The Star Online: Entertainment: Music

Posted: 25 May 2011 04:21 AM PDT

Hong Kong isn't a hotbed of jazz fusion and world music acts but SIU2 is fast changing perceptions.

WHEN your band plays music that doesn't really have a name in a city dominated by celebrity, karaoke and chaotic rush hours, getting people interested can be tough.

Despite the challenges, Hong Kong-based SIU2 are dedicated to its unique fusions of jazz, with instruments from the ancient orient hovering over the more conventional rhythms of piano, bass and drums.

Listening to the group performing live is quite an experience; it feels like you're wrapped up in a fast-paced weave of bright, crashing melodies.

There are frenzied moments of pounding piano and sheng to infiltrate you with the progressive sounds of positivity and new beginnings.

Subtle undertones of optimism bring it all together before a gradual and gentle drifting into the dreamy strokes of the guzheng (zither) and sanzian (three stringed lute).

Multi-instrumentalist Peter Ng Cheuk Yin writes all the music in SIU2 (an acronym for "Sheng It Up"). On the band's distinctive sounds of positivity he suggests maybe he's just a positive person – despite the stresses and strains of dog-eat-dog Hong Kong.

"It's (Hong Kong) energetic but perhaps not the happiest of places," he said at a meeting with the media before the band's debut performance at the Borneo Jazz 2011 festival in Miri, Sarawak earlier this month.

Even so, the sound of SIU2 is distinctively Hong Kong. The city is where he gets most of his inspiration from, although there are influences from traditional, classical, jazz, rock and pop music as well.

He started in a jazz fusion band playing keyboards and sometimes he'd get out the sheng, a traditional Chinese mouth organ that dates back at least five centuries to add a different dimension to the music.

"For a while I had been thinking it would be great to form a band which incorporates more of such traditional instruments," he explained.

The music circle in Hong Kong is small and he soon gathered Cass Lam, Jason Lau, Peter Fan, Liang Chun Wai and Lawrence Tsui to form SIU2.

Finding someone who plays an instrument in Hong Kong apparently doesn't take that much effort.

"Kids in Hong Kong are under great pressure to acquire additional talents to get into good schools, so almost all kids can play an instrument."

Ng for example learned how to play the piano at age six, the sheng at age eight, the guitar and drums during his teens and the piano, Chinese percussion and saxophone at university.

Ok, so Ng is only typical of the average Hong Kong person up until about age eight. His latter interests went beyond those of most his contemporaries and represent an exception to the norm.

"Its good but sad that every child has to learn an instrument at a very young age," added Ng. The result of being forced to learn and master musical instruments so early on in life perhaps takes a lot of the fun away. In the end, Ng suspects that's why many end up seeing it more as a chore than something to be passionate about.

In fact, the prevalence of musical capabilities seems a stark contrast with the barrenness Ng and his bandmates describe as characteristic of the Hong Kong music scene.

SIU2 pianist Peter Fan says there are, in fact, no music scenes in Hong Kong.

"Its a bold statement, but unlike other parts of the world which have different scenes for dance, progressive, house or whatever, what we have here is more just like a series of passing trends," said Fan.

According to Ng, the young generation in Hong Kong is a lot more into karaoke than live music. He added those who frequent clubs and bars are generally not looking for music performances so much as background music to dance and drink.

"People are busy making money and don't spend much time on cultural things, but we are trying very hard," he said with a smile.

Having said that the sound systems and space constraints of clubs and bars are probably not really suitable for SIU2's set up anyway.

The group mostly plays outdoor gigs or in concert or recital halls. Interestingly, the HK government is highly supportive of SIU2, and sponsors the group to perform at various public spaces in outdoor venues under the Community Cultural Ambassador scheme which aims to promote public appreciation and development of community arts.

This helps the band's cause to widen its audience.

"Hong Kong is a very commercial place, it's very hard to do something different. Radios play mainstream music or classical. There's barely any jazz in Hong Kong, so if you do something different you need to have other means of support as well," Ng noted.

As such five of the six band members are all full-time musicians – Ng composes whilst the others either teach or are session musicians – only sanxian player Cass Lam (who in her 20s is, incidentally, the youngest and only girl in the band) works at an art gallery full time.

And categorising SIU2 isn't clear-cut – it has been labelled everything from world music to jazz fusion to a crossover of rock, classical, Chinese and western music. Labels, however, don't really matter to SIU2. The goal is to challenge people's inherent concepts about Chinese music and the boundaries of established genres.

"For us, we don't really care about what we are suposed to be, we just want to do something original," said Ng.

The band has produced two albums so far. Ng describes the first album Open Door, which was released in late 2008 as more "raw." He revealed that the second outing, Kon Fusion, which came out early last year has a more polished sound.

The band is currently working on its third album, which is due for release next year.

SIU2 is also working towards more performaces in Hong Kong, as well as expanding its network overseas (its performance at the Borneo Jazz festival has been the first outside Hong Kong and mainland China).

"Reception in China has been really positive, the country has been changing so much over the last 10 years and so people there are always craving for new things."

Although the band would love to play in any new country, Ng is particularly keen on Europe, with its rich cultural environment.

More info on SIU2 at (flowermusic.hk) or e-mail (siu2@flowermusic.hk).

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Rabu, 25 Mei 2011

The Star Online: Entertainment: Music

The Star Online: Entertainment: Music

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