This is an interesting version of the school rally of St Joseph’s Private School played with Chinese musical instruments.
Click below to listen to their rendition.
Members of the Chinese Music Club got together virtually either at home or in school during the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia and played the school rally with the instruments they have learnt.
The story goes about the origin of this school rally is that it was borrowed from St Joseph’s Institution in Singapore, having been composed by Br Marcian James Cullen (1868-1938), an Irish La Salle Brother who taught there. He adapted the school rally from an old Irish song called “O’Donnell Abu” which means “O’Donnell to victory.” This folk song was written by Michael Joseph McCann in 1843 to glorify a famous Irish warlord in the 16th century called Red Hugh O’Donnell who fought against the British in the Nine Years War.
This song is also the school song of many La Salle schools in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, including SMK St Joseph, Kuching, but with different lyrics of course.
