从民谣到国族歌曲 ： 新加坡想象共同体的打造 = From folks songs to nationalistic songs : imagining Singapore

Abstract

新加坡国家想象一直是政府紧密关注的课题，尤其在历史复杂及多元化的国度里，共同体的想象成为巨大的挑战。在80年代初，国家意识薄弱的问题随之浮现，而集体歌唱在60年代曾成功用于调解族群间的关系，政府加以利用音乐来推广集体意识。歌曲所承载的叙述不仅促进人民相互理解，透过齐唱更是达到凝聚群众的效果，使国家想象透过歌曲落实到现实之中。本文将借由想象共同体的理论，针对60至90年代的歌曲，即民谣横跨到国庆歌曲，试图结合新加坡政策，从而理解国家想象如何被塑造以及它的演变。 The government has always concerned itself with the imagination of Singapore, which proved to be a challenging task with the complexities in history and diversity of the nation. In the early 80s, as the fragility of national identity surfaced, music was employed by the government to foster national identity following the success of community singing back in the 60s. The narratives within songs and the act of community singing served as a platform to build common understanding and collective conscious among people, allowing the imagination of Singapore to be realized through songs. This essay will utilize the theory of Imagined Communities, to look at songs from the 60s to 90s, ranging from folk songs to nationalistic songs, so as to understand how the imagination of Singapore has been shaped through changing times.