Musical Records
When music meets film, it doesn’t necessarily make a musical. As becomes obvious with the International Film Festival’s selection of documentaries on talented musicians from around the world. We glanced through the programme and lighted on three celluloid records that could make a difference in our musical lives…
You may have chanced on some lazy journalist scratching his latest recording itch with the tag ‘white soul-boy Scott Walker look-alike’, but who exactly is this Scott Walker? Once leader of the band the Walker Bros, the musician is a mystery who releases a revolutionary album about once every 10 years. He has been critically compared with painter Francis Bacon, Lulu says she has a crush on him and David Bowie, Johnny Marr and Marc Almond all hail him as their music hero. But you make up your own mind as Stephen Kijack’s Scott Walker: 30th Century Man introduces the first televised clip of the musician performing his hit The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore), and sneaks into the studio to peep on Walker and his musicians making instruments out of hammers and buckets to create his latest sound.
While the Walker biography is packed with celebrities and glamorous rock scenes, The US vs. John Lennon offers a different insight. Already almost famous, this documentary grabs interviews with former Nixon officials, an ex-FBI director, various political activists and he-who-knows-it-all Noam Chomsky, all which cast a serious gaze on the evolution of how the pop idol became a threat in the eyes of a superpower. But the movie also revisits the ‘good old days’ of on-screen rock ’n’ roll – when Lennon and Ono freely puffed on cigarettes on a TV talk show. Some geeks in Hollywood have actually suggested digitally wiping the smokes that signalled stars’ sex appeal in classic movies, so you may consider the Lennon clip an historical heritage.
Then skipping to the other side of the world, why not take a Roman holiday with Agostino Ferrente’s The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio. The Piazza Vittorio in Rome is home to more foreigners than ethnic Italians and the film tells how a couple of home boys took on the establishment to save the area’s historic Apollo Theatre from being turned into a bingo hall. Part of the plan was to form a multi-ethnic orchestra – which became a five-year saga against Italian anti-immigrant sentiments. The feel-good movie is a cult classic in Italy – you can guess how it ends.
For all screening dates and venues, click www.hkiff.org.hk.

Rickard Malmsten
Bass Player and Composer

Rickard is a graduate of the Åhus Jazz Music School in Sweden and Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, California

What brings you to Hong Kong?
I came to Hong Kong five years ago on a two-week contract to perform. I loved it here so much I have stayed ever since.

What artists have influenced your music?
I am influenced by ‘honest music’, music that gets its expressions across. For example, Miles Davis and the Beatles.

How did you get into the bass?
I’ve always had an interest in music and when we were young, all the kids at school wanted to play guitar, so I chose bass. Fortunately, the electric bass stands out in jazz more so than in any other genre.

Of the many places, why did you choose to perform at Rice Paper?
The open patio with the view of the harbour is beautiful, plus I love Vietnamese food.

Rickard Malmsten performs regularly at Rice Paper in Harbour City (Shop 3319, 3/F, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, TST) on Friday and Saturday nights from 8pm to 11pm. He will also play at Blue Door Jazz Club (5/F, 37 Cochrane St. Central) on April 7 at 10:30pm. Entry costs $100 including one drink.

College Rock
Singer-songwriter Endy Chow made his breakthrough in the Hong Kong pop music scene in 2005. But he decided not to go too far for now. Instead, he returned to his band Zarahn, which he formed with three long-time friends – bassist Joey, guitarist Goro and Jerry on drums – in New Zealand back in 1994. They will be staging two concerts this month at an unexpected venue – a community hall.

Having a concert in a community hall isn’t common in the Hong Kong music scene.
Our band members have known each other since school days and this show is like a graduation ceremony for us. So we want to stage it somewhere like a school hall and we call it 12A Final Live Show. We feel like we will be stepping into another era of our lives after these two shows.

Tell us a bit more about the show?
Denise Ho will be our guest… oops, I don’t know if I can really tell you that… And we will cover a song from a local band. But I can’t tell you which song because I’ve told you who our guest is already. (chuckles)

What are Zarahn up to these days except preparing for the show?
We’re recording our third album. It will sound quite different from before. The songs in our first album were written while we were still in high school or college. We were angry and bitched about everything. The coming album will sound more sensational and romantic, more to the point. Two of our band members have their own families now, so we will talk more about responsibility and social issues as well. It will be more mature.

How are you feeling right now? Nervous?
I am actually quite worried that we don’t have enough time to practice. Goro is sick and he keeps talking to us without a wearing a mask. I am now getting a sore throat too! (laughs)

An album you keep listening to recently?
Silverchair’s Diorama. It was actually released in 2002 but I am still very much into it. It is a bit like Alice in Wonderland, taking you to many different places and showing you different dimensions to music. Silverchair was the first band I liked after I started playing in a band.

Zarahn’s 12A Final Live concerts are on March 30 and 31 at Caritas Social Centre, Caritas Community Hall, No 2 Caine Road, Central. Shows start at 8:15pm and tickets cost $280 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.

