Defying his father’s wish for him to join the Dutch army, Zubir Said took a leap of faith and left Indonesia for Singapore at the age of 21. He made a name for himself in the local music scene, rising through the ranks with his talent.
A key figure during the golden age of Malay cinema in Singapore, Zubir’s compositions helped shape the country's musical landscape. His most enduring legacy, "Majulah Singapura", would eventually become an integral part of Singapore’s national identity.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
A key figure during the golden age of Malay cinema in Singapore, Zubir’s compositions helped shape the country's musical landscape. His most enduring legacy, "Majulah Singapura", would eventually become an integral part of Singapore’s national identity.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
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LearningTranscript
00:00At a time when I feel sometimes we forget what it is to be Singaporean, I think his
00:08music brings people together and really unites us.
00:11His music spoke for him and his music still speaks for him today.
00:31He was very mesmerised with the lights of Singapore and that began his adventure that
00:38the Dutchman asked him to follow.
00:42Pak Zubia grew up in Bukit Tinggi in West Sumatra, which was colonised by the Dutch
00:48at that time.
00:49But when he went to primary school, he had a Dutch music teacher who taught him how to
00:55read music, solfege, doremi.
00:57He and his friends would make their own flutes from bamboo.
01:02On moonlight nights, they would roam around the village to entertain the adults.
01:08But then the adults did not quite appreciate them because they were making a lot of noise,
01:14I think.
01:15He was very talented, so he picked up the flute, the guitar, percussion, the violin
01:19was his favourite instrument.
01:22He was very passionate about music, even from an early age.
01:27When he was a child, he fell in love with music.
01:29When he was a teenager, he joined keroncong bands.
01:32At the age of 19, Zubia became the leader of a travelling keroncong band, bringing music
01:37to villages across Sumatra at various events.
01:40Though Zubia was finally pursuing his passions, not all agreed with his decisions.
01:45Dato' Syed believed music was haram and he always made known that he wanted Pak Zubia
01:51to serve in the Dutch army.
01:53And he even smashed his guitars and all that.
01:57But my father, despite the father's beliefs that music was haram, he still pursued music.
02:07The turning point came when Pak Zubia was 21 years old and he fell really ill and was
02:13hospitalised for one and a half months.
02:15His father travelled to Pakangbaru.
02:18He brought with him a cloth, white cloth, and he went to the doctor and said,
02:25this is for my son.
02:28If he doesn't survive, this is for his funeral.
02:33But miraculously, he recovered.
02:35And so when he recovered, he felt life was too short.
02:38He had to pursue his passion and he defied his father and left home.
02:44Did your father have any idea where you were?
03:08He dropped the letter at my place.
03:11And then I replied the letter that I'm safe, I'm in Singapore, you don't worry about me.
03:19And then from that time, for a long time, there was no communication.
03:25And when he arrived at Singapore, he was so amazed by the lights that he saw from a distance.
03:32And then of course, he had music all the time in his mind.
03:35After two days of arriving in Singapore, he got a job as a violinist with the City Opera,
03:40the Bangsawan Theatre Troupe.
03:42And from a violinist, he rose through the ranks to becoming the arranger,
03:46the conductor, the music director.
03:48And that sort of encouraged him to pursue further the music career.
03:53When he joined the City Opera, he took it upon himself to learn how to play the piano
03:59and how to read Western music notation.
04:01So it was really through his own industriousness that he rose through the ranks.
04:05He was able to draw on his experience with Keroncong music and Bangsawan music
04:10to write songs for these singers.
04:13When World War II began in 1941, Zubir returned to Bukit Tinggi with his family.
04:18He returned to Singapore in 1947 and worked as a photographer.
04:22It was only two years later that he returned to his music profession.
04:26He joined Shaw Brothers Malay Film Productions, MFP.
04:30One of their first films was 1948, Cinta.
04:33And he wrote the songs and the film score.
04:36His first love was to create mood music because he felt that that was his forte.
04:42Mood music, that means in a story, in a film, if the mood was a love story,
04:49then the song would sound like a love song.
04:55If it's a war battle song, then he would play music that depicts the essence of the mood of the music.
05:05Zubir identified a gap in the film industry.
05:08At the time, music for films was typically recorded either before the filming or during the shoots.
05:13Recognising that music was a vital element of storytelling,
05:16he became the first musician in Singapore to create original background scores for films.
