French Bipolar
words rachel mok
Nouvelle Vague and High Tone create very different soundscapes: Le French May brings them together in concert for a unique musical encounter.

Nouvelle Vague
The French project Nouvelle Vague, powered by producer and musician Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, made ’80s music chic and classy with their two albums Nouvelle Vague and Bande à Part. But do not expect the same laid-back bossa nova sound in their upcoming album, NV3. Surprises are on the way, as Collin reveals from his studio in Paris.

NV3 sounds modern and edgy – very different from the names of the previous albums.
Actually it wasn’t my idea. (chuckles) The record label thought it would be good to call it NV3. It can be a good thing – we did so many compilations and other projects after the second album, it is good to let people know this is Nouvelle Vague’s third album.

What is different about it?
There are two big differences, the first being that we didn’t play any bossa nova, reggae or, in fact, anything that we played in the first two albums. We are more into country, western and American music and arrangements this time. It is more of an indie-pop sound, a lounge sound, since we tour a lot and work more like a normal band. And the second difference is that we worked with some of the original singers of the songs we cover. We asked them to do duets with Nouvelle Vague. It is quite new and beautiful.

Echo and The Bunnymen’s Ian McCullough, The Special’s Terry Hall, and Martin Gore from Depeche Mode are some of the artists you worked with. How did the collaborations go?
We knew Martin Gore is a fan of NV through our version of Just Can’t Get Enough, so we approached him to work with us on Master and Servant. His voice is the most important thing for the new version – he is instantly recognizable from Depeche Mode. To tell you the truth, we almost got the impression that we could sample the original track – he probably sang [for us] as he did in the ’80s.

You used to play in a band with Xavier Jamaux, who now scores for some of Johnnie To’s films. Have you seen those films?
We are still good friends and work together. Actually I worked on a song with him two days ago. I have seen the films… absolutely love the music! I’d like to score HK films too; I am just waiting for the offer. I’d like to write music for some sci-fi films or a thriller.

High Tone
Deep, epic and vigorous, Lyon-based dub group High Tone sound completely opposite to their co-headliner. The five-piece’s latest album, Underground Wobble, is what a meeting between Massive Attack, Goldie and Perfuse 73 might sound like. The band explain...

Though this will be the first time you’ve played in HK, you’ve have played in China before and worked with Wang Lei on an album. How did you find these cross-cultural experiences?
We met Wang Lei for the first time in Guangzhou three years ago and played together on the same stage; that’s how we started to talk about making music together. When he came to France, we recorded the album Wang Tone together. It was a great experience to share different styles with an electronic Chinese artist like him.

How do you think audiences in China react to your music differently from those in the rest of the world?
People in China seem to be more shy and discreet – but not during our concert. They were really crazy about the sound and danced freely like everyone else!

High Tone has been compared to Perfuse 73, Massive Attack and Goldie – do you notice similarities with their music?
There is a lot of similarity with those bands. Massive Attack is really a good influence on us; the remix album No Protection: Massive Attack vs Mad Professor is one of my favourites. It reflects a dub influence. In a few High Tone tracks, you can feel the drum’n’bass style but that is not especially from Goldie, because in France drum’n’bass or jungle is popular at all the parties. Perfuse 73 come from a hip-hop and electronics background, styles that we listen to. In fact, we love reggae, dub, hip-hop, techno, jungle, dubstep, electro, world, jazz, ethnic music – these are all our influences!

You guys are good at combining visuals in your live shows. What’s the idea behind that?
In the beginning, we used videos because we didn’t have a singer. Our VJ, Nicolas, mixed and directed them using images from films and also homemade movies. Now, as soon as we have a new track, he will try to find the right way to illustrate it. He is like a painter and does a really good job – each video feels different. Our videos are not necessarily concrete or abstract – they are just a visual trip.

Are you into any new electronic artists these days?
Actually, I am really into the dubstep scene from England with artists like Benga, Skream and Caspa.

Le French May Musical Showdown – Nouvelle Vague meets High Tone takes place on 7 May at 8pm in the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. Tickets are $480, $360 and $240 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. Local twee-pop favourite My Little Airport support.

