Someone mentioned to me the other day why the reason Aaron Kwok is “still popular” in Hong Kong is because “there is no one else around.”
Well, there are. It’s just that they are all bloody old and should have retired or been “Occupied” and driven out by now. But, as part of the “established music scene”- meaning decades of making money hand-over-fist through their recordings, obscenely lavish concerts to compensate for the lack of talent and then diversifying into other businesses as part of taking tax losses and even money laundering through creative accounting, they continue to be seen and positioned by a local entertainment media which is having its palms greased as “idols.” These palms have been greased for decades as all PR is good PR and what’s key is to have one’s photo or any news- true or fabricated- make “the news”.
When you actually still have “Canto-Pop Idols” in their late Forties or Fifties who are known as “The Four Heavenly Kings”, well, this says it all and how Hong Kong “music” fans have been brainwashed. Wait: Like anywhere else in the world, these are NOT music fans. These are Aunties and Uncles who are CELEBRITY fans and thrive on knowing who’s sleeping with whom, who’s straight and who’s bent, who’s gay and not in a happy way and who’s zooming who. It’s a very big closet in Hong Kong and if one day a genie were to open it, it would be worse than Pandora opening up her box and letting all that bad fung shui out and it hitting Hong Kong like a tsunami. Perhaps this is what’s needed so we can start with a clean slate.
An artist like Aaron Kwok was a one-time backup dancer for a real Hong Kong talent- the late singer-actress Anita Mui- was pretty, moved like Michael Jackson, had abs and could carry a simple tune without breaking his back.
Today, he is a mega star. He is the face and body of many products and the brand ambassador for Kent & Curwen which means some huge appearance fees and more money.
This is what “celebrity” does and gains: More money and it’s NOT the fault of the Pretty Idols. It’s the fault of all those bloody useless, dumb twats who live their lives vicariously, have shit for brains and seem to exist only in Hong Kong. Or at least this is the perception.
Hong Kong might boast as being “Asia’s World City” but in reality, it’s “Asia’s Greed City.” Forget the greedy landlords though anyone living and trying to make a living in the restaurant business, for example, cannot ignore them. They have everyone by the balls and they squeeze them whenever they want ‘cos all of us have allowed this to happen. Wait: Still with landlords, who are the biggest, greediest and most secretive of these? These same forty and fiftysomething “idols” that one sees almost every day posing for photographers by doing well-publicized “charity work” for “the benefit of Hong Kong.” Yes, it’s all showbiz.
Some might say that, well, it’s nothing personal, it’s business and how they have been smart. Okay, I’ll buy that but, surely this greed should, at some stage, have a “cut-off point.” How much can you take with you when you kick the bucket? So if one’s business is to simply make more and more money and put and give nothing back, well, is this really living? And this is what’s wrong with the music industry today: It’s all take and take and not even give back a nickel or dime. As Lennon sang in “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out”, “it’s all showbiz, it’s all showbiz.”
Getting back to Hong Kong and music, forget about a “quiet revolution.” It’s been tried and it hasn’t worked. There is an urgent need to “occupy” one’s own space and make new things happen and make Hong Kong an INTERNATIONAL music city with none of that fawning to be “accepted” by local audiences” through speaking bibs and bobs of Cantonese or Mandarin and adding “Wo Ai Nee”- “I love you”- into the lyrics of songs. This “strategy” died with Michael Learns To Rock and should have been killed off far earlier. Sadly, as with music companies, “the majors” have taken over the “indies” and which is why so many have to play second fiddle to these 50 and 60-year-old “idols” and the same old farts who have controlled the local industry for so long and now have mini-Me’s and clones of themselves following suit. How far will THIS take the HONG KONG music scene and which MUST be different to the LOCAL music industry.
What’s needed is some new thinking and new leaders and not just a few random gigs here and there with no muscle behind them. With this in mind, at least the powerful Hong Kong Jockey Club is trying to help the ‘live’ music scene by giving NEW bands, especially, a venue in the form of the track’s great Beer Garden. This opens things up for acts to at least be seen and heard though some might not exactly be brilliant nor my cuppa tea. But it’s a start and these events have that “muscle” I was talking about. If any act wishes to play a few songs at The Beer Garden- there is payment and none of that “play free for promotion rubbish- let me and Fast Track know.
In the meantime, a mate sent me a selection of local bands and artists trying to make themselves heard.
See- and hear- what you think.
Modern Children
Channel: MODERN CHILDREN
Dope Boy
Channel: DOPE BOY
Chochukmo
Sun Eskimos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBm0XzVnwis
Stuart Lennon
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