Audiophiles might want to keep their ears peeled. The National Library Board has just introduced a new collection of material through musicSG, a multimedia collection of Singapore’s published music works.

Simply put, musicSG is a publicly-accessible collection of published musical pieces produced in Singapore or by Singaporeans. The initiative is by the National Library Board with the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS) as a strategic partner. Through it, you can browse through articles and biographies of Singaporean composers and musicians, view lyrics and scores, and even listen to the actual music itself. That last point is a feat by itself, since many of these works are still subject to copyright, and the availability of audio excerpts depends on individual copyright agreements with rights holders and the National Library Board.

All the big musical names can be found in musicSG: Dick Lee, Taufik Batisah, Zubir Said… the last name might be unfamiliar, but his work has touched Singaporeans from all walks of life. Mr Zubir is the composer of our National Anthem! MusicSG was officially launched last week at The Pod at the National Library Building. Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC and Member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Information, Communications and the Arts Ms Irene Ng was the guest of honour for the event.

COMPASS Director Dr Edmund Lam, MP and Guest of Honour Ms Irene Ng, and National Library Chief Executive Mrs Phoon Chew Ping at the launch of MusicSG. Photo by National Library.

Currently, musicSG has about 3,000 digitised local works, which is a lower number than you might think, considering that the database spans musical works in different languages, genres and time periods. An example of a missing piece of musical history pointed out by Ms Ng was the earlier, different musical arrangements of Majulah Singapura which once existed as a slow march! If you have a published musical work that you wish to donate to the archive, you can drop off the material at any of the 22 public libraries from now until 19 December. Your donation will be checked with COMPASS and the Recording Industry Performance Singapore for the relevant copyright clearance. For more information on the donation drive, please contact NLB at 6332 3255 or email helpdesk@nlb.gov.sg.

MusicSG can be accessed from home, but to take advantage of the full multimedia benefits of the site (such as listening to audio excerpts), you should access the site from the multimedia stations at all Public Libraries.