It’s most unfortunate the only Singaporean on this boards had to leave us, and that I am in fact, Malaysian, but to heck with this! I may be born in the peninsula, but I feel more at home on the island. So a very big happy birthday to Singapore, the little island nation that could.
As of now, I’m watching the live feed of the parade. If you have time to kill for the next half-hour or so, click on the link in my sig and open the webcast in a separate window while doing your Internet surfing or whatever it is you’re doing now (or you can just watch it full-screen). If you’ve never seen S’pore’s National Day Parade, this is your chance. You don’t want to miss it; it’s like everyone pulled out all the stops and delivers a miniature version of China’s Olympics opening ceremony or a Disneyland parade! It’s heartwarming, awe-inspiring and just plain awesome! In case you do miss it for some reason, there’s a repeat tomorrow at (I assume) the same time.
Every year, the National Day committee releases a music video for NDP (S’pore is the only nation I know which does this year after year ). This year’s is ‘What Do You See’ by local band Electrico. You can be cynical and say it’s merely a propaganda nation-building exercise, but they’re ambiguous enough to be similar to any inspirational or motivational songs (like Survivor, I Believe I Can Fly, etc.) And the production qualities are amazing!
What Do You See music video (Director’s Cut)
Here’s the Youtube channel for the NDP promotion committee.
And if you want to experience something really cool, here are 360 panoramas of scenes in Singapore! There’s even one from the spectator stands of the parade!
They have already played two renditions, one Techno and one Chinese of Stefanie Sun’s 2002 NDP song ‘We WIll Get There’. I’m celebrating the nation’s birthday in my own little way using that very song for two music videos I’m uploading now. One is a reupload of an old favourite from last year I did as a tribute to Ratatouille, and the other is the debut of my first literal music video, in which I sing ‘karaoke-style’ with my own take on the lyrics if it was sung to describe the visuals in the video. Here’s a Wiki on this concept. I’ll update this post and the respective video threads once I’ve finished uploading them.
You’ve come a long way in 44 years, here’s to many more, Little Red Dot!