From The Quests to The Oddfellows, classic Singaporean songs get reintroduced to a new generation

SINGAPORE: What would songs from The Quests or Humpback Oak sound like in the hands of today’s generation of Singaporean musicians?

A new initiative called Pop-Up Noise: The Great Singapore Replay aims to reintroduce classic Singapore hits to new audiences through cover versions by young artists in the local scene.

As part of the project by the National Arts Council (NAC) and Temasek, a shortlist of 25 songs from the 1960s to the 2000s will be presented to the public, who can then vote for their favourite tunes. The most popular ones will be reinterpreted by 10 pairs of emerging and established musicians.

Among the songs on the shortlist are The Quests’ Shanty and Tea Break, The Oddfellows’ Unity Song, Dick Lee’s The Mad Chinaman, Force Vomit’s Siti, Serenaide’s Girl From Katong, among others.

Meanwhile, participating artists include .gif, Charlie Lim, Sara Wee, Vandetta, and Inch Chua.

“We wanted to draw attention to the fact that we have so much wonderful Singapore music through the years and we want to bring the community together in an inter-generational way,” said Kenneth Kwok, assistant chief executive officer of NAC.

“We’re in a very exciting time for contemporary Singapore music but we also want to raise awareness of these classic songs. There’s a different generation who may not be familiar with The Quests or Oddfellows or Humpback Oak. At the same time, it may be hard for someone from our parents’ generation to go to a show by, say, Charlie Lim, but if he’s covering a song they’re familiar with, that could also be an access point.”

Starting June 1, the public can listen and vote for any of the shortlisted songs on the initiative’s website or at “jukebox” voting booths, which will be travelling to different areas such as Raffles City, Asia Square, Plaza Singapura, JCube, and Tampines Mall.

The final 10 songs will then be handed over to the collaborating musicians. The public can keep track of the whole creation process via video episodes on the website.

The songs will also be uploaded online at a later date and the initiative culminates in a live concert at Clarke Quay Central on Sept 9.

There will also be an open call section, where the general public is invited to submit their own cover versions of any Singapore songs, which will also be featured online.

For participating artist Inch Chua, it’s a wonderful way to bridge the past and present.

“I was immediately excited because I’m a huge fan of Singapore music history. We were going through our first musical renaissance in the ’60s and ’70s and the culture back then was so exciting. Sometimes I fantasise about being part of that age,” said the singer-songwriter, who will be collaborating with up-and-coming musician Debbi Koh.

It won’t be the first time Chua takes on songs from the past. Even as she works on her own music — the video for her new single Simple Kind Of Life will be released on Fri (June 2) — she regularly covers local classics. She also recently worked on a documentary about two local musicians.

And while Chua has yet to find out what song she’ll be doing for The Great Singapore Replay project, one band she’d like to take on is Humpback Oak.

The seminal indie folk rock band from the ’90s has two songs on the shortlist: Circling Square and Lost Boy Or Girl.

“Growing up, it was fascinating to hear my aunts’ recollections about them — and I’m also a huge fan of (frontman) Leslie Low,” she said.

Chua added that she hopes that the cover version of whatever song they do can inspire people to go and listen to the original.

“That pioneering spirit that comes from them needs to be translated in our version.”