KUALA LUMPUR: One of the most moving patriotic songs dating back to the 1960s, Tanah Pusaka, has just got a refreshing makeover which is garnering a strong following on YouTube this Merdeka month.
Instead of its original orchestral sound accompanying solo singers or choirs, the masterpiece composed by Tan Sri Ahmad Merican that commemorated the formation of Malaysia has been rearranged as an acappella piece backed by a light keyboard sound.
The man behind Tanah Pusaka’s rearrangement is Richard Skin Chua, the music producer of Super Red Music, a four-year-old music production house which composes songs for advertisements on radio and television as well as theme songs and background music for various TV programmes.
“I’ve always loved Tanah Pusaka, and the song was often played on Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) back in the 1970s and 1980s in musical interludes. What made me fall in love with this song was its touching melody and its powerful lyrics which speak of the country’s beauty, multi-racialism, peace and harmony, ideals which every right-thinking Malaysian upholds until today,” said the Malacca-born composer who co-owns his company with Daeren Tan.
Chua, 44, lamented that as TV became more commercialised in the 1990s and beyond, patriotic songs became less known to viewers and it is a shame that many youngsters do not know about the country’s “treasure chest” of such songs that largely emerged in the 1960s, courtesy of composers such as Ahmad, Jimmy Boyle and Alfonso Soliano.
“These songs are more than mere songs, they are stories of our country’s early years and the hopes and dreams of Malaysians who witnessed the struggle for independence and the formation of Malaysia. We must preserve them for posterity, and the best way to do so is to make them entertaining and relevant for the younger generation,” he told the NST today.
Chua is delighted that he managed to gather a few young music lovers from around the Klang Valley to perform his reinterpretation of Tanah Pusaka, and they are mostly aged in their teens and 20s.
The most senior singer in the group happens to be the most recognisable face - 30-something Badri Ibrahim who was runner-up in the first season of TV3 talent search MyStarz LG eight years ago.
He is joined by Atilla Hanna, 16, Nurul Amira Azhar, 15, Mollyni Joanne, 17, Nicole Ng, 19, Quah Li Jin, 20 and keyboardist Elizabeth Lim , 26.
“The video was wrapped up in two weeks earlier this year. It was shot in NU Sentral’s popular restaurant, The Gravy Factory, which is owned by a good friend of mine, and Elizabeth’s sister Melissa Lim was the director,” said Chua, adding that Melissa graduated in broadcasting from a private college in town.
Chua admits that his team of singers were equally moved by Tanah Pusaka and fully agreed with him that it was a “national treasure that needed to be preserved for all time”.
“Daeren and I plan to rearrange more patriotic songs in future, but this depends a lot on corporate funding and sponsorship. We hope Malaysians from all walks of life will give us strong support to make our future plans a reality, for music is our universal language and a force for positive values and national unity.”