The College Anthem of Ma Man Kei and Lo Pak Sam College (MLC) was written in October 2019 and made its debut in November of the same year, with teachers and students subsequently singing the Anthem together on various MLC occasions. On June 11, 2021, the College invited Mr. João Ng, the composer of the Anthem, and Hu Hei U, the lyricist, to witness the unveiling of the MLC Anthem plaque.
The Anthem begins with the University of Macau motto and ends with the College motto. The middle passages feature MLC’s expectations for our students: MLC hopes that each student will grow to be an optimistic and confident young person, who lives life with gratitude. The melodious Anthem, 90 seconds long and charged with hope and thoughts, contains three points of interest:
- In ‘向前抓理想’(‘leap forward and grab your goal’), the word 抓 (grab) is employed instead of 找 (find), the latter of which is a common usage. 抓and找are homophones in Cantonese; 抓 (grab) powerfully encapsulates the spirit of energy, passion and positivity in young people.
- The Anthem features a bar that chants ‘Ma Man Kei and Lo Pak Sam College Whole-Person Development’. It reminds students of their “whole-person development” during their time at MLC.
The melody in the last two bars of the piano accompaniment mirrors the first phrase of the Anthem. This special design embodies the composer’s wish that MLC students live and pass on the MLC spirit to incoming students year after year.
