Meet the Malaysian man who sings 112 national anthems

Thean See Xien, 31, speaks only English and Bahasa Malaysia, and the latter not very well.

But when he breaks into the Russian or French national anthems, or any of the other 110 national songs he knows, you’d mistake him for a native singer, if not a native speaker.

A lawyer by training and an in-house counsel for an international oil and gas company in Kuala Lumpur, Thean first picked up the hobby in 2002 out of boredom. In the last 15 years he’s gone through most of the continents, musically speaking: the national anthems of most of Europe, Asia, South and North America have been committed to memory.

“It’s like learning any normal song. Everyone can probably sing a few songs off the top of their head. It’s the same principle for national anthems in different languages,” said Thean.

“Remember the K-pop craze, where everyone was singing songs in Korean without knowing the language? It’s a similar principle.”

Thean has a good ear for pronunciation and music, but doesn’t play any instruments formally. His interests don’t veer far from the norm – travelling and spending time with friends – but with an IQ of 176 he also enjoys attending (and winning) pub quizzes and trivia nights.

“I always liked singing. I was in the church choir a few times and learned piano for seven years but it didn’t take – I lack the talent and patience. I haven’t had any formal vocal training but I’m a congenital shower singer.