Transcript of interview with Pius Lee (conducted by Amanda Lee), 12 August 2016, 2.30 pm, Safra (Toa Payoh).
Pius is a 64-year old male Chinese Singaporean who is the owner of a consultancy firm. He enjoys jazz fusion, classical music, sacred music, and rock music. He finds classical music to be soothing and he alternates between listening to classical and jazz fusion, depending on his mood. He finds that it helps him to unwind and relax after a hard day. He does not enjoy English pop songs as he finds them too commercialized and sees them as a fad. He feels the same about Chinese pop songs, but is fond of Canto-pop and Hokkien songs. While he believes traditional Chinese music should be preserved, he notes that it will probably die out with his parents’ generation, and he would be sad to see it go. He has not cultivated an interest or appreciation for it, and neither has his children. Although he believes that Chinese people are more Chinese by the food they eat than the music they listen to, he also believes that Chinese music can somehow draw out and trigger that Chinese identity within them. He finds the contemporary intercultural experimental Chinese music to be interesting and very different from other music, and likes it. Regarding Singaporean music, he thinks that we do not have such a genre yet, and believes that someone should be brave enough to create a unique Singaporean “sound.”
“[English pop music] is too much of a fad, lah. It doesn’t stay long on the scene, you know. It’s like – it’s popular today, and then it’s – it’s gone. It’s like, for example, Spice Girls, or what do you call them, er, I don’t know. They were very popular at one time, but they’re just not around anymore.”
“I think it made a greater impression of me – how they – how they, er, put up the entire show, you know. Because I think the production [of a musical] for me is [important].”
“I tune into this classical [music] just to neutralize the – the rock music that goes in it, you know. And, er, but I don’t like any particular artist, or any particular composers. I just listen to it because, er, it has a calming effect on me.”
“Hokkien songs, Cantonese songs. Oh some of the Canto-pop songs are good. Er, not that I understand the [words], but some of them they deliver it, lah. And it’s quite funny, it’s quite fun. Er, Hokkien songs, I miss that.”
“I think [traditional Chinese music] will die with the generation, because no – because they never taught us how to appreciate it. To them it was just a personal interest, you know, whether it, um, whether it gave them a sense of identity Chinese or not, was never really translated to us, so we don’t know.”
“I am more a Chinese by the food that I eat, rather than the [traditional Chinese] music that I listen to.”
“But this [intercultural experimental music’s] different. It’s quite, still very expressive, but it’s also very – very nice musical instrument sound. Very – I kind of like it.”
“But if [intercultural experimental music’s] not over the mainstream media ah, it’s very difficult. Ya. That means you gotta have – that means you gotta know about it first. Right? And then you gotta be curious enough to want to search for it, and then listen to it.”
“I think the people in the music industry should really ... er, I mean if they want to get anywhere with – with made in Singaporean music, you know, should really stop, um, mimicking standards from the West. And really look at Singapore for what it is. And from there, see where we can go with it.”
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