The Evergreen
Generally recording artists are lucky if they can create a song that defines their career, never mind define a generation. Taiwanese singer Chyi Yu has a repertoire of such songs, which includes one that also made the generational impact. Her debut album and its title song The Olive Tree, released in 1979, became an instant classic. The song was composed by Li Tai-hsiang to lyrics – by the renowned Echo Chan (The Stories of the Sahara, Red Dust) – whose main lines literally translate into ‘Do not ask where I come from/My hometown is far far away/Why do I wander afar/For an olive tree in my dreams?’ The song became the anthem of Taiwan colleague students and later a classic among the Chinese communities dispersed around the world.

Although The Olive Tree was written three decades ago, Chyi’s audiences still cannot get enough of it. Nor does she tire singing it. ‘The Olive Tree is a classic – I get nervous every time I perform it, because it is a difficult song to handle. Every time, it is like singing it for the first time,’ she says. ‘I think the lyrics touched a common feeling among the Chinese… [they resonate with the] the instability of the last century and a thirst to settle down.’ To her, the roaming becomes a quest for romance and the song serves as a comfort to the hearts of the wanderers. If you had asked her prior to 2002, the year before she started releasing Buddhist music, she would have said she had found her own olive tree, her symbol of freedom. ‘Now I have to take that back,’ she says. ‘I think I should restart my journey again and look for my tree. Hopefully to live a life that will make me feel no regret.’

No one can say where that journey will lead, but luckily our city will soon be one of the stops on it. The legendary artist will be joining the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra for a two-night Mother’s Day concert in which the singer will perform eight songs: Apart from The Olive Tree, the programme will include Lo Tayu’s Boat Song and Special Smile, which took the Best Original Film Song Award at Taiwan’s 1979 Golden Horse Awards, as well as English classics like Vincent and Amazing Grace. She wanted a programme of songs on the theme of Mother’s Day but that proved difficult. ‘This is the first time I am working with the HKCO so I have to sing the classics. But classics are seldom related to Mother’s Day,’ she explains. Chyi has yet to listen to new arrangements of her songs by local musicians such as Ng Cheuk-Yin, Li Cheong and Mui Kwong-Chui – she is more interested in how the Western classics will fit into her concerts. ‘I think one will feel warm simply by coming to the concert,’ she surmises.

Chyi Yu & the HKCO – Mother’s Day Concert will take place on May 8 and 9 at 8pm in the HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Apart from Chyi Yu’s performances, the HKCO have re-arranged a series of Joseph Koo’s theme songs to TV dramas including Over Mountains and Valleys, Forgetting Ourselves and Heart on Fire for the concerts. Tickets are $300, $220, $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Musicals and More
Opera Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra are making their mark in Le French May with concerts of famous opera arias and musical theatre hits in collaboration with tenor Chad Johnson and soprano Rachele Gilmore. On May 8 and May 10, the programme of opera classics includes Ah! Leve-toi Soleil from Roméo et Juliette and Habanera from Carmen while the Musical Gala Concert on May 9 will cover familiar tunes from West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. Johnson and Gilmore give us a taste of what to expect.

In preparing for the two concerts, what adjustments do you need to make between opera and musical theatre?
Chad: The basic vocal production doesn’t change. It’s a matter of style. One would perform Mozart and Mascagni in very different ways and musical theatre is just another period of music with which singers must be familiar. Specifically, one uses vibrato differently and usually a more “American” dialect.
Rachele: Opera and musicals are similar in that they both revolve around telling a story, so I don’t believe I will have to alter my mood that much between the two concerts, as long as I am focused on each character and the story they are telling. Gala concerts like these always present a special situation, in that you have the opportunity to play multiple characters in one evening as opposed to just one, which can be very exciting. Technically speaking, there is not much change between the two genres for my voice, as a lot of the musical repertoire I am singing is written for a high voice.

