New Tamil song for Singapore's 50th birthday

New Tamil song for Singapore's 50th birthday

A drum set, a lion dance drum, tabla and kompang play to the same beat in a new Tamil song written for Singapore's 50th birthday.

Launched yesterday, Heartbeat Of The Nation celebrates the nation's heritage and today's successes with lyrics such as "Fifty years of rootedness to this land and now we taste the fruits of our labour".

Project leader Logapreyan Renganathan, 42, said he came up with the idea because he wanted to create something new and fresh to celebrate SG50. "Song and dance are part of our Indian culture, so why not leverage on something we're proud of," he said.

It took his five-man team six months to write the song and produce the music video, which brings together 19 young performers. The project received a $50,000 grant from the SG50 Celebration Fund.

Although they are not looking to replace familiar tune Munnaeru Vaalibaa, Mr Logapreyan, who is a civil servant, said the team hopes to get the song sung on National Day.

But first, they will share it on social media and they intend to hold live performances of it throughout the year.

Said Mr Logapreyan: "Many National Day songs are written by stars and for stars. I wanted to have a song written for the people by the people."


This article was first published on Nov 30, 2014.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.