Category: music

This Week @ The AIA Great European Carnival

The AIA Great European Carnival

Star Performances, Live Entertainment and Community Events

The AIA Great European Carnival have announced an exciting schedule of entertainment, community engagement activities, and special guest performances that will take place over the coming weeks until the Carnival closes on February 22. The Carnival’s Live Stage will be the venue for many of the appearances which will range from professional, to youth group and school performances.

“Our aim has been to make the carnival and the Live Stage venue accessible to the entire Hong Kong Community, and in partnership with our Title Sponsor AIA, we are proud to provide an additional element of fun and entertainment to our event,” said Michael Denmark, CEO of The Great European Carnival.

“Many different groups have been given the opportunity to showcase their talents and we will witness a wide variety of entertainment from theatrical to dance and drama, Rock, Jazz and Folk. We want to see both seasoned performers as well as the stars of tomorrow. With performances in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, there is something for everyone in the Hong Kong public to enjoy,” added Mr Denmark.

A preview of some of the Performances:

Puss In Boots – Presented by The Hong Kong Players
The Hong Kong Players perform a traditional Christmas pantomime every year and have done so in Hong Kong for more than 50 years. Last year’s pantomime was Puss in Boots. The show’s setting is London: The once great city is in a sorry state: the bumbling Mayor Boris can’t keep control and the evil Queen of the Rats and her vermin followers are taking control. The only hope comes from an ancient prophesy says that when London is at it’s lowest ebb, an innocent stranger will arrive in town and save the day. His arrival will be signalled by the tolling of the bells. It’s up to our hero Puss in Boots to find this stranger and save London. Puss is joined in the fight to save the city by the very beautiful Alice, and the unstoppable great Dame, Sherry Trifle. Will Puss and Alice find the new mayor in time? Will Dame Trifle’s soufflé rise? Will the good guys triumph over the evil rats?

Puss in Boots
When: 2pm, 31 January, 2015; 4pm, 6pm, 1 February, 2015
Where: The Community Stage
How much: Free

Shelter Skelter – Presented by Shelterbox Charity
Taking place on January 31 from 4pm onwards, the Shelter Skelter is a line-up of some of Hong Kong’s best rock bands, brought together by ShelterBox, a Hong Kong Based charity that provides emergency shelter and vital supplies to support communities around the world overwhelmed by disaster and humanitarian crisis. Bands include The Bollands, Thinking Outloud, Shotgun Politics, LOGO, Sheperds the Weak, and the After Party. The aim of the day is to enjoy some of the best local music Hong Kong has to offer and raise awareness for this wonderful charity.

Shelter Skelter
When: 4pm, 31 January, 2015
Where: The Community Stage
How much: Free

VS Music Indie Festival
The VS Music Indie Festival will take place on Saturday 7 February and Sunday 8 February from 4pm until late. Sponsored by VS Music, the Indie music festival will feature up and coming performers from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Included in the line-up is Hey Rachel, Merry Go Round, Tri-dueces, Jabin Law, and Gravity Altestra.

VS Music Indie Festival
When: 7-8 February, 2015
Where: The Community Stage
How much: Free

Youth Performance Groups
Hong Kong youngsters are also given the opportunity to shine on the Carnival’s live stage with a number of song and dance performance groups treading the boards during the matinee shows (between 12noon-3pm) on the weekends. Confirmed already are

31 January – Twinkle Dance Company
1 February – Isla School of Dance
7 February – Island Dance
15 February – The Island Glee Club

The Welsh Male Voice Choir
The Welsh Male Voice choir will sing a selection of Valentine’s themed songs on Sunday the 15th of February at 6pm. The choir was started in 1978 by a small group of expatriates in Hong Kong and now includes some 70 members from a dozen different nations. Over the years they have performed on conventional and unconventional stages at home and overseas. An entirely amateur group, many of their performances are for charity.

The Welsh Male Voice Choir
When: 6pm, 15 February, 2015
Where: The Community Stage
How much: Free

This Week @ The AIA Great European Carnival

Battle of the Bands

The largest Battle of the Bands competition Hong Kong has ever seen kicks off this week at The AIA Great European Carnival, with over 100 bands from the SAR entered.  You can expect to see a wide variety of musical genres from folk, to indie, alternative, rock, punk and heavy metal. The bands will also play in a variety of languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, English, French and more.

Bands will compete in the first rounds every Thursday and Friday evening at the Carnival’s Live Stage and are each given the opportunity to play two songs within an eight minute period. There are two categories including the Students (performing from 4-6pm) and Open (6pm-9pm). The Semi Finals will take place on 5th and 6th of February and the Final will take place on Friday the 13th of February.

