Composing festive songs has become an important part of my musical career as I have been deeply influenced by shidaiqu (“songs of the era”) since I was young.

Chinese orchestral music (c. 1980s)

I tried to arrange Chinese New Year songs when I was with the People’s Association (PA) Chinese Orchestra in the 1970s. In 1979, I collaborated with Singing Troupe, a pop music group under the PA Cultural Troupe, for the first time to write and record a medley of Chinese New Year songs consisting of three choral pieces: He Xinnian (New Year Greetings), Dadi huichun (Spring Returns), and Gongxi gongxi (Congratulations). The prelude to the medley was a Chinese orchestral arrangement of Gongxi facai (Wishing You Prosperity).

It was only when I was studying at Australia’s Queensland Conservatorium of Music (now Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University) in the early 1980s that I began to arrange Chinese New Year songs for Chinese orchestra in a systematic way. During my brief return to Singapore on a few occasions, I began to accept invitations from some local record companies to write music. I then arranged a number of oldies with chamber Chinese orchestral music, including Chinese New Year songs that were popular in Shanghai and Hong Kong from the 1940s to the 1960s.

At the time, I helped arrange popular local Chinese New Year songs from the 1950s to the 1980s, such as Gongxi gongxi (Congratulations), He xinnian (New Year Greetings), Ying chunhua (Spring Flowers), Dajia guo ge taiping nian (Wishing All a Peaceful Year), Xiang wang xiao’er bainian (New Year’s Greetings to Wang Xiao’er), Chun (Spring), Gongxi dajia jinnian hao (Wishing You a Happy New Year), Dadi huichun (Spring Returns), Chun zhi chen (Spring Morning), Gongxi facai (Wishing You Prosperity), Bainian (Pay a New Year’s Visit), Huanying xinnian (Welcoming the New Year), and Xiaobainian (New Year Wishes), among others.

Back then, the recordings were released in the form of cassettes and the band was a small group of about 15 members. The albums titled Dabainian (Welcoming the Wonderful New Year), produced by Song Ching record company, and Gongxi gongxi (Congratulations), produced by MTI Private Limited, were works from that period.

Most of the musicians who participated in these recordings were from the PA Chinese Orchestra, including Lum Yan Sing, Goh Ek Meng, Chew Keng How, Goh Kok Boon, Ang Chai Lan, Koh Kim Hue, Tan Lim Lian, Chuan Joon Hee, Khoo Lye Soon, Lee Hoon Piek, Lim Xin Yeo, Lee Khiok Hua, He Shuntao, and Chew King John. Most of them would later become members of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

Cassette cover of Dabainian (Welcoming the Wonderful New Year), produced by Song Ching record company, circa 1981–1982. Courtesy of Phoon Yew Tien.
Cassette cover of Gongxi gongxi (Congratulations), produced by MTI Private Limited, 1985. Courtesy of Phoon Yew Tien.

In 1989, Hong Kong’s Hugo Production released two albums of the same genre with similar repertoire arranged by me in cassettes, titled Melodies for New Year Greetings and Songs for the Four Seasons respectively. The two albums were then produced in CDs after 1999. The conductor for both albums was the Chinese conductor Xia Fei-yun and the orchestra was The Chinese Orchestra of Shanghai Music Conservatory, bringing about considerable improvements in both performance and recording standards.

CD cover of Melodies for New Year Greetings, produced by Hugo Production, 1999. Courtesy of Phoon Yew Tien.
CD cover of Songs for the Four Seasons, produced by Hugo Production, 2002. Courtesy of Phoon Yew Tien.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the team led by musician Lum Yan Sing, which included arrangers Yeo Puay Hian and Sim Boon Yew, as well as performers Ng Boon Chai and Ang Bok Cheng, were also involved in the recording of Chinese orchestral New Year songs. They had produced similar recordings for local labels such as Jiaya Record Company, White Cloud Record Co, PolyGram Records and Malaysia’s Mastersound Records. The repertoire of Lum Yan Sing’s team includes not only classic Chinese New Year songs, but also chamber Chinese orchestral music familiar to locals, such as Xiqi yangyang (Full of Joy), Xingfunian (Blissful Year), and Chunxiao (Dawn of Spring).

Cassette cover of Xinnian huayue (Chinese orchestral medley for Chinese New Year), produced by White Cloud Record Co, 1986. Courtesy of Lum Yan Sing.
Cassette cover of Chun (Spring), produced by Mastersound Records, 1980s. Courtesy of Lum Yan Sing.

