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Xinyao (Chinese: 新謠; pinyin: Xīnyáo) is a genre of songs that is unique to Singapore.[1] It is a contemporary Mandarin vocal genre that emerged and rose to fame in Singapore between the late 1970s to 1980s.[2] Xinyao songs are composed and sung by Singaporeans and it is an outlet for them to express their thoughts and feelings around themes like friendships or love stories. Xinyao is a Chinese noun comprising two words: Xīn (新) which is an abbreviation for Singapore, and yáo (謠) for song. The extended form is Xīnjiāpō gēyáo (新加坡歌謠), which simply means "Singapore songs".
Xinyao can be clearly identified by its distinctive style of Mandarin genre, that is conveyed through poetic lyrics with clean acoustic accompaniments.[3] Often, a group of people sing and harmonize together,[4] accompanied solely by the guitar. As the movement grew and became semi-commercialized in the early 1990s, more sophisticated accompaniments like drums and castanets were adopted.
Early pioneers of this style of music include Wong Hong Mok, Liang Wern Fook, Dawn Gan, Eric Moo and Billy Koh, who discovered and groomed many successful Singapore artistes in the Asia Chinese-Pop music scene (including Kit Chan, A-Do and JJ Lin).
- ^ "Xinyao | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg.
- ^ Miller, Terry E and Sean Williams. In The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music. New York: Routledge, 2008.
- ^ Koh, Jamie. Xinyao: Made in Singapore.” National Library Board Singapore, January 22, 2014. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_2015-02-17_175438.html
- ^ The changing face of xinyao over the years. (1994, September 2). The Straits Times, p. 28. Retrieved from NewspaperSG
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