Song and dance troupes and the entertainment industry in early Singapore

Song and dance troupes, active in Singapore between the 1920s and 1960s, were performance groups that combined singing with dance. Unlike the Chinese opera troupes that travelled south from China in the early years to put on traditional operas, song and dance troupes sought to attract audiences with their modern, westernised and trendy styles. Their performances predominantly featured female singers and dancers, while men handled the musical accompaniment and administrative tasks. Their repertoire also included comedic sketches and new plays, and many troupe members sported bob hairstyles modelled after the “flapper girl” look popularised by Hollywood films, flaunting their identity as modern women.

In 1927, Li Jinhui (1891–1967) founded a song and dance school in Shanghai which later evolved into touring troupes and singing societies. In his memoirs, Li referred to these groups collectively as Bright Moon Society (also known as Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe). This was China’s earliest professional song and dance troupe. In 1928, Li came to Singapore with his troupe, performing several songs and the dance drama Chuntian de kuaile (Joy of Spring) at the Victoria Theatre. Advertisements prominently featured Li’s daughter, Li Minghui. According to the memoirs of troupe member Wang Renmei (1914–1987), Singapore was the final leg of the Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe’s tour. Due to poor management, the troupe did not have funds to return to China as scheduled.¹ Li Jinhui then complied with a publisher’s request to compose a series of pop songs and send them back to Shanghai in exchange for funds. These songs, including Peach Blossom River and The Express Train, swept the music scene and catapulted Li to overnight fame. His troupe nurtured many talented female performers, many of whom were swiftly scouted and went on to join Shanghai’s film industry. This showed that song and dance troupes provided a platform for training and nurturing stars, and more groups began performing in Singapore.²

One example was the Plum Blossom Song and Dance Troupe led by Wei Yingbo (birth and death years unknown), which arrived in 1933. Encouraged by the positive response, troupe member Cai Wenjin (1905–1975) later returned to Shanghai to establish the Bai Xue Song and Dance Troupe. Its members included Lu Ding, Zang Chunfeng (unknown–1951), Xu Xinmin and Xiong Li Li.³ In 1935, the Wan Hua Song and Dance Troupe, founded by Shanghai businessman Liu Daliang (birth and death years unknown), performed to a full house in its first show at Tivoli Hall on North Bridge Road.⁴ The Silver Moon Song and Dance Troupe, led by Zhang Chan’e (unknown–1945), performed in Singapore and Malaya in 1938. Boasting members such as Meng Lijun, Ma Jun (unknown–1986), Zhu Jun and Bai Yan (1920–2019), the troupe also staged the patriotic musical On the Eve of the Great Battle in support of the anti-Japanese movement.⁵ Many other song and dance troupes subsequently incorporated singing, dancing, musicals and plays into their performances.

Rise of song and dance troupes

In an oral interview, actor Bai Yan (whose real name was Yein Pah Yuen) said the Silver Moon Song and Dance Troupe, of which he was a member, had signed a contract with film empire Shaw Brothers to raise its profile. At that time, troupe members enjoyed a steady income and had the opportunity to perform in various locations, such as Penang and Ipoh. Back then, the literati also enjoyed performances by song and dance troupes and getai. Prominent Hong Kong writer Lau Yee-cheung (1918–2018), who was invited to serve as editor of the supplement of Yi Shih Pao (Social Welfare) in Singapore, was said to have first met his future wife Lo Pai Wan while she was here in 1953 with a song and dance troupe. The troupe was performing at Happy World Amusement Park for several days then, including a dance drama called Love at the Pasar, which depicted life in Nanyang.⁶ In 1956, Lo led a newly formed Swan Song and Dance Theatre Troupe on a tour in Singapore and Malaya. Lau pursued her ardently, and they married in 1957.⁷

