• Seven Singapore musicians will livestream their performances of National Day songs on Monday
• They will do so on the recently launched Musette Live app
• The performers include Ms Jurine Chia who left the corporate world last year to become a full-time musician
• The youngest performer is 16-year-old singer Sebastini Faith Manimohan
• Viewers can tip performers with virtual currency, which the latter can encash

SINGAPORE — Last year, aspiring singer-songwriter Jurine Chia decided to leave the corporate world to pursue a full-time career in music.

But the Covid-19 pandemic soon hit, scuppering performing opportunities for the former auditor and consultant.

“Of course, I was scared. I doubted myself, too. Can I handle this? How can I survive this?” the 28-year-old told TODAY last week.

But new doors opened in the form of livestreaming, and she was able to perform live on social media platforms, as well as Chinese karaoke mobile application Quan Ming Party.

The move has seen her gain fans as far as Taiwan and Japan.

Come National Day (Aug 9), Ms Chia will be livestreaming another performance, this time on music app Musette Live, launched last June.

She, along with six other Singaporean musicians, will be performing popular National Day songs to mark Singapore’s 56th birthday.

From 4pm to 7pm on Monday, each musician will perform for one to two hours in separate “rooms” on the app.

Besides National Day songs, Ms Chia, who also plays the guitar, keyboard and drums, will perform popular English and Mandarin songs from the confines of her room.

She decided to try Musette Live after learning that the app was looking for performers.

“They seem like a serious platform which is looking for quality musicians, which is why I wanted to be on it as well,” said Ms Chia.

For the youngest performer in the line-up, the app will give her a rare opportunity to perform solo.

Sixteen-year-old Sebastini Faith Manimohan had first sung solo two years ago at Capitol Theatre as part of a performance with Voices of Singapore choir.

Prior to that, the Secondary 4 student from Sembawang Secondary School had only sung in a group.

Although she was initially nervous about singing alone in front of a big crowd, doing so gave her a boost of confidence.

“When the spotlight was on me… I realised that it was my time to shine and show how far I’ve progressed in terms of my singing ability,” recounted Sebastini, who has been singing since she was six.

Her second solo opportunity was at an event organised by Voices of Singapore at the Esplanade Recital Studio last December.

However, with her O-Level examinations coming up, singing has taken a back seat in the last six months.

Nevertheless, as she missed singing, she acceded to her choir conductor’s suggestion to try livestreaming on Monday.

“It’s a solo performance so it gets me in the limelight for a bit and it’s a good opportunity for me to share my love for music,” she added.

She will be performing her National Day favourites from her room, including the 2012 theme song Love at First Light, which she said brings back memories of singalong sessions in primary school.

Besides singers, the livestream will also feature clarinetist Brian Lim, a full-time band teacher at the Singapore American School.

Mr Lim described himself as the “weirdo” who used to practise the recorder in primary school.

This grew into a love for woodwind instruments and he picked up the clarinet in Primary 6, and the flute a year later.

However, the pandemic has been especially tough for woodwind musicians such as himself as it is impossible to play such instruments with a mask on.

He used to perform live regularly as a clarinetist with the Philharmonic Youth Winds and as a conductor for the Saints Alumni Band, but it has been more than a year since he has been on stage.

Said Mr Lim: “I’ve gotten a bit rusty, but when this opportunity to perform on Musette Live came up, I saw it as a good reason to practise and polish my skills.”

He will be performing with electric guitarist Geryl Leong from a friend’s private home studio during his two-hour set.

Besides National Day tunes such as this year’s theme song The Road Ahead, the duo will play a mix of pop and jazz songs.

The other musicians involved in the National Day segment include Ms Ophelia Toh who will play the cello and teenage singer Val Chong. It will also feature French horn player Leon Lim, the 32-year-old founder of the app.

LIVESTREAM APP HELPS MUSICIANS AFFECTED BY COVID-19

The National Day segment on Musette Live is part of a two-week online festival called Beyond the Frontiers, organised to commemorate the launch of the free app.

The festival features international musicians, including those from Ukraine, Nigeria and Venezuela.

It aims to help musicians whose rice bowls have been shattered by the pandemic make a living online, said the app founder Leon Lim.

Viewers can tip performers with online currency bought through the app. Once performers have received a minimum of 10,500 “notes” — equivalent to about US$30 (S$41) — they can then encash it.

Musette Live’s head of marketing, Ms Toong Si En, said that a two-hour stream can fetch a musician between US$20 and US$120.