05:22You know, writing music is a very difficult kind of thing because it's very hard to earn a lot of money.
05:28In the case of Park Zubir, he managed to become Singapore's first film music composer.
05:35I think Zubir's side was just a born musician.
05:39You can tell how versatile he was.
05:41For example, in Cinta, if you had just replaced the Malay lyrics with English words,
05:48it would sound like a Broadway score.
05:50He wasn't satisfied with that, so he also wanted to honour his traditions as a Malay composer.
05:58So he went over to Cafe Chris to score the more traditional films.
06:03Zubir's contribution to the film industry established him as a pivotal figure in the golden age of Malay cinema.
06:09His greatest legacy, however, would come from a song he composed in 1958.
06:15The Victoria Theatre
06:18You know, the Victoria Theatre was being renovated and they were going to have a big concert for the reopening.
06:25The City Council wrote to Zubir's side.
06:28The letters exist, we can see the correspondence.
06:31It appears that he wrote the song Majulah Singapura very quickly, within a week or two.
06:36He had sent the song back to the City Council.
06:41At that point of time, people didn't know it was going to become the National Anthem.
06:46And from there, because the government liked the song so much,
06:50he was invited to compose for the National Anthem, which of course he was very proud to accept.
07:00And eventually it became Singapore's National Anthem in 1959.
07:05I think his exceptional gift was being able to write lyrics that were so simple but yet profound.
07:14The National Anthem is really very few words.
07:18The way he picked those words and made it accessible to everyone,
07:23that is not a gift that every songwriter has.
07:26When the PAT government decided to adopt Majulah Singapura's National Anthem,
07:33Dr Toh Chin Chye, who was in charge of this, requested Zubir's side to shorten the verse.
07:39Zubir's side was told to shorten, so he went back to shorten it.
07:42But before he could complete his work, someone else had shortened it for him without asking his permission.
07:50And worse still, that version was going to be adopted as the National Anthem by an Act of Parliament.
07:57When someone alerted Zubir to it, he got hold of it and said,
08:00this is not my version. So the passing of the Bill in Parliament was cancelled.
08:07If it had been your composition, would you like people to meddle with your composition without your permission?
08:14It's impolite, it's disrespectful, unless you have something very seriously wrong with the composition.
08:23So later on, several months later, when he had completed his version,
08:27it was passed by Parliament and adopted as the National Anthem.
08:31Now, when I was in primary school, I never knew that Zubir's side was not Singaporean.
08:35So to find out that our anthem was written by an immigrant was quite profound.
08:40It didn't matter to him that he was from Bukit Tinggi, he said,
08:44this is where I have arrived, this is the place I will honour.
08:48In 1959, Majulah Singapura was selected as the nation's National Anthem when it gained self-government.
08:54When Singapore gained independence in 1965, the song was adopted as the country's National Anthem.
09:00So when Prince Philip came, that particular occasion on the Padang was the occasion where
09:06most Singaporeans heard it and the reaction was very, very positive, actually.
09:11My mother was sent to Indonesia to fetch my grandfather to attend that inaugural song.
09:19And then, of course, the first time they were reunited.
09:25I asked my father, what do you think now?
09:29He said, you are right. He said, I was wrong.
09:33I was too orthodox at that time.
09:38He said you were proven right in pursuing a musical career.
09:41Ah, yeah.
09:43So he said, now he is starting to love music.
09:48After that, he embraced me.
09:52And of course, I am glad and sad also.
09:56So I got tears in my eyes.
09:59But I thank God it is all over now.
10:04Zubir had a list of songs which he labelled Songs of Patriotism.
10:08Songs that would go on to be performed at the Victoria Memorial Hall.
10:12One being Semoga Bahagia, our beloved Children's Day song.
10:16Though highly respected as a musician by then,
10:19there were few who tried to alter and call for changes to his compositions.
10:23A government organisation had changed the structure of Semoga Bahagia
10:27without telling him and released it.
10:29And he was very angry.
10:30If you are a musician and someone is fooling around with your music
10:34and not doing it properly, of course you will be very upset.
10:38Because he respected his music so much, he expected the same from his collaborators.
10:43He would always say, don't change the melody I wrote.
10:47Don't make it flowery because you would weaken my intention.
10:51In 1986, there were calls for the nation to adopt a new national anthem.