Supported by The AIA Great European Carnival, the event is organised by The Underground and is also sponsored by Parson’s Music. Parson’s Music was established in 1986 and is one of the leading and most prestigious multinational musical companies in both Mainland China and Hong Kong. Parsons have their own production line for a wide range of cool musical instruments (pianos, guitars, percussion, string & wind instruments), a strong retail network and well-found music centres for educating music talents.

Prizes include an opportunity to perform in front of the music industry’s top agents, producers, and labels at Music Matters the leading global music industry conference, which is organised by Hong Kong based company Branded Asia. Other prizes include recording time with Sammy So (from the band Kolor) and Jon Lee (This Music Studio) as well as Parson’s coupons and trophies for the champion bands.

The event is one of the many entertainment activities taking place at the Carnival in amongst some thrilling death-defying rides, challenging games, and great food and beverage. For more information on this event and what else is happening at the Carnival visit www.tgec.asia.

Sponsored editorial: The AIA Great European Carnival

A Girl Named Sue – RIP

A Girl Named Sue - RIP

Sadly Sue Shearman has joined the great concert in the sky. Thank you Sue for so many great nights of music, you entertained and touched so many. Your music lives on, an eternal candle to the memories of you – but also as a soundtrack to future stories as they unfold accompanied to your songs. RIP

bc unplugged interview 2011

Sue Shearman’s music doesn’t mince notes
Sue Shearman’s music can envelope you with its raw power, like all good rock songs should. But she also writes tunes that are subtle – and intense in a different kind of way. She claims the unique distinction of having studied djembe in Africa and certainly doesn’t sound like an archetypal female solo artiste. She tells bc about what she does, alone and with her band, New Tonic Press.

Your song Light Me Up has the lyric ‘Let’s sit here and toke’ – is there a story behind the song and its formulation?
Cigarettes! I used to smoke until Alan Carr made me see the light!

In general, your lyrics appear to have their roots in personal emotional experience, which raises the question; what inspires your songwriting?
Personal experience almost always prompts me to write a song, so my songs are nearly all autobiographical. But I’m also inspired by images, such as things I see on the street or in movies. Jon Voight’s boots in Midnight Cowboy got stuck in my mind so I put them into a song.

Your guitar style is “masculine” in the sense that it’s more aggressive than that of the average female singer-songwriter. Is this because you are influenced by people like Hendrix and Prince?
I never really listened to female singer-songwriters until I started singing. Before that I listened to guitar players like Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, John Lee Hooker and, of course, Hendrix and Prince. That’s how it feels natural to play. So, yes, I suppose it rubbed off on me.

Your band New Tonic Press is about as rockin’ as they come, while as a soloist you are more reserved and pondering. Do you have a preference between the acoustic and electric forms?
The solo shows are really a combination of delicate touch and raw energy. I like playing both acoustic and electric shows equally. They’re satisfying in different ways.

Studying djembe in Guinea is not something every musician does – especially not every musician in Hong Kong. What was behind this decision, and what was the experience like?
I wanted to immerse myself in the music because I loved the sound of the djembe, the melodies and the rhythms. I wanted to listen to the musicians and play with them. I was under the guidance of a world-famous teacher, Famoudou Konaté. We played drums for up to six hours every day and listened to and watched all kinds of musicians and dancers. I could hear how jazz, electronic music and rap all have their origins in West Africa. We travelled around the country and listened to drummers in rural areas too. They played more laid-back, groovy rhythms while the city musicians hit their drums very hard, like a machine gun. You never really realize that there is such a difference until you take the time out to think about it.

Did that kind of immersive experience affect your songwriting or musical philosophy?
I did want to stretch out on the guitar rhythms after that. I’m not sure if I have a musical philosophy. I love playing music and that’s the only reason I do it.

You’ve mentioned a love for electronic music, a preference that tends to eventually blend with many musicians’ rock sensibilities. Any chances you would do an electro-rock project some day?
I’ve been thinking about playing guitar with a DJ for years but it hasn’t happened yet!

Finally, anything in the oven for you and your band right now or in the near future?
Right now I want to play as many gigs as I can with New Tonic Press and as a solo performer. I’m also preparing the release of an acoustic EP. I have lots of ideas brewing for future projects and once I know what I want to do, I’ll put them into action.

