Singapore National Day

9th August 2012 marks the 47th anniversary of Singapore's independence from Malaysia.

The theme for the annual celebrations this year will be 'Loving Singapore, Our Home', reflecting the different walks of life all present in Singapore. The celebrations are set to include performances from all the different ethnic and cultural communities in Singapore demonstrating to the world how they all live and work in harmony.

The country has always been known as multi-cultural and as such it is welcoming to all races, making anyone feel at home, especially for the Tamil community. In Singapore, Tamil is a national language with over 3.2% of the population speaking it. Added to this, almost all official signs, legal tender and documents that have been printed in Singapore have been done so in Tamil as well as the three other national languages, Chinese, English and Malay.

Tamil is also taught and examined as a second language in all state schools from primary to college levels. On top of this there is also a Tamil newspaper that is printed and distributed around Singapore, the 'Tamil Murasu' coupled with state run Tamil radio station, 'Oli 96.8' and television channel ‘Vasantham.’ 

Vasantham TV has been instrumental in bringing the Tamil language, entertainment and culture to the Singaporean masses. Their programming is enjoyed by many communities thanks to the channels production value and subtitling in the different national languages.

Vasantham is a platform for established and emerging artists alike. Regardless of heritage, if you want to be a star in the Tamil industry in Singapore, you can do so. One such is person is Shabir, an award winning music director, songwriter, singer and actor. Of mixed heritage, from an Urdu speaking father and a Malay / Indian mother, Shabir entered and won a Tamil singing competition called Vasantham Star in 2005.

The singer received mixed reviews on his performances, and was under scrutiny for his pronunciation when singing.  But thanks to his steadily growing fans he went onto win the competition.  He is now enjoying a successful career in the Singaporean entertainment industry. Here is his recent release; Singai Naadu, the official Singapore National day song in Tamil.

With approximately 7% of the population being Tamil it is no wonder that the Tamil community feels so welcome in Singapore. If visiting Singapore, pay a visit to “Little India,” and try the local Fish head curry served on a banana leaf, a favourite amongst the Singaporeans and served at the numerous South Indian restaurants in the area. Here is our account of the recent Little India Seafood Mela where a Guinness World Record was broken. Read more: http://bit.ly/N0Kb3w

We wish the Singaporeans a wonderful national day and we looking forward to the celebrations. You can watch the parade online via this link: http://www.ndp.org.sg/#performance/

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