Old Blues
Last week it was hip-hop, and this time it’s the blues. The Me?... We! Movement is presenting Vintage Blues with Tommy Chung, Helter Skelter, Four and One Roof (a group of old blues friends) and also Bill Loh and Yankwai. Talking about vintage, we asked Bill and Lankwai what the oldest records in their collections are.

Bill Loh – now working on his second CD which contains all his original Chinese material.
“It is a 1954 copy of Nam Yum. I call it southern-style Chinese folk music. Wonderfully sung and performed by local artist Mr Bark. I like it because it is like Chinese blues, a great story-telling kind of music.”
Yankwai – whose favourite pastime is strumming on the Korean-made wooden-body guitar he’s named ‘Kim-Chi’.
“The oldest LP in my home is Neil Young’s Harvest (1983). It has nothing to do with blues and I’m not going to tell anyone the story behind it… because it’s too bluesy.”

Vintage Blues starts at 10:30pm at Fringe Club on March 30. Entry costs $100 including a bottle of beer.

Full House
The tickets to Ayumi Hamasaki’s Tour of Secret were sold out in three hours, so either wait for the DVD or try your luck on eBay. But if you think she is only a soulless pop babe, you may be wrong. Here are a few facts about her:

- She has sold over 50 million records worldwide already.
- She is the fourth top-selling Japanese artist in the history of Japan.
- She is the first female singer to have 27 No 1 singles on the chart.
- Her latest album, Secret, won the Japan Gold Disc Award for Rock/Pop Album of the Year.
- A collaboration with Hello Kitty was made for the tour.
- She is a fashion icon. She won three consecutive Nail Queen awards (whatever that is) and five Best Jeanist awards. A pair of her jeans with her famous signature on the back pocket was auctioned for ¥76 million.

And the worst is, having achieved all that, she is only 29. Ayumi Hamasaki takes on the Coliseum on April 7 at 8pm.

GIG Guide
Janice – My First Concert @ Coliseum, March 29 – April 1, 8:15pm Go for: Pop, pop and more pop songs from the singer. Tickets from $80-$480 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Heart Beat @ Club Magazine, March 30, 9pm
Go for: Kolor, Empty Tomb, Consent, GriN, RedNoon, Far East Movement, N3, DJ Sam Lee and Dee Pro. Advance tickets $80 at ENVY (3A Hyde Park Mansion, 53 Paterson Str, CWB), $200 at door.

Brazilian Jazz Nite @ Blue Door Jazz Club (5/F, 37 Cochrane St. Central), March 30, April 6, 10:30pm Go for: Samba Negro, a new band formed by Australian drummer Howard Lee. Entry costs $100 including one drink.

Lui & Friends @ Blue Door Jazz Club, March 31, 10:30pm
Go for: More jazz from the famous venue. Entry costs $100 including one drink.

Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra @ Fringe Club, March 31, 10:30pm Go for: Big band jazz led by Taka Hirohama, with Elaine Liu as vocalist. Entry costs $90 including one drink.

Bandshow @ IMNet (C-D, 4/F, Lee Ka Industrial Building, Ng Fong St, San Po Kong), March 31, 7:30pm Go for: Secret In Number, Consent, Darkness Pool, Circuit, Storeroom. Tickets cost $40.
Darkness Night @ 1302, Block 2, Nan Fung Industrial City, Tuen Mun, March 31, 8pm Go for: Adversary, Bereavement, Dismal Prophecy, Evocation, Head Hunter and RED. Tickets cost $20.

Bossa Negra @ Le Rideau, March 31, 9pm Go for: The Brazilian quartet Bossa Negra performs classics from Jobim, Sergio Mendes, João Gilberto and Luiz Gonzaga among others. $100.

Blues Espresso @ Fringe Club, April 6, 10:30pm Go for: Blues rock night with Edward Chun on vocals and guitar, Jimmy Chan on blues harp, bassist Koya Hisakazu and drummer Lego Shum. Entry costs $90 including one drink.

Jazz Straight Up @ Fringe Club, April 7, 10:30pm Go for: Tim Wilson leads a live acoustic session of mainstream jazz. Entry costs $90 including one drink.

31st PolyMuso – Annual Performance @ Main Hall B, Hong Kong International Trade & Exhibition Centre, April 13, 5pm
Go for: Annual performance of Polytechnic University Music Society. Line-up includes Josie Ho, Zarahn, Qiu Hong, PolyMuso bands and Buddhistson from Japan. Tickets cost $80 at door.

Underground 44 @ Les Visages, April 13, 8pm Go for: Rock on a Friday 13th! Line-up includes The Squawk, Thinking Out Loud, Synthetic Insemination, Lazy Susans, Queen Elephantine, Forgot, an id signal and Karat. Tickets cost $50.

Hong Kong Band Show Night Gig 4 @ C-D, 4/F, Lee Ka Industrial Building, Ng Fong St, San Po Kong, April 14, 6:30pm
Go for: Position, Velvet Violet, SIXXPOUNDER, Maniac, YC, Adversary. Tickets cost $50.

Live Music Tuesday @ Mink (UGF, Au’s Building, 19 Hollywood Road, Central), April 17, 9pm Go for: Slash!SAKURA!Slash!, Shima from Buddhistson, Psalm, Christina Song and motionfades. Free admission.