"abolish romance altogether"

An original song written from an aromantic/asexual POV, featuring a week of intercultural music exchange and performances by folk music masters based in Singapore.

“Nobody has the responsibility to date someone they do not desire. That is also a private solution to a public problem. The public solution is to abolish romance together.”

~ “An Aromantic Manifesto” by Yingchen & Yingtong, from Exhale: An Anthology of Queer Singapore Voices (read in full here)

I’ve been sitting on pieces of this song for years - scraps of melodies, fragments of lyrics - but I found myself unable to flesh it out fully. It was only when I considered writing from a different perspective from my own that I was able to finish it. This song is dedicated to my aro-ace friends and anyone else who’s tired of being told they “just haven’t met the right person yet”. 💚🤍🖤💜 It’s also a song from a musical I’m trying to write.¹

ICYMI: I’ve gone back to freelancing as a composer/arranger/musician/video editor after working a desk job in communications for a year. This month was reassured me that it was the right time to make this step. I’ve been keeping busy reconnecting with old friends, forging connections with new friends, and working on my creative projects. I’ve also just completed a course in rehabilitative massage and exercise therapy! The next things I want to tackle are the commission requests I’ve received from viewers of my YouTube channel. ²

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{ 3 drops of golden sound }

Last week, I got to attend (as well as perform at!) Roots & Routes - a weeklong forum of intercultural music. Singapore has a diverse cultural history brought in by all the global ethnicities whose ancestors immigrated to this little island and whose descendants now call home. This was reflected in the programme with playthrough sessions of Malay, Indian and Chinese folk songs, and introductory workshops of varied musical concepts such as Classical Indian music, Middle Eastern rhythms, and Chinese cipher notation. Here are 3 instrumentals composed and performed by some of the masters who shared their craft with us during the week.

“Wayang” by Nizarfauzi Norlie

The Straits Ensemble is a musical collective that champions Singapore cultural music exchanges, influenced by the ever-changing global music landscape and jazz sensibilities. Featuring a mixed instrumentation of violin, oud, pipa, rebana, tabla, bass and piano/keys, the group aims to explore what is the “Singaporean Sound” by tapping into the country’s rich cultural heritage. “Wayang” - a word in Bahasa that has many meanings including “film” in Malay, “shadow puppets” in Indonesian and even “being fake / putting on an act” colloquially - is composed by Nizar, a rebana/percussion specialist and a member of The Straits Ensemble, he conducted several workshops that explored Malay folk music and the rhythms that influence it.

“The Little Prince” by Raghavendran Rajasekaran

Many practitioners of traditional Indian art forms train intensively from a young age. Ragha is one of Singapore’s eminent bansuri players who melds Carnatic music with jazz to great effect, as evidenced in this piece inspired by the French children’s classic of the same name. This ensemble also features Riduan on percussion, who led a percussion workshop with Nizar.

“Pasat Merdu” by Felix Phang

“pɑ ˈ sɑt/ – A colloquial Hokkien (Chinese dialect) word that means marketplace, specifically the wet market in Singapore context. Borrowed from the Singapore Mandarin equivalent “ba sha 巴刹”, which in turn borrowed from the Malay term “pasar”.

/ˈmərdu/ – Bahasa Melayu (Malay) for melodious. Derived from Sanskrit. The wet market was where people of all ethnicities would congregate for daily necessities. Amidst a cacophony of languages and the bustle of life, the interaction of cultures allowed Singapore to develop our unique identity, one that is still evolving with the times.”

~ (Notes by the composer, Felix Phang)

The Straits Ensemble and Pasat Merdu are the brainchild of Felix, who was one of my composition lecturers in college.³ This piece was commissioned by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as part of last year’s National Day celebrations. I think it wonderfully captures and celebrates the multiculturalism of the country. Inspirations from gamelan and Chinese folk music weave together flawlessly in this moving and triumphant orchestral masterpiece performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra featuring The Straits Ensemble (including Felix on double bass).

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If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope to see you again at the end of the month! I will be on a plane from Seoul to Vancouver then, the first stop of my North American Adventure that I’m both excited and scared about. Any advice about travelling around Canada and the USA is welcome and appreciated.

Here’s “Love Pyramid in an Apocalyptic Wasteland”, a Lego sculpture I “curated” at an interactive exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum.

LoL,
rae

1. Context for where this song sits in the musical: I'm trying to write a musical about this main character who is constantly nagged by their family to settle down. At this point, they don’t really care anymore. This conversation has been going on for so long that it’s stopped meaning anything. However, one night while celebrating the engagement of a couple of friends, they start receiving the same questions from their peers. Now it matters because these are people who should understand and accept their choice. Our main character blows up at their friends and returns home. This is their "I Want" song.

2. P.S. I’m offering a free one-minute instrumental composition for your film/story/video/podcast/etc. Just send me the accompanying media you’d like me to score and tell me the vibe you’d like to achieve. As this is a free service, I will not be doing revisions, it will be a “take it or leave it” situation. I’m only opening this to 10 people because I’d like to get them all done by the end of the year, so let me know if you’re interested!

3. Here’s an intercultural composition of my own that was an assignment for Felix’s class: “Kelas Berkuasa” i.e. “Ruling Classes”.