On Saturday, Katherine asked if I was free Monday night (which, of course, I was ;>) and requested that I reserve it for her. She was excited about what she was up to, but also very tight-lipped. Since do I enjoy surprises, though, I didn't pry too much.
Monday arrived and, after we both finished work, we took a bus to Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. From there we entered the Silvercord shopping center, ascended the escalators to the top floor, and found the dinner spot she had chosen...
Monday arrived and, after we both finished work, we took a bus to Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. From there we entered the Silvercord shopping center, ascended the escalators to the top floor, and found the dinner spot she had chosen...
This is Hong Kong's branch of Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐), a famous Taiwanese restaurant chain that specializes in Shanghainese food (how's that for a crazy mash-up of three Chinese places?!). They are particularly well-known for their Shanghainese "soup dumplings" (小籠包, literally "little steamer buns"), one of my favorite foods, so I was on cloud nine...
Sweet and sour soup
The primary reason we came: soup dumplings!
Dig in!After dinner, we walked out of the restaurant and ran into someone who I hadn't seen in nearly five years: Edward Lo, a buddy of mine at Virginia Tech who was in the Hong Kong student organization (and someone who helped me begin my Cantonese and Hong Kong culture learning). He recognized me from a distance and approached me - I was shocked into near speechlessness. I mean, how does something like that happen?! The odds must be astronomical. After catching up for a little while, we agreed to meet again soon and parted ways. Katherine had more planned for the evening, after all.
We grabbed a taxi bound for Hung Hom and Katherine had it drop us off at the Hong Kong Coliseum...
We grabbed a taxi bound for Hung Hom and Katherine had it drop us off at the Hong Kong Coliseum...
...which you may remember from the concert I attended in June. The big surprise? Tickets to an extremely rare performance from my favorite Hong Kong singer/songwriter: Sam Hui! Sam has been in retirement for over fifteen years, so I never thought I'd get to see him perform, but it appears that he does host a concert once every few years. This time, I was fortunate enough to get to see him (thanks to Katherine!)...
The Coliseum was packed!
Sam has always loved outlandish stage clothing
Note the "Elvis Lives" sticker - Sam was heavily influenced by Elvis, both in music style and stage presenceDuring his rise to popularity through the late 60s and early 70s, Sam (now 61 years old) almost single-handedly created the Cantopop genre through a unique blend of Chinese and American music styles. Cantopop would not exist today, at least not in the same way, without his revolutionary work.
He also has an amazing way of using his music to describe moments in the development of Hong Kong while capturing the associated emotions, like little musical time capsules. (In fact, portions of his discography read like a fascinating cultural history book.) He is also unusual among Cantonese songwriters in that his songs are crafted as one would speak Cantonese, full of colloquialisms and accurate tones. Since Cantonese is a tonal language, mixing it with music is quite challenging, and many songwriters don't even try. They write the words they want to write, then sing them in whatever way the melody demands, often creating unintelligible results (since the same base pronunciation of a Cantonese word, spoken in different tones, invariably means completely different things). Sam's music is in stark contrast to this norm and can actually be used as a Cantonese learning tool (which is why Katherine first introduced his work to me).
He also has an amazing way of using his music to describe moments in the development of Hong Kong while capturing the associated emotions, like little musical time capsules. (In fact, portions of his discography read like a fascinating cultural history book.) He is also unusual among Cantonese songwriters in that his songs are crafted as one would speak Cantonese, full of colloquialisms and accurate tones. Since Cantonese is a tonal language, mixing it with music is quite challenging, and many songwriters don't even try. They write the words they want to write, then sing them in whatever way the melody demands, often creating unintelligible results (since the same base pronunciation of a Cantonese word, spoken in different tones, invariably means completely different things). Sam's music is in stark contrast to this norm and can actually be used as a Cantonese learning tool (which is why Katherine first introduced his work to me).
Some other highlights of the concert...
At times, Sam was led around the stage by two of his dancers,handing out gifts to the audience while performing
He invited a number of fans to sing along with him
In the last half hour, he opened the floor for requests!Fans were prepared with large printouts of complete lyrics (which he didn't actually need)
A snippet from one of my favorite songs
It was a gargantuan surprise that made for a magical evening and allowed me to bask in the performance of my favorite Hong Kong entertainer. A big "thank you" to my wonderful wife!
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2 comments:
I am so excited for you...and for Katherine. She wanted that surprise to be the BEST...and obviously it was. It was a terrific experience for both of you! WOW!!!
Oh my goodness! Well, first of all, that dinner looked amaaaazing... I was drooling at everything. But you got to see Sam Hui??? That is SO COOL! How awesome of Katherine! No wonder she was super-excited to spring that on you. And you never even had a clue he was giving a concert? Love it. :)
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