Transcript of interview with Nathanael Nilesh (conducted by Amanda Lee), 10 February 2017, 7.30 pm, Skype.
Nathanael Nilesh is a 25-year old male Indian Tamil Singaporean who works at a logistics company. Nathanael likes English pop music by artistes and bands like Michael Jackson and Metallica. He enjoys the fact that their music was trailblazing and ahead of their time. Nathanael thinks that English pop rock music expresses a cultural connection of Singaporean musicians with listeners from all over the world. Nathanael listens to Western classical music and likes the works of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. He does not think that it is part of Singaporean culture. Nathanael thinks that it is part of Asian culture has he has heard of Japanese and Korean bands performing classical music at the Victoria Concert Hall. He thinks that it is global culture as well as the music is easily accessible on YouTube. Nathanael likes Indian pop music and prefers it over English pop as he thinks he can learn more from it. He thinks that a cultural connection is expressed through such music for Singaporean Indians and India when happy and celebratory festivals like Deepavali are celebrated. Nathanael likes classical Indian music and thinks that it expresses a cultural connection to a small extent as classical Indian music is a niche genre and it is not widely played or consumed by most Indian Singaporeans. Nathanael does not know much about Chinese pop rock music but he attends some of his friend’s jamming sessions once in a while. He does not know if it expresses a cultural connection. Nathanael does not really listen to traditional Chinese music but sometimes does whenever he is composing scores and needs to use the instruments. He particularly likes the erhu as it is unique and soothing. Nathanael does not think that traditional Chinese music expresses a cultural connection as his mainland Chinese colleagues do not talk about or seem interested in traditional Chinese music. Nathanael liked the electronic parts in the extract of Chinese crossover music. He thinks that it is cool to see crossovers but would need more time to understand the music. Nathanael thought that the extract of experimental Chinese music was good. He thinks that it expresses contemporary culture as interest in the genre is picking up. Nathanael thinks that Singaporean music is very mainstream. He does not think that Singlish comedy songs can represent Singapore as Singaporean musicians should showcase their music instead. He thinks that pop is a genre that can authentically represent Singapore. Nathanael is the bass guitarist of his band and he formed the band together with three other members. They play contemporary versions of blues, jazz, classical, and funk music. Nathanael’s band plays mainly cover songs, and the band has also played as a backup band for other artistes and singers. The band begins rehearsals by playing some music from a randomly selected genre, after which they begin doing their usual band practice. Nathanael’s band has not received or applied for sponsorship from the National Arts Council but are considering submitting their application soon. In addition to that, they have been working on securing sponsorships from other people and organizations. Nathanael thinks that the National Arts Council is doing enough to support bands currently. He thinks that it is tough to get support from the Singaporean public as they are not willing to pay for performances. In addition to that, it is difficult for the band to get support if the band members are relatively unknown to the public. Nathanael thinks that there is a unique Singaporean band culture in that some of the bands and artistes perform and jam because of their love for music and not for money.
“If you’re saying English pop – and the only person that I look up to or I like is the king of pop, which is Michael Jackson. Which is, er, world renowned and everyone loves him as well. Rock bands you have a lot. Er, I’m a big AC/DC fan.”
“But AC/DC, Metallica, Scorpions are – these old school bands, they were already ahead of their time when they were doing their music. Because, er, even up til now, like even up til this junction in the music in – like all over the world, globally renowned. Er, things that they were doing thirty years back, people have trouble mimicking it right now.”
“If someone were to play something Italian-ish, the Italian dude will go crazy. If someone were to play something Singaporean-ish, nobody goes crazy. Er, ya, so these – these guys they, er, we – the musicians here, they have the capability to connect with the people from different regions due to the – the English pop rock thing, the genres.”
“Because Bach was the first one that I had to learn, the Canon in D (1706) by J.S. Bach. Um, but I’m not really a keen follower in classical music due to the fact that I did not study music, er, classically. So I wasn’t too into the piano scene.”
