lin’s songs are written by someone else overseas, and does not sound very Singaporean. She also thinks that the National Day song Home (1998) can be seen and appreciated like any other song.
“Um, like what you say like Bee Gees, Elton John – that – that era, lah. The Chinese will be the – the what’s that – the Deng Lijun, my era. ABBA. Carpenters, ABBA all these I know how to sing. But now, you know, doesn’t sort of register.”
“I under, er, what you call – the – the rhythm. And it’s not so noisy. You know, you can sort of – anybody can just pick up this. [English pop music is] easy. The lyrics is very simple, ah. Very simple. And I think the songs are shorter in terms like, not so long? Ya.”
“I mean, even – not for me but for the future kids, I think yes. Because we – our life is so hectic already – and – and classical music, er, I should say we are not so art – not yet there. But I think, ya, for the next – future generation, it’s very important to make them appreciate all this [Western] classical music, mm. I think.”
“Because I watched [The Phantom of the Opera] (1986) when I was so much younger, when I was in London. It was like practically fall in love with it, so when they come to Singapore, I was like I must watch it after so many years. And then I actually drag my daughter there, and she was so impressed with it.”
“We should do what we like, don’t care what people think, you know. This [Chinese pop] song is about this, you see, ya. Maybe just relax, have a – have a glass of wine and relax, you know, and just do what you think you do. So reflects sometimes to our mood and our thinking, that’s why the song – I like the song.”
“Because I’m English-educated, for me Chinese is a pass, a pass. So, er, I’m also not given an opportunity to speak well, so I think sometimes through songs we can learn, ya, certain words. And Chinese is becoming more important now.”
“But I was being exposed to the erhu when I was very young, because my grandfather played the erhu. And every night he will la [play] the erhu. So when I see the erhu, people playing I will definitely stop and – and listen to the erhu.”
“Again like the influence and brought up, and ya, when we were young, we were being introduced this. And if I go Hong Kong or in Guangzhou – is – is, er, they still do this, you know. They still have this, er, daxi singing in restaurants.”
“[This is not] really traditional Chinese classics music. Ya, [experimental Chinese music] is definitely something – new genre. Mm, I think for me I – I need to really listen to appreciate, but the first – first – first take, ah, is still a question mark. What – what is this?”
“But [it is] more [the case that experimental Chinese music] appears to represent, um, Singapore. If – if this like the – according to the [experimental Chinese] genre, it is like a mixture, I think. Although maybe it’s all Chinese instrument because I – I didn’t really see the video, whether they use the Chinese instrument. But from the sound that I hear, I think it’s not a 100 percent Chinese instrument? It’s a mixture.”
“Mm, [experimental Chinese music] is definitely something new for me, first time I hear. So ... mm, to me is maybe the musician trying to – to develop another kind of, er, Chinese music. More suitable for the younger generation? Ya. For my generation maybe it’ll take me awhile to accept it.”
“Like Home [1998], I think – beside National day, you can play at other occasion, you know. You can think when this song – okay, maybe say I’m away – okay. Er, when I hear this song, I say “Wah, I want to come back to Singapore.””
“Because right now all these JJ [Lin] and Stefanie, then ... it – whatever they sing don’t really have a song that represent here. It’s just that they – somebody write the song over there – the lyrics, or they put in themselves – they compose. It’s a very – those – not so Singaporean songs.”
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