What are your favourite pieces to perform and to listen to respectively from the programme and why?
Chad: My favourite in the musical theatre concert is Be My Love. It’s a glorious anthem and very exciting to sing: It ends on a big sustained high C. In the opera concert, I’m especially looking forward to singing the selections from La Bohéme. We’ve all heard them a million times but those Puccini melodies always get me!
Rachele: Of the opera programme, my favourite piece is the Salut a la France from Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment. As a singer it is exciting because Marie, the character, goes through so many different states of mind, from despair to love to elation. Also, the piece is so uplifting and builds a great excitement in the audience. Of the musical programme, my favorite is Glitter and be Gay from Bernstein’s Candide. The piece is so over the top and fun, and Bernstein’s writing is so brilliant that the singer and the audience both cannot help but be overcome with joy!

Catch the two vocalists on May 8 and 10 in the Opera Gala Concert, conducted by Zhang Guo Yong; and the Musical Gala Concert on May 9, conducted by Gerard Salonga at the HK Cultural Centre Grand Theatre at 8pm. Tickets on May 8 and 10 are $680, $480
and $280 while on May 9 they are $400, $300 and $200 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

BJ Double-Bill
With a new album and a national tour ahead, Beijing-based indie trio Carsick Cars hardly find time to update their Twitter page. Formed by guitarist and vocalist Shou Wang, the band also consists of Li Qing on drums and Li Weisi on bass (both members of another trio, Snapline). They became an international phenomenon pretty quickly – Sonic Youth have called Carsick Cars their favourite Chinese band and invited them to open for their European tour. Then the Mainland band later played in the Steirischer Herbst Festival in Austria in 2007 and at All Tomorrow’s Parties in London in 2008. It is not difficult to trace the influences of a decadent American sound (The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, Ramones) in both Shou’s music and singing style.

Touring with Carsick Cars will be newcomer The Gar, whose frontman, Zhan Pan, is the founding member of legendary underground band Ne Zha. To stress their emphasis on local culture, The Gar take their name from a term used in Beijing Opera – they are also one of the few groups that insist on writing and singing primarily in Mandarin. Music wise, The Gar compare themselves to Television and Pavement, though with a touch of Chinese pop sensibility. The Gar and Carsick Cars will play in HK as part of a nationwide tour on May 9 at Youth Outreach Hang-Out, with two local supporting bands – electro-rock quartet A Roller Control and UNiXX, currently in production of a second album due out this year. The gig starts at 8pm and advance tickets are now available from Zoo Records at $150. At the door, entry will be $180. Both prices include one drink.

Indie Round-up
An all-star line-up of Eugene Pao, Jun Kung, Adrian Da Silva and Koya Hisakazu plays classic rock tunes from the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Who and Deep Purple on May 1 at Fringe Club Fringe Gallery. The rock revival starts at 10:30pm and advance tickets are $170 from the Fringe Club box office, or $200 at door. Both prices include a drink. In Tuen Mun, 1302 Music Union presents a heavy dose of rock sound with undergrounders Silent Air, KASD, Messy Jam, Riser, Revolution and Tacit Closet playing on May 2 at 1302, Nan Fong Industrial City Block 2. The gig starts at 8pm and entry is free – email 1302mu@gmail.com for enquires. On the same day, Misery, Cafe Fiore and NuClear will pay their tribute to X Japan’s Hide at Yo Park in the Forever Hide event. The event starts at 7:30pm and includes a buffet and film screening – cosplay is welcome on the date and the ticket price is $180. Email foreverhide@xjapanhk.com for enquiries. As part of a series of May band competitions presented by re:spect, Sinfonia, Staway, Supper Moment and Positions will compete on May 6 to be one of the bands to play in the finals in June. The free gig will start at 9:30pm in M1 Bar and Lounge (G/F, Hart Avenue Plaza, 5-9 Hart Road) with Ever as performing guest. In N.SET Music Presents The Closing Show, the bands Beaker, Joker, Broken Lighter and Abyssal Desire will fill the programme on May 8, while on May 9, Mensheng, Maniac, Trash21, Silent Chamber, T.S., Peri M and Nex-Angelus will play at N.Set venue at 310 Century Centre, 44-46 Hung To Road. Show time is to be confirmed and entry is $100 for two gigs. Call 6407 0097 or 9739 2145 with enquiries.