Listen to Sue Shearman and New Tonic Press on soundcloud

【話你戇鳩怕你嬲】無篩選版 – David Cheang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvHJ_yt4k_8

An alternate perspective from David Cheang
歌曲 : David Cheang (多謝你)

酒吧中 聽你跟我呻
你話佔中班友 喺度攪乜撚
阻鳩住做生意 車都冇撚得搭喇喂
快啲 拉鳩哂佢地
我問你 你有冇到過現場
(佢話) 我日日睇TVB 由朝睇到晚呀
(你睇啲學生吖) 攪鳩亂個香港 警察都好撚慘
快啲 拉鳩哂佢地

[CHORUS] (我心諗吖真係) 朋友你太戇鳩
但我講出口又怕你嬲
你既廢話污染這地球
朋友 我好撚難受
朋友 你太戇鳩
怕我講出口覆水難收
若你食屎可以將你拯救
望住你 唔知你要食幾多先會夠[CHORUS]

你咪同我講 有正有反好平常啫
喂 但係依家係良知同暴力打緊仗
你沒有信念 請行埋一邊
咪阻擋理想開花那一天

[CHORUS]

朋友你太戇鳩
但我講出口怕你難承受
呢個世界 太多柒頭
香港 點撚得救
朋友 戇你個鳩
怕我講出口你難承受
若你食屎可以將你拯救
望住你 我怕你食幾多都唔夠
望住你 我怕你食幾多屎
都唔撚夠

Rough English translation of the lyrics
Sitting in the bar, listening to you complain.
You ask, what the fuck are these students doing?
Blocking us doing fucking business.
Can’t even catch the dick bus.
Just fucking arrest them all
I ask if you have ever been there in person.
You say you watch TVB all day and night.
You say look at those students messing up Hong Kong.
Fuck, look at those poor suffering police.
Just fucking arrest them all.
In my heart I think, ‘My friend, you’re so fucking stupid
but I am afraid if I tell you, you would get angry.
But really, your bullshit pollutes the earth.’
My friend your crap makes me feel bad.
But if I say it, I won’t be able to take it back.
Can eating shit save you?
But how much shit do you have to eat before you wake up?
You saying going back and forth is very normal.
That’s saying peace and violence are fighting a war.
If you don’t have belief please get out of the way.
You’re in the way of the day flower blooms.
My friend your crap makes me feel bad.
But if I say it I won’t be able to take it back.
Can eating shit change your mind?
But how much shit do you have to eat before you wake up?
With your thinking, how can Hong Kong will be saved?
I look at you, I am afraid no matter how much shit you eat.
It will never be enough.
Never enough.

Cheung Chau Diary 2014 Outdoor Screening – 8 November, 2014

長洲誌 2014 - 其哥_Brother Key

The Cheung Chau Diary 2014 Outdoor Screening, part of the Chinese Documentary Festival has been rescheduled to Saturday 8 November 2014. The programme will include the new films of 2014 as well as works from Cheung Chau Diary 2013. There will also be a performance by Cheung Chau musicians.

Cheung Chau Diary 2014
Earlier this year veteran documentary filmmakers from Hong Kong and Taiwan worked with 20 young participants at the “Young Talent Training Camp” on Cheung Chau as they explored the island for interesting film topics. After eight days of heat, rain, frustration and the confusion of filming, they present us with 10 short films that make up Cheung Chau Diary 2014.

The films include people features such as Brother Key, An Ambulanceman, Postman and The Ukulele. Luthier; A Qilin Story of Two Generations, Flower Banner and Man Beside the Sea on preserving traditional businesses; Family on what it is like to be the small shop owners on the island while The Pier and Too Many Cheung Chau Guests are about life on the island. Through the films discover more about the different facets of life in Cheung Chau and the sense of community and tradition that lies in the heart of Hong Kong.

Cheung Chau Diary 2013
Selected shorts from last year’s “Youth Talent Training Camp” including Life, Neighbourhood and Brother Wah, which portray friendship among neighbours; Uncle Fai and The Hair Salon, which examine old traditional shops; The Savage in the Hill and A Man from Cheung Chau, which are character sketches, and Insects and On the Wretched Lives of Fish, which explore nature. The films investigate, each with its unique style, a broad range of subject matters, from intriguing characters to important social issues to the vanishing culture of old districts.

