Pioneer musician: Chew Seok Kwee

Born in Singapore, Chew Seok Kwee (1954–2013) went to Nanyang Primary School and St Nicholas Girls School, and studied the piano under Ng Chiau Kong (1932–2022).¹ At 13, Chew attended the dance and drama courses offered by the Singapore Performing Arts School (now The Theatre Practice), and later became an accordion instructor at the school. Besides western instruments such as the piano and accordion, she also took lessons on Chinese instruments such as the erhu, sanxian, and guzheng.²

In 1978, Chew, whose father Chew Choo Keng (1916–2001) founded Khong Guan Biscuit Factory, furthered her studies first at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and later the Manhattan School of Music in the United States. She spent a total of six years in the United States and Europe, and graduated with a doctorate degree in piano performance. On her return to Singapore, she took up the position of music director at the Singapore electronics company Creative Technology until her retirement in 2012.

Nanyang elements

Chew’s musical works boast a distinctive flavour, comprising both Chinese and Malay music elements organically blended into an integrated whole. These regional characteristics in such original artistic expression could have been created only by someone native to the land. This could well be what has come to be known popularly as the “Nanyang flavour”. Chew’s style could have been influenced by her experience at the Singapore Performing Arts School, where musicians and choreographers created works based on resources they collected on their frequent trips to Malaysia. They gained authentic experience by living and working among fishermen and farmers there as a way to enrich their creative works.

During her stint as music director at Creative Technology, Chew continued to inject her multicultural sensitivity into the development of Chinese SoundFont, which could be incorporated in its Sound Blaster, enabling composers to create Chinese music or include Chinese musical elements when creating music on the computer.³

Chew’s creative heyday was in the early 1970s, when she was barely 20. Her output was prolific and her works were widely sung and performed, making her a notable figure in local music writing in the 1970s. During this period, songs that she wrote individually or in a group led by her included Hongmianhua kai (Kapok Flowers in Bloom); Lachang sangzi jiaomai mian (Shouting Loudly to Sell Noodles); Wanzhang haoqing xiangqianjin (Forward with Hearts Full of Passion); Yucun zuge (Fishing Village Suite), with Yufu qu [Fishermen’s Song]; Yisuo yiluo ji xintou [Remember Every Effort]; Ding jiao shenghuo biange yang [Our Life Must Change]; Fengyu li wenba duo [Steering Firm in the Storm]; Shuguangli [In the Morning Light]; Linming zuge (Sungai Lembing Suite), including Linming — Women de jiaxiang [Sungai Lembing – Our Home], Linming de heshui xi you chang [The River of Sungai Lembing is Long and Narrow], Huainian jiaxiang [Thinking of Home], and Linming hepan gesheng yang [Singing by Sungai Lembing]; and Huangliyuan zuge (Pineapple Plantation Suite), including Chang lixiang [Singing about Pineapple Country], Pan fengshou [Wishing for a Bumper Crop, music by Liu Minghui], Fengshou de shihou [Harvest Time], Lixiang ku [Sorrow of Pineapple Country], and Wei lixiang de mingtian er gechang [Singing for the Future of Pineapple Country].

Apart from songs, Chew wrote music for dance dramas such as Jiutiao chuan (Nine Boats, lyrics by Kuo Pao Kun, 1973), Xiaonühai shalina (The Talisman, 1997), as well as piano solos Yingchun qu (Welcoming Spring), Shanhu song (Ode to the Corals), Dang chunnuanhuakai de shihou (When Spring is Here), and a double piano piece Fenggang de shihou (When the Harbour is Closed).

Linming — Women de jiaxiang (Sungai Lembing — Our Home)

Huangliyuan zuge (Pineapple Plantation Suite)

Jiutiao chuan (Nine Boats)