Come celebrate National Day in the lush setting of the Gardens, and be entertained by a concert celebration of music, dance, performing arts and percussion.

Among the performers are NAFA Music Department’s Percussion group, Coleman Chua, Max Surin, Pertive, Verve Enharmonics, Joe Aaron, Dance Collective, Silat Federation, Clement Chow, Rosie Rahim, Dawn Ho and Fandi.

The hour-long concert is designed as a simple and heartfelt treat featuring homegrown Singapore artistes from different eras and genres.

It will begin on a stirring percussive note, with the NAFA troupe, before moving on to a segment of Singapore-written songs such as “Voices from the Heart” written by xinyaolyricist Billy Koh, and performed by Coleman Chua; “Within You’ll Remain” sung by Max Surin and “This land called Singapore” written and sung by Joe Aaron. Acapella group Verve Enharmonics will add to the “home” mood with a medley of songs including “Singapura” and Di Tanjong Katong”.

The visual treat begins with a dance item called “Two Yards of Fabric” by Dance Collective, followed by a stirring demonstration of weapons and hand-to-hand combat by the national silat demonstration squad.

The concert’s final segment promises to be especially heartwarming, and familiar. Vocalists Clement Chow, Rosie Rahim, Dawn Ho and Fandi come together to sing solo and in harmony three of Singapore’s most loved national songs through the years – “Stand up for Singapore”, “Count on me, Singapore” and “Home”.

The grand finale will present all the artistes (and audience) in a new version of the National Anthem, which features an exciting combination of Asian instruments such as the tabla, kompang, sitar, flute and more.

This National Day celebration concert is the fourth of a year-long series of outdoor concerts by Singapore Press Holdings to share the joy of music with the community and to celebrate Singapore's 40th Anniversary.

The SPH Gift of Music series launched in May 2005, and features more than 20 concerts traversing different genres of music, from pop, Latin and R&B, to jazz, Asian percussion, Western classical, Chinese opera and children’s puppets.

The key partners collaborating with SPH in this Gift of Music series, which runs till April 2006, are the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and a host of individuals and groups representing some of the most recognised names in Singapore music, as well as carefully-selected overseas acts.

The SPH concerts at the Botanic Gardens fall on the first Sunday of every month. In addition to these, SPH will bring concerts to the community with performances in the heartlands, public areas and parks as part of its outreach efforts to connect with the community.

The concert series is one of many outreach events which SPH supports as part of its broadening community involvement. Each year, the media group contributes to a diverse range of education, arts and culture, community, conservation, sports and charitable projects.

SPH was recently named the top corporate giver in Singapore in a survey carried out by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, and has been bestowed the Distinguished Patron of the Arts award every year since 1993.

Issued by Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Co. Regn. No: 198402868E

For more information, please contact:

Audrey Perera
Senior Manager
Corporate Relations
DID: 6319 2261 or 9617 9005
Email: audreyp@sph.com.sg

About Singapore Press Holdings
Main board listed Singapore Press Holdings Limited is the leading media company in Singapore, in the print, Internet and broadcasting platforms. It publishes 13 newspapers in the four official languages and more than 70 magazine titles. Everyday, 2.78 million individuals, or 90 per cent of people above 15 years old, read one of the SPH publications. Its Internet Business Unit manages the online editions of SPH's major newspapers and magazines, which together enjoy over 250 million pageviews a month. SPH also owns a 20% stake in MediaCorp TV Holdings Pte Ltd, which operates free-to-air channels 5, 8, U and TV Mobile, and a 40% stake in MediaCorp Press Pte Ltd, which publishes free newspaper Today. It also operates two entertainment radio channels, UFM 100.3 FM in Chinese and WKRZ 91.3 FM in English, under a joint venture company UnionWorks with NTUC Media.