It's been 6 months since the inauguration of the new sound world of Singapore Airlines - a soaring, premium sonic identity you can hear in boarding and landing a SIA flight, in the SIA lounges, on Spotify, and everywhere Singapore Airlines lives. We take a look at how it came to life and the impact of its first 6 months in flight.
Who wrote the sound of Singapore Airlines?
Working with sonic branding agency DLMDD, Dominic Murcott and Rohan De Livera delivered the 30 minute audio suite that makes up the new sonic identity of Singapore Airlines.
Dominic Murcott
Dominic Murcott - instrument-builder, composer, curator and musician.
Murcott is a world-expert instrument-builder, composer and musician, who lead the charge creating the Batik Instrument.
He diverse output includes collaborations with Heston Blumenthal, the London Sinfonietta, exhibitions at the NYC Whitney Museum and instruments built for public art.
Rohan De Livera
De Livera is a Sri Lankan born and D&AD award-winning orchestral composer and maestro composer behind the Symphony of Flowers. He has a special relationship with Singapore Airlines - always flying with SIA to Asia on family holidays as a child, so the sonic fabric of the brand was already part of Rohan's lived experiences.
Using the Batik instrument, Rohan worked on creating over 30 minutes of music, producing tailored and emotional sound experiences for every touchpoint on the SIA journey.
Dominic and Rohan worked together to translate the visual world of Singapore Airlines into sound
How many people has it reached?
At the time of writing, close to 1 million people have listened to the new suite of Singapore Airlines music across YouTube and Spotify.
The suite features, boarding, landing and lounge music, all designed to perfectly accompany the SIA passenger on every stage of their journey.
What is the Batik?
The Batik is the visual centrepiece of the Singapore Airlines visual identity - a stunning visual melange of 14 different flowers and leaves native to Singapore. It draws upon decades of history and heritage and is a fine symbol of Singapore culture.
What is the Batik instrument?
Murcott and his team dove straight into creating a new piece of technology that could translate the Batik flowers and colours into music. After multiple prototypes and weeks of R&D, an immensely powerful piece of sonic technology was born - the Batik Instrument.
The Batik Instrument assigns each of the 14 elements of the Batik Motif a fragment of a melody, which can be seamlessly interwoven, and sonically manipulated - with the ability to create 653,072 sound combinations, 4 million possible results, and 6 sonic palettes to choose from.
Why is it called the Symphony of Flowers?
The Batik Instrument served as the foundation for the project - providing beautiful motifs and musical ideas. But it needed more than this. We needed to consider passengers' emotions on their journey - from relaxing in the lounge, to the anticipation of boarding, to the excitement of landing.
Rohan came on board to further mould the Batik Instrument into a symphonic masterpiece - the SIA Symphony of Flowers.
Who performed the SIA boarding and landing music?
The audio suite was performed and recorded live by the inimitable Budapest Symphony Orchestra, with the arrangements giving rise to stunning moments of lyrical writing for the strings, piano and woodwinds .
What is the lasting impact of the sound of Singapore Airlines?
The sound of Singapore Airlines will accompany the brand years into the future as it delivers world-class for passengers all over the world at 30,000 feet. It provides SIA patrons with magical sonic experiences and unforgettable memories that will live with the brand its audiences forevermore.
"Everything about Singapore Airlines, even the music, exudes class"
SIA customer
Music is a powerful, universal language, transcending all boundaries and borders, both culturally and geographically. For travel brands, music is one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal - the power of music creates emotion, trust and loyalty. And more than that, research shows that young adults are more likely to choose brands with sonic identities.
For travel brands, music is one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal - the power of music creates emotion, trust and loyalty.
A new sound for a new era of Singapore Airlines travel has been born. Here for millions to hear for many years to come.
Watch the behind-the-scenes of the creation of Singapore Airlines' sonic brand here.
