Filmmakers Tan Pin Pin (left) and Wee Li Lin
Two award-winning directors Tan Pin Pin and Wee Li Lin have been commissioned by The Singapore Memory Project to produce short films to be showcased on the Singapore Memory portal.
Pin Pin, who did Singapore GaGa, a documentary that featured among others, musicians Margaret Leng Tan, Yew Hong Chow and that busker at Novena MRT, has two short films, Yangtze Scribbler, which “explores a set of mysterious drawings found in the stairwell of the infamous Yangtze Cinema”; and remember, “a playful performance of a cast of words inspired by the word remember”.
But what caught my eye was Li Lin’s short, Singapore Country, a documentary that takes a look at one of Singapore’s renowned country music proponent, Matthew Tan.
And it has the country gent talking about his beginnings and why he chose country music over all the other genres that were filtering through the airwaves at the time. (This was in the mid-’60s and early ’70s, when rock was just getting rooted in our musical psyche, even as a-go-go and instrumental pop were at its peak.)
In 1975, Matthew flew over to Nashville, Tennessee, the hot seat of country music; and he became the first Asian to ever sing at the legendary Grand Ole Opry, performing a duet with Skeeter Davis. And of course, there was that marvellous gem of a tune, Singapore Cowboy.
Li Lin had this to say about the subject of her film: “I’m thrilled that the extraordinary and inspirational musical story of Matthew Tan is recognized. Matthew pursued an art form, Country Music, so far removed from his own world and made such an impact in America and Singapore. He represents to me what Singaporeans are: Culturally adaptable and adventurous.”
Singapore Country also features rare archive footage and fan interviews (one of them being Donovan Loh of Cheating Sons – seen here with his banjo). The films were launched on March 20 and can now be viewed in the Singapore Memory Project’s online portal singaporememory.sg. Or you can just click the links below…
Yangtze Scribbler
Remember
Singapore Country
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