The variety show S-pop Hurray on Channel U has revived my taste for Xinyao a.k.a Singapore (Chinese) songs. Liang Wenfu's lyrics have peppered many of such songs, giving them a poetic meaning. He uses metaphors to describe the impact of human relationships on our lives. He is a gifted lyricist indeed!
Some of these songs have been used as theme and interlude songs for our local drama serials, both past and current. I like those sung by Pan Ying, Dawn Gan and Joi Chua.
Another lyricist-cum-songwriter is Ng Kingkang. He came out with a Chinese album entitled 'My Friends, My Classmates, Everything I Love Most. I still remember the melody of the song in my head. He also wrote a book on university life, which puts a humorous dose on it and makes it less frightening for those who want to enter university.
His lyrics are really simplistic in meaning but so poignant and close to my heart. I listened to these songs when I was preparing to enter university. As a 18-year-old, friendships are the most important thing to me and that album brought out that sentiment even more.
The amazing thing about Xinyao is that the poetic lyrics and the melodious tunes are adequate to make the listening experience fulfilling. The singers do not have to use gimmicks like raunchy acts and nifty dance steps to add to their performances. The singers are also those who have good voices and the capability to bring out the emotions in the songs in their performances. It is so wonderful to see the singers dressing simply but singing such songs in updated versions. A parallel artiste who dresses simply but has a great singing voice and writes great songs, is Debbie Gibson.
Xinyao was featured in the newspapers not too long ago and from the article that spanned two full pages, I discovered that there are 2 album collections made up of 4 CDs each on Xinyao being sold in CD shops. I have bought one of them: Na Yi Duan Ri Zi(the black one) and it costs $69.90 if bought at Junction 8's Sembawang CD shop and $65.90 if bought at Vivocity's branch. The songs in there are so nostalgic, especially discs 2 and 3. The second album collection is a white one but its songs are more contemporary in comparison. There are also two other album collections on Liang Wenfu's compositions sold in the shops. The collection with more CDs and with a gold cover costs $59.60 at Bishan's branch while the other collection with less CDs can be found at Vivocity's branch.
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