The 1950s saw a boom in song and dance troupes and getai shows in Singapore and Malaya, along with a shift from dance dramas and plays to more singing and dancing. For instance, getai star Chng Soot Fong founded her own touring choir at the age of 21 before venturing into the film industry with a cameo in The Lady of Mystery starring Li Hsiang-lan (1920–2014). Chng later rose to fame when she starred in the 1958 Amoy-dialect film Wandering Songstress directed by Wong Tin-lam (1927–2010). Chang Lye Lye also established her own choir, which collaborated with the Feng Feng Song and Dance Troupe in 1951. Together, they performed to a packed house night after night at New World Amusement Park. Members of the Feng Feng Song and Dance Troupe included Lei Zirong and Landi Chang (1941–1991), with the latter being the star of the Shen Chang Fu Circus. The “Queen of Striptease”, Rose Chan Wai Chang (1925–1987), also formed the Rose Chan Revue in 1953.⁸ Other popular troupes in Singapore at the time included the Hua Yi Song and Dance Drama Troupe formed by Lu Ding, the Da Zhong Opera Troupe headed by Dou Jinhuai (birth and death years unknown), the Hai Yan Opera Troupe led by Wang Jintong (birth and death years unknown) and the Golden Star Performance Troupe headed by Bai Yan.

Apart from amusement parks, Han Toh Yee (1922–2013), a member of the Nanxing Song and Dance Troupe, recalled that the troupe also performed at the air-conditioned Cathay Cinema in 1949.⁹ Some troupes chose to feature more sensual dances. For instance, Lo Pai Wan’s troupe performed leg lifts inspired by American Broadway dance, and Rose Chan introduced the “Bath of the Concubine” act. Such performances caused many to view song and dance troupes in a negative light. But most troupes in the post-war era touted a relatively serious repertoire. For instance, Xu Lianmei of the Feng Feng Song and Dance Troupe created the “silver goddess dance”, and the New Life Revue was renowned for its folk myth-inspired musical, The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Following the closure of Golden Star Performance Troupe, Bai Yan and his wife, Ye Qing (1922–2016), ran folk dance classes to nurture local dance talent.¹⁰

From stage to screen

The first Chinese-language film produced in Singapore after World War II, Blood and Tears of the Overseas Chinese (1946), was financed and directed by Cai Wenjin, leader of the Bai Xue Song and Dance Troupe. Having led a touring troupe that regularly travelled to Southeast Asia, Cai was familiar with Singapore and Malaya before the war. Following the release of the film, Cai went on to produce Spirit of Overseas Chinese (1946) and Honour and Sin (1947), also known as Miss Nanyang. The Shaw Brothers, which had operated cinemas and amusement parks before the war, also swiftly released Song of Singapore, Second Motherland and Hard Times after the war. All three films were directed by Wu Cun (1904–1971) and featured members of song and dance troupes that had performed in Singapore, including Ma Jun and Ye Qing. In 1946, singer Yang Pei Yun invited Tan Mui Kwang (1933–2020), Xiong Li Li, Chng Soot Fong, Lynn Lee and Wu Mei Ling to sing at Ciro’s Café, which she had bought over. They performed with former song and dance troupe members Bai Yan, Zang Chunfeng and Kwan Sin Ngee (real name Ong Joo Hong, 1927–1996). Yang, Kwan and Chng later went to Hong Kong and established themselves as stars of Amoy-dialect films.

Singapore’s renowned comedic duo Wang Sha (1925–1998) and Ye Feng (1932–1995) also transitioned from song and dance troupes and getai performances to the movie industry in the 1970s. They starred in four films of the Crazy Bumpkins series produced by Shaw Brothers.¹¹ The duo went on to shoot a number of films in Hong Kong and recorded many dialect comedy albums, which were reportedly so popular that record companies rushed to restock them before they had even been packaged.¹² This demonstrated the close relationship between song and dance troupes and the film industry. Members of these song and dance troupes and getai were not only multi-talented, but also key players in Singapore’s entertainment history.