Guangdong Music Series: ‘The Voice of Guangdong Saloon Music’ Concert
ProgrammeAbout the PerformersTicketing
In the 1920s, many Hong Kong teahouses had set up their own saloons, where female singers were invited to sing Cantonese operatic songs and Nanyin with a live band. During the singing performances, teahouse-goers could enjoy teas and even dance. By the 1930s, renowned performers such as Siu Ming Sing, Tsui Lau-sin, Cheung Wai-fong and Cheung Yuet-yee all earned their fame by singing at saloons. Tender Feelings Attached to My Love, as the signature song of Sin Kim-lai, and Nostalgia composed by Wong Yue-sang are selected in the programme to bring back the taste of Guangdong Music from the past.
Vocal Music
Tender Feelings Attached to My Love, Nostalgia, Husband's belated return, Beautiful Water Lily on a Silver Lake
Ensemble
In Celebration of Good Times, Butterflies among the Flowers, Playing the Lute by the Plantain and the Rockery, The Love of My Dream, The Beauty Yonder, Young Lovers, Enigma, The Toll of the Temple Bell, A Hungry Horse Shaking Its Bells, Rain Lashing on the Plantain, Autumn Moon over a Placid Lake
Running time of the performance is approximately 2 hours including an intermission of 15 minutes.
Audience is strongly advised to arrive punctually.
Latecomers will only be admitted during the intermission or at a suitable break.
Presenter reserves the right to change the programme and artists.
Fung Chui-yu Vocal
Fung Chui-yu is the daughter of Guangdong music virtuoso Fung Wah. She has toured with her father and performed as a singer since a young age. She is particularly skilled at singing zihou (falsetto voice). She studied the vocal style of Sin Kim-lai and performed her signature piece Tender Feelings Attached to My Love with the diva’s vocal style. She also studies blindman Nanyin regularly. In 2009, she performed Farewell to Concubine Yu with renowned Nanyin singer Au Kuan-Cheong in Macau. Fung also took part in the recording of the CD album Selected Works of Blindman Nanyin by Au Kuan-Cheong, and performed the pieces publicly. Her performances has been personally applauded by Nanyin masters such as Yu Mau, Ng Wing-mui, To Wing and Chen Xiaohua.
Szeto Siu Xylophone
Szeto Siu is a veteran in Cantonese music, adept in the xylophone and the electric guitar. He first picked up Cantonese song art in 1959, and was with the legendary Fung Wah’s ensemble in famous tea house saloons. He was later accepted by Wan Chi-chung as a formal disciple, and this led to a decades-long career in Cantonese song art. He was the electric guitarist in many of Wan’s recordings. When Wan passed away in the 1980’s, he remained active in show business. He held a concert to mark his 50th anniversary in 2009, which was well attended by the numerous students he has taught over the years.
To Wing Violin/ Huqin
To Wing began learning the Cantonese operatic song and the huqin at a young age, taught by his grandmother and his father. Later, he received training from one of the most influential figures in Cantonese music, Wong Yuet-sang, with whom he also worked for a number of years. After migrating to the United States in 1992, he studied world music history at the Western Washington University and was invited to give talks on Chinese music and perform huqin music on campus. In the latter half of the 1990’s, he avidly explored the various genres of Chinese music, including taking lessons in Jiangnan Sizhu (strings and wind music of South of Yangtze) under Tong Leung-tak, gaohu performing techniques and Cantonese music under Yu Qiwei in Guangzhou, and Chinese music history under Yu Siu-wah and Chan Hing-yan in Hong Kong. On the concert stage, To performs with a relaxing, elegant style that puts both the player and the listener at ease. He has released a CD recording in which he was the gaohu leader of a five-piece ensemble.
Wan Kai-ho Bass Guitar
Wan Kai-ho learned Cantonese music through his father and later, Chinese music and erhu under Ng Tai-kong, and classical music and violin under Tsang Hon-cheung. He worked as an erhu musician at the Chinese restaurants of the former Hilton Hotel and Miramar Hotel. He was also a band player in famous nightclubs and ballrooms in Hong Kong between the 1960’s and 1980’s.
Chiu Hing-wan Guitar
Chiu Hing-wan is an accompanist in Cantonese Opera and for singers of operatic arias known for his versatility in playing many types of instruments, in particular the electric guitar, and an elegant, relaxed style. He was a member of the recording ensemble led by Fung Wah, a leading name in Cantonese music, and has cut many records.
Thomson Chan Tak-sing Drums
Chan has joined various Cantonese opera concerts and Guangdong music performances in recent years, performing as the jazz drummer for various operatic art groups.
Rico Kan Saxophone
Surrounded by musical influence since a young age, Kan was active in singing saloons around Hong Kong and Kowloon during the 1960s. He toured with renowned opera performer Cecilia Lee Fung-sing in Singapore and Malaysia. Since the 1990s, Kan has been playing Euro-American pop music for various performance groups. He played multiple times at sizeable concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. In addition to be a virtuous player in western musical instruments such as violin and the flute, Kan also frequently accompanies for Cantonese operas.
Kwok Ka-ying Yangqin
Kwok Ka-ying graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Music (Hons) and a Master’s degree in Yangqin Performance. She trained in yangqin performance under Chan Sam-lam, Cheung Yu-chu and Yu Mei-lai. She also trained in zheng under Xu Lingzhi, and was the yangqin principal of The Academy Chinese Orchestra.
Ricky Yeung Wai-kit Dizi / Narrator
Ricky Yeung Wai-kit recently finished studying a doctoral degree at China Conservatory under the guidance of Zhang Weiliang and he is also the first dizi performance doctoral graduate in China. Before that, he graduated with Bachelor of Arts degree in Music (1st Class Hons.) and Master of Philosophy degree in Ethnomusicology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and also holds Master of Music degree in Dizi Performance from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). Yeung concurrently teaches at School of Music, HKAPA and the Music Department of CUHK. He is the Honorary Committee of the China Dizi Society, Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Bamboo Flute Society, Examiner of Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Overseas Member of Artistic Resource Panel of Singapore Chinese Orchestra.
Jason Lau Xiao
Lau is a freelance musician. After graduating from the School of Architecture of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1999, he furthered his studies in the Department of Music of his alma mater. Lau received the Mak Hoi Hung Music Prize, Barbara Fei Vocal Scholarship, Kong Yue Kau Memorial Scholarship, S.C. Leung Music Prize and Ng Tai Kong Memorial Scholarship. He graduated with first honours in 2002 and continued to study his MPhil in Ethnomusicology. His research interests were in Hong Kong pop music and Chinese instrumental music.
Wan Luen-wah Zheng
Wan is a famous local dizi performer. He joined the Ethnomusic Orchestera of South China Film Industry Workers Union in 1959 and played dizi for the group during 1965-1982. Founded the Ethnomusic Orchestra of the Hong Kong Chinese Clerks Association with the late musician Donchu and acted as the conductor and dizi soloist for the group, which toured in Singapore and Malaysia multiple times. Since 1990s, Wan has been focusing on performing Guangdong music and accompanying for Cantonese operatic performances.
Guangdong Music Series: ‘The Voice of Guangdong Saloon Music’ Concert
Tickets available from 6 January at URBTIX outlets, on Internet, by Mobile Ticketing App and Credit Card Telephone Booking.
Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 and above, people with disabilities and the minder, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (Limited tickets for CSSA recipients available on a first-come-first-served basis. Full-time student tickets with quota limit for ‘Lecture Series on the Music History and Hong Kong’.)
Group Booking Discount *
10% off for each purchase of 4-9 standard tickets of the same programme;
15% off for 10-19 standard tickets of the same programme;
20% off for 20 or more standard tickets of the same programme.
‘Guangdong Music Series’ Package Discount *
For each purchase of standard tickets, the following concession applies:
10% off for any 2 different programmes;
15% off for any 3 different programmes;
20% off for any 4 or more different programmes.
Patrons can enjoy only one of the above discount offers. Please inform the box office staff at the time of purchase.
*Group Booking Discount and ‘Guangdong Music Series’ Package Discount are not applicable to the ‘Lecture Series on the Music History and Hong Kong’.
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