Symphonic and orchestral music (1990s onwards)

Around the 1990s, it was not easy to find recordings of orchestral arrangements of Chinese New Year music in Singapore and even in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In my opinion, it is meaningful to make artistic enhancements to some oldies that are worth preserving as this would not only make people appreciate formal music more, but also help to pass on the local musical culture. These oldies are also part of my precious childhood memories, which inspires me even more to preserve them.

In 1993, I collaborated with Yellow River Records of K K Productions, a subsidiary of the global brand Naxos Music Group, to co-produce a CD titled Chinese New Year Fantasy featuring orchestral classical Chinese New Year music. An agreement was also reached to record two other CDs — The Best of Chinese Oldies, featuring orchestral classical oldies, and Symphonic Works by Phoon Yew Tien. The conductor of these three CDs was Lim Yau, and the performing ensembles were Shanghai Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus respectively.

CD cover of Chinese New Year Fantasy, produced by Yellow River Records, 1993. Courtesy of Phoon Yew Tien.
CD cover of The Best of Chinese Oldies, produced by Yellow River Records, 1993. Courtesy of Phoon Yew Tien.
CD cover of Symphonic Works by Phoon Yew Tien, produced by Yellow River Records, 1993. Courtesy of Phoon Yew Tien.

Some of the pieces on the three CDs had earlier been arranged for Chinese orchestra, but the symphonic orchestral arrangement seemed closer to the spirit of the original songs, which were accompanied by Western musical instruments. Initially, when I arranged the songs, I relied on my childhood memories to come up with the scores as I could not find recordings of the original songs. After I found the original recordings, it became easier to refer to the original harmony and orchestration. My principle in arranging music is to stay true to the original works, unless there are obvious mistakes in the score or performance. Being faithful to the original works also means preserving the complete “audiovisual image” of the songs as I remember them.

The following local and overseas ensembles have performed the Chinese New Year songs which I arranged: Singapore Symphony Orchestra (1996), Kids’ Philharmonic Orchestra Singapore (2015), San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (2022, 2023), Nashville Symphony Orchestra (2022), Pacific Symphony Orchestra (2022), and Malmo Symphony Orchestra (2008).

Choral and solo repertoire (c. 2000s)

The choral and solo performances of Chinese New Year songs that I have arranged come with piano accompaniment, Chinese orchestra performance, symphonic orchestral accompaniment or a cappella, and such works were mainly produced around the 2000s.

But as mentioned at the start of this article, I had arranged a Chinese New Year medley of three choral songs as early as in 1979, when I was with the PA Chinese Orchestra. In 1997, the Singapore Youth Choir also commissioned me to arrange two Chinese oldies, one of which was Chun zhi chen (Spring Morning), which was later included in the Asian Choral Works I album.

The album Spring, released in 2003, contains the a cappella choral songs “Spring”, “Spring Morning”, “Spring has Arrived” and “New Year Greetings”, as well as the piano pieces “Spring Flowers”, “Spring Returns”, “Wishing You Prosperity”, “Congratulations”, and “Wishing You a Happy New Year”, among others. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, past and present members of the Foon Yew High School choir in Malaysia came together virtually during Chinese New Year and sang the song “Spring Flowers”, a track from my album Spring. Their performance in the new normal to celebrate the new year attracted much attention.

Album titled Spring, produced by Phoon Yew Tien, 2003. Courtesy of Phoon Yew Tien.

Past and present members of the Foon Yew High School choir performing Spring Flowers.
Ying chunhua (Spring Flowers)

In 2015, the Kids’ Philharmonic Orchestra Singapore hosted the Best of Chinese Oldies Concert, which featured solo, choral and symphonic orchestral performances of songs from my album, The Best of Chinese Oldies. The vocal section featured Jocelyn Tang leading a choir in performing arranged symphonic orchestral songs such as “Spring Flowers” and Hejia huan (Happy Family), as well as solo performances by Chng Soot Fong singing Qiangwei chuchukai (Roses Blooming Everywhere), Jocelyn Tang singing Yueyuan huahao (Beautiful Night), Louxiang zhi chun (Spring in the Alley) and Zhongshan chun (Spring at Zhongshan), and Ling Ying singing Chunfeng qu (The Song of Spring Breeze), Chun zhi chen (Spring Morning), and Renjian jinshi xin xiwang (There is Always Hope).

Jocelyn Tang performing Hejia huan (Happy Family) at the Best of Chinese Oldies Concert in 2015.
Hejia huan (Happy Family)