Our ‘Concert Number Three: Song of Our Lands’ started with the idea that we wanted to introduce the culture of our home to the audience of the U.S. through songs. I remember Janani and I were sharing our experience of feeling comfort when we each performed songs from our countries. It was different than when we performed well-learned Western European music. The songs of our lands come from our hearts, and we thought those songs would reach the hearts of audiences. 

I asked my friend, Nicholas, to write a song set to poetry written in his mother tongue – Singaporean colloquial English, ‘Singlish’. He was finishing his doctorate at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, while back home in Singapore. Nicholas couldn’t find good Singlish poetry and asked Janani to write the texts, which I think was one of the best decisions he could ever make. 😉 In March 2023, ‘SingBites’ was premiered in Ohio, U.S.A.

Glow Music envisions concerts that connect people and arts, and the recent spotlights show that we are creating valuable opportunities. Journalists of Singapore, TODAY, The Straits Times, and Mothership, wrote about the heated reaction shown to SingBites. It is remarkable how an old form of music, an art song, can be heard by this many young people. It’s now reaching 190K views total on TikTok and Instagram. People share their experiences described in the song, and it shows that the art song has spoken to their hearts.

When Janani and I performed Korean art songs of the 70s and before, people at the Korean church in Dayton, OH, expressed their joy and nostalgia. As a performer, I felt more humbled than ever to serve music for people. The experience only strengthened my commitment to the vision of Glow Music.

– – Yeon-Kyung Kim, Director