Performing for foreign dignitaries one day at the Istana and students the next. Sounds like quite the whiplash, but for Military Expert (ME) 5 Ignatius Wang, that’s par for the course as the Director of Music for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Central Band.
Singapore’s National Day Parade 2024: The united spirit behind this year’s grand military tattoo
07 August 2024
By Team Catch
His next stage is on a national level, with millions of Singaporeans’ eyes on him—he’s the conductor of the Combined Band for this year’s National Day Parade (NDP) military tattoo. And he’s more than excited about it.
“It is an incredible honour to be able to serve our nation in our unique way,” he shared.
Cast all thoughts about getting inked from your mind. A military tattoo is the rousing musical performance of military bands. The roots of its name lie in “doe den tap toe”—the call in Dutch pubs of the 1700s to “close the (beer) taps”, an indication for soldiers to return to the barracks.
The first military tattoo was held in Edinburgh in 1950 by what remains the world’s highest-profile military tattoo – the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Incidentally, Singapore’s very own SAF Band had its debut there in 2014.
But to listen to our very own military tattoo, Singaporeans need to look no further than the NDP. This year’s iteration features 194 participants across nine entities and the highest-ever number of schools and organisations involved.
Working as one united tattoo
After months of tireless preparation, the performers are ready to “see our hard work come to fruition and be appreciated by the public”, as Corporal First Class (CFC) Sheng Junzhe from the SAF Military Police Command Silent Precision Drill Squad said.
On top of regular sentry duties with the Silent Precision Drill, the squad juggled intense regular rehearsals. “(The tattoo) demands familiarity with not just the formations, but also how you arrive at each of your coordinates,” CFC Junzhe shared. Exhausted, he recalls “crashing after every Saturday rehearsal”.
“I practised for this parade about two to three times in school, in addition to the combined rehearsals with other schools held on Saturdays,” said Third Sergeant (3SG) Ramakrishnan Jeevadhithyan from Swiss Cottage Secondary School’s Singapore National Cadet Corps Command Band. “We also had additional training during the June holidays to perfect our moves.”
All the moving parts of the military tattoo have come together every Saturday since mid-June to rehearse for the nation’s 59th birthday bash.
As ME5 Wang put it, “It takes a lot of work to design a performance of such a scale. Our team of choreographers, trainers, and music composers work hand in hand to conceptualise the show, and work with the school bands to make it come alive.”
This year’s NDP has an added significance as it also marks 40 years of Total Defence, which was introduced in 1984 as a whole-of-society defence concept.
“The tattoo is a homage to that. We end the tattoo in the formation of the Total Defence logo, symbolising strength, resilience, unity, and, in that, a hope for the future,” said CFC Junzhe.
All images are credited to NDP 24.
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