This piece starts with a minimalist style inspired by the architecture of Esplanade. The piano plays repeated notes to represent the claddings (spikes) on the building before it introduces an undulating melody with the violin, to represent the waves from the waters surrounding Esplanade. 

A section with more tension follows, reminding us that the Singapore skyline was not built without its difficulties, and that more challenges will surface as the nation continues to develop. The final section of the piece takes on a more optimistic note, providing us with a sense of hope for a bright future.  Throughout the piece, instruments from varied cultural backgrounds come together, resulting in a unique culmination of sounds.  

This piece starts with the iconic chimes of the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, almost to its exact key of A Major. Using this as a primary motif, the piano and cello duet performs multiple variations of it. This genre, known as the Theme and Variation, is popular in music from the Classical period, as heard in pieces such as W. A. Mozart’s twelve variations on Ah, vous dirai-je maman, more commonly known as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. 

Four different instruments are used in this piece with each representing a particular emotion. The bright and agile sound of the dizi represents joy; the explosive sound of the pipa represents anger; the Indian violin plays and improvises on the Shivaranjani raga, representing sadness; and the syncopations (offbeats) of the tabla represent fear. 

While listeners may not necessarily be able to identify the different emotions, the larger intention is to fuse a diverse range of musical colours to form a varied sonic landscape.  

Representing the Nagore Dargah is qawwali music, a form of Islamic devotional singing practiced in India and other parts of Asia. The music is usually simple and energetic, rousing audience members to sing and clap along. While it typically features a larger ensemble led by a singer, this scaled-down version features two important instruments of a qawwali ensemble—the harmonium, playing the melody, and the tabla, holding down the rhythm. 

The opening lines, played freely by the harmonium, are inspired by the tune, Iraivanidam Kaiyendungal by E. M. Hanifa, which is a song well known to the qawwali audience. The rest of the piece is developed using motifs (musical materials) from this well-known song. 

This is nanyin music, which literally means music or sounds from the south. It is a style of music that came from the south of China in the Fujian province. When early Southern Chinese immigrants sailed to Singapore, they brought this music along with them. They would often meet at the Thian Hock Keng Temple, where nanyin music was performed to reminisce home.  

The backbone of nanyin music is its melody which is often slow and meditative, focusing on emotional expression and interpretation.  The instruments involved in a nanyin piece play in heterophony, a musical texture where a single melody is played or sung simultaneously in several variations. These variations can include differences in ornamentation, rhythm or subtle changes in pitch.  

In this track, the pipa plays the melody steadily, forming the backbone of the piece, while the xiao takes on a freer, flowing voice.