“So like [Western classical music in Asia], check, ya. Global scene, definitely. Because you just click Western classical on YouTube, and all the videos which come out – like all those covers and stuff – there’s – it’s from a lot – it’s not just – it’s not just from US and Japan and stuff. It’s – it’s basically every European country do – does, er, Western classical music.”
“I enjoy Indian pop music. Er, well, it’s – it’s kind of different from the other languages. The other – because every language has its different kind of styles, and genres, and stuff.”
“Like someone points a certain knife at my throat and said “[Choose] either English or Tamil [music],” I would choose Tamil. Er, because there is actually a world of things that you can learn from Tamil that the English doesn’t teach you.”
“In just one session of learning a classical Indian piece – that amount of knowledge or that amount of patience and understanding that it takes – that is equivalent to learning twenty English songs. So the – the – I – I do enjoy my Indian pop music [be]cause there’s a lot of things to learn from it.”
“[Indians] celebrate their festivals, okay here we [Singaporean Indians] do celebrate the festivals as well. They have like some important thing in the temple, we also have it as well. And, er, er, ya, that, er, that’s the – that’s the ... that’s – that’s kind of like the only connection I can make. It’s only during the happy times, the festivals and stuff that you can see the connection happening.”
“When you say Tamil [music], you say Indian. It links up that way. Um, so Indian classical music as a whole, er, pretty amazing. A lot of it, er, usually the drums are made of skins, like from animals and stuff. Er, the – a lot of melody and, er, strings and flutes and stuff happening in the scene. Ya.”
“Because Indian classical is a bit too complex for you to just get one of the instruments and play it on your own. You probably would not get it because like techniques and a lot of training to perfect just one instrument. Er, and this was like for the – for people who were interested in learning Indian classical music. So in Singapore we’re looking at very, very few.”
“I don’t really have a – a wide, er, er, angle on Chinese pop rock, but I do have a few friends who are in the scene, er, who do Chinese pop rock. Er, I – I do go for their jams once in a while. I mean, I – I totally don’t understand the words and stuff but the music, it’s – it’s nice.”
“Sometimes I do [listen to traditional Chinese music] when I’m composing scores where I need to use, er, instruments like the erhu and stuff. Because the erhu is an amazing instrument to use, er, for slow and soothing compositions. Er, er, and because I was in concert band – like all throughout my primary and secondary school – so right next to us was the Chinese orchestra.”
“The erhu which – which kind of brought me because of the – the tone that it gets. You can’t get that kind of tone from any other flute. So that – that was pretty cool – that’s a cool instrument.”
“I don’t really think the mainland Chinese people are really into classical music. I have colleagues who are from China – workers who are from China, and none of them – no matter what province they are from, none of them has ever talked to me about music before. So I don’t really think that music is such a important thing in mainland China. For – for it to have a cultural connection.”
“I think I would need a lot more time to understand this kind of [Chinese crossover] music. Because I’m – I’m totally not into the – the, um, Chinese classical scene, but it’s – it’s cool. It’s – it’s nice to see they’re using ... these kind of sounds – I mean, er, the classical instruments for, er, crossover, ya, so that’s why they call it crossover.”
“I’m not able to understand [experimental Chinese music] because there’s a lot of things running here and there. Er, but it’s very interesting because it’s – it’s more or less everyone is playing something different. No one is playing something the same so it’s quite cool.”
“Like thirty years from now, nobody would have come up with [experimental Chinese music]. But it’s – in recent times like, um, I only knew about this kind of [experimental] – experimental music – not just Chinese, but other stuff. But I only came to know about this like around four years ago. Um, and from then to now, that scene has been increasing a lot.”
“Singaporean music right, I think it’s pretty – it’s just mainstream as hell. Er, like, er, well because ... er, okay, like – like you have all your famous bands here and there, and stuff like that. And ... I wouldn’t – I’m not going to place my money on saying that they’re great because they’re not.”
