'If we don't support our local talents, who will?'

LIM SEK, 66
Music & Movement founder and chief executive

Mr Lim's passion for music and entertainment started long before he joined Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), now known as Mediacorp. As a child, his record collection was his prized possession. 

This love, combined with a wealth of experience in the industry, led Mr Lim to establish Music & Movement, an events management company that has been a cornerstone of Singapore’s entertainment scene.

Today, Mr Lim continues to influence the field by mentoring emerging talents, organising concerts and championing local artistes. His journey is a testament to the power of following one's dream and adapting to the ever-evolving landscape of showbiz.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. What drew you to this path?

I started out as a variety producer at SBC, doing English and Chinese shows. I was generally involved in the music and entertainment. After seven years, I left to set up Music & Movement, which has now been around for 30 years.

My background in doing variety shows, producing television programmes, promoting concerts and managing events and clients came into play. In the process, we discovered new talents like Tanya Chua and Sandy Lam.

I no longer want to manage artistes because it's labour-intensive. I just help friends who want to promote their children who can sing and are talented. Our main business is still developing and putting together content for concerts.

Music is something I've loved since young. If I did not do well in my exam, my mum would punish me by not allowing me to touch my record collection for the holidays. 

I listen to so much music from all over the world. Before, I was the audience and a consumer. I looked at these people and went "wow", not knowing that one day, I would work with so many of them, which is a privilege.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your day-to-day work?

The whole business has changed completely. In the past, we released CDs. Now, what CDs? Everything has changed.

The demands by the artiste are also very different from before. In the 60s and 70s, they could just do recording and that's it.

Now they have to throw concerts and everything. Even then, it's not enough. They have to be able to host. They have to be able to act. They have to get more exposure. It's no longer enough to be able to sing and entertain. You have to be a social media creator to position yourself.

Of course, there are pros and cons. But they're all different skill sets and you have to work with different teams that specialise in them. There are people who just do multimedia or there are those who just do social media consulting. We have to work with all that. It was nothing like this many years ago.

What's the most rewarding aspect of your work?

To be able to create something. For example, a couple of years ago, I helped to produce an album for Judy Ongg, a famous Taiwanese-Japanese artiste who’s big in Japan. The album was well-received there and that was great.

We also did a charity show for Ongg in Singapore, at Sands Theatre. After watching it, some people said that they thought it was a Japanese production. I was very happy, but it was all Singaporean, you know. Others felt it was different as it had my touch on it. So things like that, it makes me happy. I create something, people watch it and I leave my mark.

How do you see your work contributing to the Singapore landscape?

I like local music, so I am quite in touch with what is happening in the local scene, from the producers and the artistes to the general direction and so on. Music & Movement has always been to support local artistes.

That's why we did things like Sing Singapore. This local influence has always been there. When we celebrated SG50, I was very lucky to be asked to be a consultant for the Sing50 event in the National Stadium.

It’s SG60 next year, so we are planning to have something special again. These are all very interesting and very challenging things that still continue to happen. And right now, my challenge is in working with a talent promoter to produce a concert.

What's a favourite Singapore memory you cherish?

We want to travel and everything, especially when we are young. But as we grow older, we realise that Singapore is home, each time we go away and return. Home is a summary of all the memories that we have.

As we grow older, we realise there are nice places to visit but what draws us back home is this collective memory. I feel fortunate to be a Singaporean.

What’s your favourite Singapore dish?

Oh, good question. I like everything but I can have chicken rice every day.

What makes you the proudest about being Singaporean?

There is a group of people whom I am very proud of. They’re the behind-the-scenes musicians who, through their own hard work and tenacity, have become very sought-after talents by big regional names when they do concert tours or big music programmes on television. These are the groups that have put Singapore’s name on the world entertainment map.

This was also the reason why, when I was commissioned by Esplanade two years ago to do a Chinese concert to update the Singapore Chinese pop music story – Xingpop 2.0 – I put the spotlight on this group of wonderful talents, from musicians to lyricists to music directors to backing vocalists. It was a very fulfilling concert.

What is your hope for Singapore?

I hope we can become a more gracious society. People are all we have. So all the more our people need to be better people, then we can really go very far. By better, I don’t mean education and all that. We are all very well-educated and well-connected. I mean within us.

On the music front, we should give our own talents due recognition. Because even today, a lot of the fresh talent in Singapore still need to prove themselves by going abroad. Why is that so? Why can’t we be proud of the fact that we have our own talent in our own backyard and support them? Because if we don’t support them, who will?

It’s only when we celebrate our own talents that others can learn how to appreciate them. 

Words of advice or inspiration for fellow Singaporeans?

I think we count ourselves lucky that we are in a place that is relatively better off than a lot of others. We should leverage this as an advantage to do what we are very good at. We find your own interests and work hard at it. No point trying to do things we are really not good at.

I feel that as a society, we are sophisticated enough to have something for every interest and to be able to let people achieve what they want to achieve. Any talent, whether it's music, art, finance or whatever, we need to support our own people.