Schedule:
1pm–2:45pm – Screening of Cheung Chau Diary 2013
4-6pm – Music performance
6:30pm-9pm – Outdoor Screening of Cheung Chau Diary 2014

Cheung Chau Diary 2014 Outdoor Screening
When: 1-9pm 8 November, 2014
Where: LOHAS Cheung Chau (Fisheries Joint Association School), Tung Wan Road, Cheung Chau
How much: Free
More info: www.visiblerecord.com

Tallis Vocalis: Great English Renaissance Polyphony – 3pm, 8 November 2014 @ Chinese Methodist Church

Tallis Vocalis: Great English Renaissance Polyphony - 3pm, 8 November 2014 @ Chinese Methodist Church

Founded in 2013 by local choral enthusiast Raymond Choi, the 20 strong ensemble Tallis Vocalis, Hong Kong’s first vocal ensemble dedicated to the performance of European Renaissance music, will present a double debut programme in Hong Kong and Macao on 8th and 9th November 2014 respectively.

The programme consists of works by two important figures of the time: Thomas Tallis and William Byrd and features a variety of styles, from a simple four-part setting of an English text to more elaborate music in Latin for up to seven voices. The ensemble will be conducted by the outstanding young British conductor Andrew Griffiths.

A free pre-concert talk (in English) will be given by the conductor at the Function Room, Chinese Methodist Church, Wanchai at 2:15pm, 8th November 2014.

Programme

Tallis: Loquebantur Variis Linguis, Third Tune from Archbishop Parker’s Psalter, O Nata Lux, O Sacrum Convivium, Miserere Nostri.
Byrd: O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth, Ave Verum Corpus, Laudibus in Sanctis, Vigilate, Nunc Dimittis.
Sheppard: Media Vita

Tallis Vocalis: Great English Renaissance Polyphony
When: 3pm 8 November, 2014
Where: Chinese Methodist Church, 36 Hennessey Road, Wanchai
How much: $250 ($200 advance)
More Info: www.tallisvocalis.com

Tallis Vocalis: Great English Renaissance Polyphony
When: 4pm 9 November, 2014
Where: St. Joseph’s Seminary, Macao
How much: Free
More Info: www.tallisvocalis.com

Letter to Hong Kong String Orchestra, re your patron CY Leung

Dear Ms Jue Yao, Prof. Anna Pao-Sohmen, Dr. Dame Rosanna WongYick-ming

As founding members of the Hong Kong String Orchestra I’d like to congratulate you on what you have achieved. bc magazine has given the orchestra lots of free coverage, listings and write-ups for your concerts over the years.

However, yesterday we received an email asking for free coverage of your upcoming charity concert – regrettably bc magazine will not be giving exposure to your concert, however noble the cause.

The recent speech by the HK String Orchestra’s honorary patron CY Leung that those Hongkongers who earn less than $14,000/month should be considered second class citizens and have no say in the future of Hong Kong is deeply offensive.

The median monthly income in Hong Kong is $14,000 and a couple of million people work hard long hours doing jobs vital to Hong Kong every day. Every one of those would love to earn over $14,000 – they don’t – but without them Hong Kong ceases to function.

The people CY Leung insults and degrades with his comments are the heart of the orchestra that is Hong Kong, The soloist or conductor are often changed – but without the violin section, or the cellos the music cannot be performed and enjoyed as the composer intended and the soloist is exactly that… solo, alone playing for herself.

Would you have a violinist on stage purely because they were rich, even if they couldn’t play a note and their inability would destroy your performance?

Your charity concerts claim to help those in need or is it purely the charity of the rich ‘be grateful for what we give you’ so you the donor can sleep better at night? Think on this, I expect most of those your charity performances ‘help’ earn less than $14000/month – are their opinions about Hong Kong and it’s future (or on any subject) irrelevant because they are old, sick, victims of crime or abuse… Or will you only give them charity if they mindlessly think and act as you tell them?

While CY Leung is the HK String Orchestra’s patron, I regret to inform you that bc magazine cannot write about the orchestra or its concerts – with all your wealthy financial backers, I doubt you’ll care what one English language magazine does. But if your charity comes from the heart, rather than from selfish need, perhaps you should. Hong Kong has thrived because each person matters, and will continue to thrive if we remember that.

Regards

Simon Durrant – Editor

www.facebook.com/HongKongStringOrchestra

www.stringorchestra.org.hk

Occupy Lion Rock – I Want True Democracy

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It took a week to prepare, before a group of experienced climbers could scale the highly symbolic Lion Rock and erected a massive 6x28m banner proclaiming “I want true democracy – Umbrella Movement”

Here’s the behind the scene video of how they hung the banner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQ2rj-7DDE

Lion Rock holds a special significance across the city courtesy of Roman Tam’s “Below The Lion Rock” a 1979 cantopop song whose message is that Hongkongers can overcome all challenges if they are united.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twV8deBOMwI

http://youtu.be/MFibGajN3Q4?list=UUeqUUXaM75wrK5Aalo6UorQ