SINGAPORE - Fifteen-year-old Amritha Devaraj is a prize-winning singer of traditional Indian Carnatic music - and also xinyao, the Mandarin folk song movement unique to Singapore.

Last year, the Crescent Girls' School student and her schoolmate Bao Rui Ming came in third in the singing (group) category at the National Schools Xinyao Singing and Songwriting Competition. They sang Rang Ye Qing Qing Luo Xia (As The Night Falls Gently) in front of a panel of judges, who included the work's original singer, Pan Ying.