How home-grown musicians scored Disney's Mulan remake

Members of Ding Yi Music Company helped to create a library of Chinese orchestra sounds which was used for Mulan's soundtrack

(From far left) Cheong Kah Yiong, Karma Studios owner Chris Craker, composers Alex Lamy and Richard Harvey, Derek Koh and Low Yik Hang. Cheong, Koh and Low are among the members of Ding Yi Music Company who recorded music for Disney's Mulan.
(From left) Cheong Kah Yiong, Karma Studios owner Chris Craker, composers Alex Lamy and Richard Harvey, Derek Koh and Low Yik Hang. Cheong, Koh and Low are among the members of Ding Yi Music Company who recorded music for Disney's Mulan. PHOTO: DING YI MUSIc COMPANY
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If you hear what sounds like a hundred drums on the soundtrack to Disney's Mulan, you are probably listening to sounds sampled from one Singaporean percussionist's playing.

Home-grown Ding Yi Music Company's Low Yik Hang was one of 16 musicians from the ensemble who spent 10 long days in Pattaya, Thailand, in 2018, recording music which would end up on the movie's soundtrack.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 30, 2020, with the headline How home-grown musicians scored Disney's Mulan remake. Subscribe