Chinese New Year song in Malay, by Malays, goes viral in Malaysia

'Tis the season for Gong xi, gong xi, gong xi ni, sung and played in countless Chinese New Year celebrations.

But never before like this.

The song Dong Dong Qiang, released on Jan 7, is in Malay, by Malay singers.

And it has quickly won fans in Malaysia.

According to producer Pan Jun Xiang, it is the first such performance, with Malays singing the familiar tune.

“We show the audience that Malays are more than happy to integrate with Chinese culture and there is no racial discrimination here,” the MYsinchew website quoted him as saying.

It also quoted one of the singers, Beby Acha, as saying she had fun and was thrilled to wear a cheongsam in the video.

Music producer and composer Nevin Hiong felt the song had united Malaysians in applauding the unique effort.

“When the owner of record label MVM Production reached out to me to produce a Chinese New Year song for his Malay artistes, he didn’t specify that it should be in Bahasa Melayu,” Channel NewsAsia quoted him as saying.

“He only set three requirements - the song should contain ‘gong xi ni’, ‘dong dong qiang’ and ‘huat ah’, phrases that Malay friends are familiar with.”

He then thought of incorporating a Malay-style melody and Chinese instruments as well.

Though the song carries a message of unity, according to him, they had not set out to promote racial harmony.

“Our original intention was to produce a Chinese New Year song, but now it has evolved into a patriotic song,” CNA quoted him as saying.

The World of Buzz website gave this translation of part of the lyrics:

“Today is celebration day, different races but we’re still together / New year with our old friends, together we celebrate / On the outside we’re different but our hearts are still the same.”

Check it out here:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzaDuugME0c&t=57s[/embed]