Best Singaporean music movies

Hock, a Bruce Lee-worshipping grocery boy, falls in love with disco after a screening of his favorite kung fu film is replaced with a "Saturday Night Fever" clone. Partnering up with his friend Mei, he signs up for dancing lessons to prepare for a contest, in order to make some extra cash and buy a new motorcycle.

Jobless and penniless, the happy-go-crazy trio Ramli, Aziz, and Sudin decide to try their luck as movie stars while navigating the daily challenges of living in a crowded boarding house. The studio manager promises them a break if they can prove their talent in a screen test, but their naivety and inexperience lead to hilarious results. With their ongoing antics, will fame in showbiz change them in any way? The fourth installment of the 'Bujang Lapok' series. This film chronicles the misadventures of the three bachelors as they embark on their quest for stardom. Along the way, they also contend with their eccentric neighbors and Ramli’s budding romance with one of them.

The Songs We Sang is a 2015 Singaporean documentary directed by Eva Tang. It is about Xinyao, Singaporean folk music that was popular in the 1980s.

Parking attendant Fei Fei has always dreamed of becoming a singer, like her famous namesake – the legendary Taiwanese singer Fong Fei Fei. Fei Fei decides to follow her heart and joins a national talent contest. Her voice and sincerity captures the nation's heart, pushing her to the finals! But on the final day, her dementia-stricken father disappears…

Directed by the Singaporean composer Dick Lee himself, this biopic of his youth, covers three years of his life, from his early years as a teenage singer-songwriter up to the release of his debut album in 1947.

The movie tells us the story of Hassan who has great passion for music. Hassan and Ani fell in love and ran away to Singapore knowing that their marriage will never be approved by Ani's parents. Hassan soon made a name for himself as a musician and later as a composer. His compositions received great reviews. Hassan was overjoyed when he found out that his wife was pregnant but it soon turned to sorrow as Ani died giving birth to a son, Sazali. Hassan turned his affection towards Sazali and soon Sazali grew up into a rich spoilt kid. Sazali grew up to become one of Singapore's most wanted men. The police was tipped off when Sazali and his gang committed burglary. Sazali was shot but managed to escape and seek shelter in his father's home. What did Hassan do?

Mr Unbelievable tells the story of Eric Kwek Hock Seng, who takes it upon himself to the symbol of national pride. As his Shifu’s Getai business declines in popularity, Eric wants to spark new ideas by adding English lyrics into Chinese songs albeit to strong objection from his Shifu & friends. Undeterred, Eric Kwek sets on an unbelievable musical journey that sees him through mostly lows and finally hits a high when he is at the ripe old age of 50. The film aims to highlight that one must believe and persist in his aspirations regardless of age!

Jiaming, a free spirited teenager, has never taken school seriously. However, he is forced to confront his future when he flunks his O level exams and drops out of school. While deciding his future, Jiaming decides to help out at his parents music pub, Meng Chuan. Jiaming's buddies Caogen, Haoban and Xiaopang pass their exams and move on to Junior College. But they are caught renting porn magazines by the principal and are suspended for a month. During this month, the boys join a local music competition, have a taste of first love, and work hard to bring business back to the struggling Meng Chuan. In this coming-of-age tale, Jiaming and gang realise the harsh realities of the real word. In growing up, choosing to follow your heart is never easy in the face of societal expectations.

Hock Hiap Leong pays tribute to this a 55-year old coffee shop on Armenian Street that has been an incessant inspiration to many people. The urban re-development board’s demolishing plans in 2001 inspired the filmmaker to capture this epitaph of history.

Wahid provides a brief account of his life beginning with his move to the city in search for employment after persuasion from his girlfriend, Rahmah. He soon finds himself caught in a host of sticky situations as he navigates towards finding steady employment. Gado Gado is one of the 91 sole-surviving Cathay-Keris Malay Classics film titles made during Singapore’s Golden Cinema era from the 1950s to early 1970s, and preserved by the Asian Film Archive. In 2014, the collection was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of The World Asia-Pacific Register, a list of endangered library and archive holdings. At 35 minutes long, the film is the only musical variety short from the Cathay-Keris catalogue.

Fatima lives with her mother, working with her as a seamstress. Disappointed by her mother’s gambling addiction, she decides to work as a singer at a nightclub. There, Fatima meets Abdullah, a businessman whose wife, Endon, constantly mocks and humiliates him. Abdullah soon falls in love with Fatima and they begin an affair. However, Abdullah’s colleague is also smitten with her, and when Endon finds out about her husband’s relationship, she plots with his colleague to expose the affair. It is the first Malay film helmed by a Singaporean Malay under the Malay Film Productions, Shaw Brothers. Made in 1952, the musical drama witnesses an abusive relationship that results in an extra marital affair.

A village comes alive with fear when a nefarious ‘oily man’ terrorises women in the dead of night. At their wits end, the local police enlist the help of talented police inspector Dasuki to trap and end the oily man’s mischief. Orang Minyak was digitally restored by the Asian Film Archive in 2018 using a 16mm black & white composite release print from its collection.

Being a Woman is Singaporean director Jack Neo’s first short film, produced during his time in the Singapore Armed Forces Music & Drama Company (MDC). An unofficial music video played to a same-titled track by Taiwanese 80s songstress Lin Ling, it tells the story of a tomboy who tries to change herself to please her boyfriend but is rejected by him for a more ladylike woman. According to Jack Neo, the music video helped kickstart his interest in directing and was shot using a VHS camcorder that the MDC had acquired in 1985. The talents in the music video were his colleagues at the MDC and parts of the video were filmed at the former Central Manpower Base in Tanglin Camp on Dempsey Road.

This is the second short film directed by Jack Neo, who created it as an unofficial music video for the Singapore Video Competition in 1988. Neo used musician Lee Wei Song’s original song from his 1987 debut album and also casted Lee in the film. Lee Wei Song is one half of Singapore’s most prolific song writing and music producing twins. Lee won the male category in the singing competition “Talentime 1985/1986” and when offered his first recording contract, he wrote this upbeat title track that describes how a jaded man loses his way in life and conforms to the behaviour of a materialistic and pretentious society.