“These musicians that we have in Singapore ... can be considered as one of the best also. Because there are people who – who are just phenomenal in Singapore. Er, there are – we even have Grammy award winners, er, hiding in secret among us also, doing like day to day jobs.”
“There’s a novelty going on [in Singlish comedy songs] which other people might accept, or other people might enjoy, and stuff like that. But for Singaporeans you know, it’s like, “Okay ...,” that – that – that’s fine. That’s fine. But the representing on the global stage – nah, nah. I think we are more talented [than that] just to give off something Singlish.”
“So a little bit about myself, I – I do keys and I – I do guitars and stuff like that. Um, er, so in my role in the band is the bass guitarist. Er, that being said, I also have my keys with me at all times. Er, that’s to have a synth bass. So a synth bass is a electronic ... bass that you get from your keyboards and stuff. So that’s my secondary instrument, the keys and the bass.”
“[Being in a band has] been all fun and games, and a lot of brotherhood going on. Because we do make it a point to have our practice every Tuesday, whether we have a show or whether we don’t have a show. It’s just to build up the chemistry between us. And, er, from that time in [2015] – 2015 December right up to, er, February of 2017, there’s a lot of change of differences between – not just musically but individually.”
“We have done quite a few shows last year. Er, er, we took part in a competition in 2015, as well as last year as well. Um, and right now we are pretty much focused in doing our own band recordings to create a reper[toire] for ourselves, as well as get more gigs and stuff like that. Ya.”
“You not only have your usual friends out there that you can count on, but you also have your band to count on, and to provide you with the – the musical support and knowledge and understanding. So – ya, that’s cool.”
“We are all musicians. We, er, none of sing because we can’t really sing. So our singers are all outsourced, like people who have jammed with us before and who like to work with us. we are basically an instrumental band. Usually when someone wants to render our services then – you know – then we become a backup band. But other than that, we are instrumental so, er, we – we kind of focus on a lot of genres.”
“It took quite a while for everyone to blend in with each other because it’s basically four different genres coming together to try to do some kind of music. And it’s because of that that, er, we – you could just call us a contemporary instrumental band, because we don’t follow the real blues, we follow a contemp[orary] version of the blues, as well as like a contemp version of the jazz, as well as a contemp version of a classical – in whatever that we play.”
“There was an artiste from India who came to like do his shows and stuff. So we were part of the act and stuff. Er, that show was really good. That was the one where we – the four of us, who have no classical background whatsoever in Indian music, we – it was a challenge to learn classical music just for this gig. And we kind of did it pretty well.”
“But for musician, when you’re doing a live show, your monitor is your life. If the monitor is powerful, you get lots of volume from the monitor, you know what you’re playing, you get confident immediately already. That’s one less thing to worry about. All I need to worry about is my chemistry with my guys and like, er, looking at the music scores and stuff like that.”
“So what happens during rehearsal is we just – or practices is we just take a random genre and then we just keep jamming until like we – we come to a point where like, “Okay, everyone’s chemistry is starting to click,” okay then we start with our like practices and stuff like that. So something which works is that we do spend the time to practice even where’s nothing on. So that’s like one mark of a true band.”
“And at the same time, not just that [National Arts Council] sponsorship, we have been working on sponsorships of our own also. Er, from people that have supported us all the way. So those are sponsorships that we use for the band as well.”
“If you are already famous or you have someone famous in your band, then everyone supports that band. But if you are coming from nothing, then you only have your talent and your musicality to shine for you. Er, and Singaporeans – they – I – I don’t really think that there’s an active band interest kind of thing from the fans.”
“The norm of bands in Singapore are just those who perform in pubs and bars and everything because they are playing the mainstream music. But the uniqueness comes when people just made to do music, not to gain money from it, but to get happiness from it. And – ya, that’s the unique thing that’s going on in Singapore actually. Because there are people who just jam for the love for the music, not for money.”
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