Have a Heart
Expect a riot when Boston-based hardcore rocker Have Heart land at Warehouse Teenage Club (116 Aberdeen Main Road) on May 10. Their full-length albums The Things We Carry and Songs to Scream at the Sun have taken them onto the international hardcore scene – the five-piece played in front of 50,000 in Columbia, were awarded the Hardcore Album Of The Year, and are now taking Asia by storm on tour. After Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou, the band will play the SAR on May 10, with supporting acts King Ly Chee and Bridged. The show kicks off at 7:30pm and advance tickets are $130 from Records Rendezvous, Zoo Records and White Noise Records. Otherwise you will have to pay $150 at the door.

Strings Collision
“Cultural fusion” is probably too soft a term to describe HK-based American bassist/composer Peter Scherr’s vision in music. For The East West Quartet, his coming collaboration with French cellist Didier Petit as part of Le French May, it will be more like a cultural collision, he says. Inspired by Teodorico Pedrini’s Baroque Concert At The Forbidden City, the French cellist decided to form a cross-cultural musical collective with Scherr and Chinese string players Xu Fengxia and Wu Na, both rich with experience in free-form jamming. See what this improvised cultural clash has to offer on May 7 at the Sheung Wan Civic Centre Theatre at 8pm. Tickets are $160 and $80 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Heads-Up
As part of Le French May, the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong will present a unique concert of glass music played by the maestro in the field Thomas Bloch, who has previously worked with Radiohead, John Cage and Gorillaz. The glass harmonica was one of the most important instruments of the 18th century for its ethereal sound though it was later claimed that the sound of the instrument could drive one to madness. HK audiences will have a chance to listen to it on May 26 at the HK City Hall, where tickets are now available at $220, $160 and $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. Paris-based folk and blues troupe Moriarty, with special guest Chet Lam, play the HK City Hall on May 27. Tickets are $250, $200 and $150 from the same outlet – stay tuned for our interview with the bohemian collective next issue.

NYC electro-duo Ratatat plays in Grappa’s Cellar on May 23 with opening guest Guan. Tickets are $200 (including one drink) from Grappa’s Cellar and White Noise Records (1/F, 4 Canal Road East, Causeway Bay). After the success of Superband’s concerts, more Mandopop artists of the ’80s and ’90s will be sweeping into the HK Coliseum: Huang Pin Yuan, Bobby Chan and Phil Chang will appear as Three Good Men for a concert on May 27, while Lin Wanfang, Pan Michelle, Winnie Hsin, Shino and Singaporean pop act Kit Chan will all gather for the Join, Love Club Concert on May 30. Tickets for the two concerts range from $480-$150 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. And not to forget one of the biggest Taiwanese band Mayday will be playing at the same venue from May 20-22, tickets are $680, $400, $200 from the same outlet.

The Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, under artistic director and renowned cellist Trey Lee, has just announced its programme. Running from June 25-28, it includes international musicians such as violinist Claudia Ajmone-Marsan, pianist Tanya Bannister, Jie Chen and Ingrid Fliter among others. Of course, Trey Lee himself will also feature in the six concerts that make up this chamber music festival. Tickets are now on sale from URBTIX – for a full schedule, visit www.pphk.org.

Listen Up
The Around – Sound Art Festival may not be anything close to your idea of music, but the month-long festival definitely asks you to use your ears more carefully. At the Tung O Beach and Motat Village, south of Lamma Island, a series of live performances, installations and exhibitions has been put together by international and local sound artists for busy Hong Kongers to really hear the sound of nature. Yes, it is a bit far out of the way, but undoubtedly worth it. Local participating artists include John Lee, Black and Anthony Yeung, while French artist Jérôme Joy, UK’s Mike Cooper and Donna Ong from Singapore, among others, will also showcase their work and take part in a series of seminars during the festival’s duration from May 1-30. For a full schedule and detailed information, visit www.soundpocket.org.hk.