We Are Infantry
Song of the Singapore Infantry (9th Singapore Division)

Music by Dax Wilson Liang
Lyrics by Dax Wilson Liang & Chua Jin Kiat
Recorded by the SAF Central Band

We Are Infantry

Dax Wilson Liang (b. 1989) is a Singaporean composer who is currently serving as Chief Composer/Arranger of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Band, heading the Music Composition & Arrangement Office (MCAO).

Dax began formal studies in horn performance at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) under the tutelage of SSO Associate Principal Horn, Jamie Hersch. As an ensemble musician, he has worked with several local orchestras such as the Singapore Lyric Opera, The Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Music Makers and the Windstars Ensemble. In 2013, he was awarded a Licentiate Diploma in Horn Performance with a Distinction from the Trinity College of London. 

Joining the SAF Central Band in 2012, Dax first served as an Instructor with responsibilities for organising training courses for military musicians and brought transformation to the musical academic curriculum. After several years of instructional experience in the subjects of music theory, aural perception, ensemble musicianship and music appreciation, he was appointed Senior Instructor and subsequently Head Training Development, tasked with the staff development of training plans and policies for the capability development of military musicians. Formerly a Group Leader in Human Resource Management, Dax now hold concurrent appointments as the Deputy Finance Officer and the Assistant Unit Corporate IT Officer.

As a composer, Dax’s compositions and arrangements has received acclaimed performances in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America and Asia. His arrangements of national songs, local folk tunes and original works, The Lion City series, has reached an international audience in countries including Scotland, Switzerland, Russia, China, Germany and the United States of America, programmed in various prestigious military tattoos and festivals around the world such as the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the Virginia International Tattoo and the Musikfest der Bundeswehr.

Locally, Dax has received commissions from prominent organisations including the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Lion City Brass Band, the Orchestra Collective and the Singapore Wind Symphony. As Chief Composer/Arranger of the SAF Band, he has written music for major state events such as the National Day Parade since 2015, and has inaugurated works into the official SAF Ceremonial Music repertoire including the Digital and Intelligence Service March, The SAF Dream and has led the orchestration revision project for the 2022 Wind Band Edition of Majulah Singapura- National Anthem of the Republic of Singapore.

Dax is currently pursuing his Master of Music Leadership (MMusL) graduate studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore. As part of the music leaders community, Dax is a strong advocate for lifelong learning, arts administration leadership and the increasing of academia representation in the wind band community. Artistically, he is a proponent of music theory literacy, aural proficiency and awareness and championing musical writing as an inseparable aspect of artistic expression: the idea that all musicians are inherently creators - be it through musically expressing existing scored works or the actualisation of original musical intent, values and ideas.