This year’s National Day Parade featured 12 artistes and more than 3,000 performers. - Photo: ST
SINGAPORE: As night fell, softening the day’s heat, a change came over the audience at the Padang while they settled in to await the show segment of the National Day Parade (NDP).
They had been feted by giant balloon mascots in the pre-parade show, witnessed the marching contingents and Total Defence show, and oohed and aahed at the aerial displays, including the popular Red Lions parachutists descending on the Padang.
Spirits were high as the audience, in red and white, waved their Singapore flags.
On each person’s wrist, the LED wristbands given by the parade organiser bathed the stands in red, as they blinked to the rhythm of the music, while onto the stage came a 20m-long ship, pulled by a group of men.
The camera went in close to show that they were older men in their 60s and 70s. The metal ship opened up to reveal labourers, construction workers and samsui women in traditional costumes.
The 2024 NDP is themed Together, As One United People, and the show segment began with a tribute to Singapore’s pioneers in Chapter Three of the parade.
A total of 12 artistes and more than 3,000 performers came together to mark Singapore’s birthday at this year’s parade.
During Chapter Three, singer-songwriter Amni Musfirah and the singers from the Music and Drama Company performed an original NDP composition, Hold Up The Sky, while LED cubes were driven around the stage alongside them for an eye-catching visual.
The song was adapted from the Malay proverb, “Di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung” (You should hold up the sky of the land where you live), which the late Singaporean composer Zubir Said cited as his philosophy in composing the National Anthem, Majulah Singapura.
Chapter Four quickly became a crowd favourite, opening with a film about four families and their dinner preparations at home. The stage was transformed into a pasar malam – or night market – of the 1960s, a regular after-dinner haunt for Singaporeans back in the day.
Featuring 588 students – some dressed like kueh lapis – from Nanyang Junior College, Bendemeer Secondary School, CHIJ Katong Convent and Jurong West Secondary School among them, the performers broke out into song as larger-than-life dishes of thosai, nasi lemak and fishball noodles circled the stage.
Chapter Five of the show shone a light on the many selfless individuals going above and beyond to lift the community and those around them.
The segment’s film featured Singaporeans like Geraldine Lee and Ronita Paul, who jointly run a daycare centre for children with critical illnesses, and Devanantthan Tamilselvii, who co-founded non-profit organisation Mental ACT after losing a close friend to suicide.
“Lights will guide you home,” sang the audience along with a choir performing Coldplay’s Fix You to close the chapter.
Making her NDP debut, musician weish took to the stage with an original song, Horizon, in Chapter Six.
This part, a shout-out to everyday Singaporeans, envisioned a better future together for everyone.
The segment’s film featured 22 Singaporeans, among them a powerlifter, a paramedic and a cleaning assistant.
The show’s finale brought back all the performers from the previous chapters, with Silver Generation ambassadors from the Agency for Integrated Care leading the audience in reciting the Pledge.
Singer-songwriter Benjamin Kheng brought the show to a close with the 2024 NDP theme song, Not Alone.
The show’s creative director, Brian Gothong Tan, had earlier said that each chapter of the performance was designed to captivate and uplift.
“The show we have put together promises to be an unforgettable celebration of Singapore’s spirit, resilience and unity,” he said in late June.
Tan said the NDP is a platform through which Singaporeans can learn about ordinary people who are doing extraordinary work.
“I felt it was just very important to make the invisible visible.
"Things that we don’t talk about, like mental health... How can we celebrate Singapore when we leave out certain people? That’s just not who we are,” he said.
One member of the audience, like many others, was all smiles despite the rain before the show.
Waving the red-and-white clapper from his NDP 2024 pack, public servant Kevin Chua, 45, said: “The rain has not dampened our spirits.”
He said he looks forward to seeing the Red Lions descend from the sky every year.
Also in the audience was Derek Low, who said he would watch the fireworks at home during the years that he did not secure show tickets.
Said the tutor in his 60s: “It’s different watching the fireworks in person because everyone is here.
“I can feel the warmth and love for the country; the display was amazing.” - The Straits Times/ANN