10:56Pak Zubir saw it as a slap in his face.
10:59There were calls to allow people to sing it in different languages.
11:05And the government has never deviated from the fact that the anthem should be in Malay.
11:10Malay has a special place in society as the national language.
11:15After 32 years, they said that the words in Malay were kind of difficult to understand.
11:23That seemed ridiculous.
11:26He went verbatim to explain the words.
11:29And schools should teach the meaning of the words.
11:32In 1991, the debate was resurfaced.
11:36And this time the ministers had to intervene.
11:39Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew
11:42insisted that we will not change the national anthem
11:45because the fact that it is in Malay represents our history.
11:49It is symbolic of who we are.
11:51Zubir eventually retired from Keteh Keris in 1964.
11:55He went on to share his love for music by giving lessons to the young.
11:58Pak Zubir was Iskandar's first music teacher.
12:01His piano teacher when he was 8 years old.
12:03Because Iskandar's mother was the late Nona Asia.
12:07Nona Asia was Pak Zubir's muse.
12:09He wrote so many songs for her.
12:12Because Iskandar is so talented and he could play everything by ear,
12:16he needed a very strict teacher.
12:18Pak Zubir forced him to sit down and actually read music scores.
12:23And he was very strict.
12:24Iskandar told me that he really dreaded it.
12:28He dreaded learning music that way.
12:30But then in the end he realised that it was important for him
12:33to learn it properly and read music.
12:36So he was always grateful for that foundation that Pak Zubir gave him.
12:40He started to teach me how to play the piano.
12:43But I was a dropout.
12:45Because it was so strict.
12:47First thing he asked me, press the octave.
12:50I didn't even know what octave was.
12:52So I was really put off because he was so strict.
12:56Times when I've sort of seen him,
12:59Pak Zubir was a very unassuming person
13:03in spite of the fact that he was a very accomplished musician.
13:06He was a man of great talent.
13:08He was always having a pencil around his ear.
13:12You know, even at bedtime sometimes,
13:16when he suddenly gets an inspiration
13:21of a theme, of lyrics or of tunes,
13:25he would quickly jot it down.
13:27I really didn't know much about him until 2018
13:31when Beatrice Chia Richmond approached me
13:34to create something for Light Tonight Festival.
13:36She said, because Iskandar was your teacher
13:39and Zubir Syed was Iskandar's teacher,
13:43I just have a feeling you might be the right person to do this.
13:46At that time, Iskandar had passed away for five years
13:49and I just saw it as an opportunity to honour him.
13:53I created Don't Call Him Mr Marikita with wild rice.
13:57I took that quote from a speech that he gave
14:00where he told the audience,
14:03a lot of you call me Mr Marikita,
14:05please don't call me Mr Marikita, it is wrong.
14:08My name is Zubir Syed
14:10and the song that I composed is called Majula Singapura, not Marikita.
14:15It is a celebration of Pak Zubir's life and legacy.
14:19I think there are many ways to love our country
14:21but it is also, to me, a Singapore story that has to be told.
14:26Zubir passed away in 1987 at the age of 80
14:30after battling liver failure.
14:32His contributions to our nation remain a vital part of our national identity
14:36still being sung by thousands of Singaporeans every day.
14:39Even with an extensive catalogue with over 1,500 songs,
14:43Zubir's contributions to our country
14:45remain a vital part of our national identity
14:47still being sung by thousands of Singaporeans every day.
14:50Even with an extensive catalogue with over 1,500 songs,
14:54the search is still on to find all of Zubir's compositions,
14:57with some lost to time.
14:59The music was his prayer.
15:00He said, Majula Singapura, Puran quotation,
15:04is my prayer for the advancement of Singapore
15:09by the young people, for the young people.
15:12I think through many of his songs,
15:15Pak Zubir asks us, what does it mean to be Orang Singapura?
15:19That is a story of Singapore, a nation of immigrants coming in
15:23and building up the country, each with his own individual talents.
15:27And Pak Zubir is a supreme example of that.
15:31Throughout the lyrics of the anthem,
15:33you don't find anything about a king or queen or sultan
15:38and also not about a president or a prime minister
15:42because it is an anthem of the people and the state of Singapore.
15:48Singapore is a new country with a population of different racial origins.
15:55The people must be together with solidarity
15:59to be able to create a prosperous Singapore.
16:18SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION