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Soundtrack of Our Lives: Joseph Koo x James Wong x the Rise of Cantopop
11 July 2024 - 28 August 2024
EVENT DESCRIPTION
Tai Kwun’s upcoming Summer Show Soundtrack of Our Lives: Joseph Koo x James Wong x the Rise of Cantopop carves a journey through classic songs crafted by iconic musical duo Joseph Koo and James Wong. Simultaneously charting the rise of Cantopop and chronicling the transformation of Hong Kong from the 1970s through to the first years of the new century, the exhibition ruminates on the genre’s roots as a local cultural phenomenon and its growth on the international stage. The show highlights eight of the duo’s most beloved and memorable songs, presenting them alongside dynamic digital displays and immersive settings revealing little-known stories behind the pair’s lyrics and compositions. Audiences are invited to delve into the melodies, sounds, lyrics and themes that have filled the city for decades. The show will be held at the Duplex Studio at Block 01 in Tai Kwun from 11 July to 28 August 2024.
Soundtrack of Our Lives celebrates a musical partnership spanning three decades (1972–2003) that touched the hearts of Hong Kongers and the wider Chinese diaspora. From commercial jingles to TV theme songs, chart-topping hits and internationally acclaimed film scores, their work attests to a number of remarkable transformations: Hong Kong’s evolution into a globally renowned metropolis, seismic technological advances in music production, and dramatic changes in how listeners consume music. The show illuminates these interconnected revolutions, letting audiences experience various soundworlds authentic to their era.
Starting from the sounds: Experience the blossoming of Cantopop and the transformation of Hong Kong society
The sound journey begins in the “Calming Room”, a sonic decompression chamber to soothe the cacophony of Central, where the titles of the 236 songs co-created by Koo and Wong come into view. From here, visitors can enter distinct spaces resonating with specific decades. Each space features items from the era, often with screens showcasing lyrics and sheet music. Visitors can also access personal commentaries on classic songs from various experts, including Fredric Mao, renowned stage director/educator; Prof Stephen Yiu-Wai Chu from The University of Hong Kong; Dr Hedy Law from The University of British Columbia School of Music; Dr Mui Kwong Chiu, Chairman of the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild; Ng Cheuk-yin, multi-genre composer/performer; Leon Ko, composer of the musical The Impossible Trial; Norris Wong and Chung Suet Ying, director and star (respectively) of the recent film The Lyricist Wannabe. Each voice provides a different facet in the multi-dimensional Koo-Wong musical world.
The space dedicated to the 1970s recreates a typical living room of the time, featuring a new (but already indispensable) television set! Beautiful melodies fill the air, the first being the song “If Loving You Means Hurting You” from the 1972 musical Pai Niang Niang, the first-ever Chinese-language Broadway-style musical that also marked Koo and Wong’s first collaboration. Iconic theme songs from such TV programmes as A House Is Not a Home and Below the Lion Rock transport onlookers through time. Moving on to the 1990s, a bedroom filled with late 20th-century nostalgia includes the song “Bonds of the Past” from the film A Better Tomorrow, evoking the burgeoning tension between traditional Chinese values and modern life.
The room “A Workplace Reimagined” represents a studio face-off between Koo and Wong, collaborators who rarely worked in the same room, communicating instead by phone and fax. The space is split between music and lyrics, representing their mostly virtual dynamic. Visitors looking closely will notice the tools of their trade, revealing the metamorphosis of technology for both music composition and recording as well as for listeners at large. This room also serves as a backdrop for Koo and Wong’s final collaboration: the captivating theme song for the stage musical Sweet & Sour Hong Kong (2003). In the spirit of reviving antiquated technology, visitors can once again pick up a landline and uncover commentaries in an introspective environment.
The lower level of the Duplex Studio is transformed into one of Hong Kong’s most distinctive culinary landscapes: a cha chaan teng, where vintage decor frames such songs as “A Laugh at the World” from The Swordsman and the theme song from the 1980 TV drama The Bund. Alongside the cha chaan teng is a retro electric repair service where visitors can listen to “Fire Burns My Heart” from the 1989 film A Terra-Cotta Warrior. Together, these two scenes reconstruct daily ephemera of 1990s Hong Kong, with visitors surrounded by the media that defined the era: on one end of the Duplex Studio is a neon-lit cassette tape installation harking back to the 1980s; on the other, a competing installation of a larger-than-life television set. Lastly, a large screen will show previously unreleased footage of Koo and Wong receiving the CASH Hall of Fame Award in 1997 and 2000 respectively.
During the show period, Tai Kwun will offer a diverse range of extension activities. In collaboration with the Hong Kong Baptist University Academy of Music’s Creative Industries Programme, a summer workshop devised by Dr Edmond Tsang will guide 20 secondary-school students through the process of song composition, arrangement and editing, with Oscar Lee as lyrics instructor. In It Takes Two, prominent composers and lyricists offer lunchtime discussions about the delicate art and craft of merging music and words. Featured guests include composer Lau Wing Tao and playwright-lyricist Cheung Fei Fan (A Tale of the Southern Sky), multi-genre composer/performer Ng Cheuk-yin and cross-media lyricist You See Hand, producer-musicians Edward Chan and Delta T, and composer Joyce Tang and lyricist Chow Yiu Fai (Since When).
A series of Tai Kwun Conversations will feature veteran singer Frances Yip in conversation with renowned TV producer Robert Chua, while curators from Tai Kwun and the Hong Kong Heritage Museum share their experiences and behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Lyricist Chris Shum and conductor Leon Chu will share valuable insights into Cantonese ensemble singing with The Chinese University of Hong Kong Chorus.
Film screenings related to Koo and Wong include the documentary Pai Niang Niang: The Last Osmanthus Blossom (2023), featuring precious restored performance footage from the musical Pai Niang Niang (1972) starring Rebecca Pan, which marked Koo and Wong’s debut as collaborators. Additionally, Tai Kwun features screenings of classic films with music by the famed songwriting team, including The Swordsman (1990) and A Better Tomorrow (1986), with introductions and post-screening sessions hosted by Dr Helena Wu from The University of British Columbia, and Dr Timmy Chen from Hong Kong Metropolitan University.
Organiser
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