Marking 45 years of ties through music

Captivating voices: Lee and Masya provide the vocals for ‘The Left Shoulder’.

KUALA LUMPUR: With music having the power to bind people, what better way to celebrate the long-standing friendship bet­ween two countries than through song?

To mark the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Malaysia and China this year, the China Embassy in Malaysia has produced a song titled The Left Shoulder (zuo jian in Chinese and bahu kiri in Bahasa Malaysia).

Released on the embassy’s Face­book page on Sunday night, it said the song was composed with a group of Malaysian partners.

“The song was performed by two young Malaysian singers, (Jeryl) Lee Pei Ling and Siti Nurmasyitah Mohd Yusoff, to elaborate on the warmth and depth of the China-Malaysia friendship from a different perspective,” it said.

Lee, who is from Penang, gained fame through the Sing! China (previously known as The Voice of China) reality competition in 2016, capturing the hearts of Malaysians and millions of viewers throughout Asia.

The 19-year-old beat 14 other young international singers to make it into the top six, making her adoptive parents proud.

Siti Nurmasyitah, better known as Masya Masyitah, also blew viewers away with her powerful vocals in a video of her singing a Mand­arin pop song in 2017.

Masya, also 19, was the champion of the 2014 Ceria Popstar (a children’s singing competition) and the 2016 Pesta Singing contest.

The Left Shoulder starts with orchestral music before the piano kicks in, acc­ompanying the duo’s voices in a pop ballad arrangement.

Both singers are featured in the music video, with the lyrics in Chinese and translated into Bahasa Malaysia.

The first stanza of the lyrics depicts the strong ties shared by both countries in “climbing over the mountains together” and the understanding shared despite the distance.

The song also describes the view of the South China Sea and the shared coastline where Malaysia and China meet: “Although there were setbacks, you calm my heart. My loyal and honest company throughout a lifetime.

“My right shoulder will protect you from the wind and rain. My left shoulder will be where you lean on.”

The words “climb together where there are hills, cross together where there are ditches” are shown at the end of the video.

The video has garnered over 28,000 views and over 580 shares on Facebook. More than 800 users have reacted positively to the post.

Facebook user Lin Yee commented: “Abso­lutely beautiful and captivating”.

Chung Shui Lin wrote: “The words ‘left shoulder’ have a deep meaning. I admire the wisdom of the lyricist.”

The embassy said the Bahasa Malaysia version of the song would be presented to the public soon.