Zubir Said

Who was Zubir Said?

Zubir Said B.B.M. was a Singaporean composer originally from the Minangkabau highlands of Indonesia who composed the national anthem of Singapore, "Majulah Singapura". A self-taught musician, Zubir also worked as a score arranger and songwriter for Cathay-Keris Film Productions for 12 years, composing numerous songs for the company's Malay films. He is believed to have written about 1,500 songs, with less than 10% of them ever recorded.

It has been said that Zubir was viewed by many as a composer with a "true Malay soul", as his songs were interwoven with historical messages and Malay truisms, and that he and his Minangkabau contemporaries awoke a wave of national consciousness in the 1950s.