A Subtle Sound
By Yafonne
Asian Week, September 6, 2001
Many young Chinese Americans want to be hip and into "the now." They don't care much for music from the "old country." But their parents and the old-timers do. A peek into the world of Cantonese music from the eyes of gao-hu player Wei Wu, 60, and yang-qin player Fred Fung, 29, reveals why this music is so appealing to their ears.
Dressed in a simple gray suit with a dark red tie, Wei Wu sits proudly at the Chinatown Night Market playing Cantonese folk songs on his gao-hu near the playground at Portsmouth Square. In the chilly night air, audiences come and go along the thoroughfare. Mothers point him out to their children. Chinese shoppers, especially the elderly, pause and linger, as if remembering another lifetime through their ears. The sound of the music stirs up memories of another place long tucked away in their hearts.
Lau Kwong-Wai, 57, a fan who comes every week to hear Wu and others play, explains, "This music is from Canton Province. Our generation grew up with this music." Standing there with his buddy Li Ru-Shi, 61, and Lei Yao-Huan, 52, crossing their arms, they don't say much, but their nostalgic faces give them away. "People in Canton like to get together and play music after a long day's work. It makes you so happy."
A handful of tourists and homeless folks listen in, too. They clap the loudest when Wu uses his gao-hu to imitate the chirping sound of the birds. As much a curiosity for the onlookers are two non-Asian players in this little band - ethnomusicologist Valerie Samson on the zhong-hu (a tenor fiddle) and world music producer Michael Santoro on the dong-xiao (a vertical bamboo flute).
One day, Wu chanced upon several Chinese music performers playing at a Moon Festival Street Fair in Chinatown and stopped to listen. Before long, he dropped by with his gao-hu and insisted on playing with them. That's how he joined the group with whom he now plays every Saturday. "Music Gathering" is led and directed by Lawrence Lui, 70, who started this Cantonese music group in 1998.
Learning New RopesWu is an old Cantonese folk musician who is learning the ropes anew here in America. By night, he practices gao-hu and plays around on various Chinese instruments, and by day, he works as a production employee of Monster Cable Products. Before that, back in China, Wei Wu plied his trade as a tailor for over 30 years.
Wu came to the United States five years ago. "I want more freedom," he says, smiling. He is attending classes in preparation for his citizenship process, which he hopes will go through in nine months.
Wei Wu started learning the gao-hu when he was 13. His teacher, Chen Ben Hao, is a famous multi-instrumentalist, and his other teacher, Fung Bao Gong, is a well-respected gao-hu master in China. Wei Wu is not from a musical family, by any means. "When I was a kid, my buddy got me into the gao-hu-playing scene," says Wu in an interview at his home in Visitacion Valley. "After that, we both go follow teacher Chen."
Wu speaks with the bravado of a sociable Cantonese man, using bold, physical gestures to add color to his stories. Some say he is a self-taught, working class, folk musician from a Toi San village in Canton Province. But here, he is considered one of the finest gao-hu players in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Folk Music & New GroovesIn contrast to Wei Wu, Fred Fung is a young Cantonese American musician who plays the yang-qin in the Night Market band. Coming from Hong Kong and graduating from the Berkelee College of Music in Boston, Fung got into Cantonese music because of his Cantonese culture and nationalism.
"I want to show people Cantonese music is not just folk amateur music, but can be serious music." Personally, Fung seeks to create a new "groove-oriented" Chinese music. He believes the Cantonese music line has something in sync with hip-hop music. "Young Chinese need to get creative and incorporate hip hop, electronic music, or jazz with Chinese music," he says. "It's not easy, or you get something cheesy. But if you work at it, you can smooth things out."
According to Fung, Chinese music is not as mainstream here because it's not based on a drum beat. It is easier for Americans to incorporate Indian elements in electronic music, for example, because the Indian tabla relies on a drum beat, a groove familiar to American ears.
Can anything be done to popularize this music? Fung feels that it really depends on how the music is mixed and presented. That's why he is a part of the Night Market ensemble. "It's the only serious Cantonese music group in the Bay Area that plays the music for the music's sake," he says.
When asked what Americans should know about Cantonese music, Fung gives a mini-lecture on the basics. "The first thing is how to listen. Chinese music is about getting a good sound. It takes longer to get a good sound from its instruments, unlike a guitar. Skill is not in the chops you can show, but in the quality of sound. The melody is simple, but to play it right is difficult, and to decorate the phrases in your way. Chinese music is about how beautiful, how big you can get the sound from the instrument. It's all about how much you can transcend the spirit of the music."
Art MoneyBut making a living from playing Chinese music remains difficult. Fung admits, "We get paid $100 per night from the Night Market Committee. We make about $100 in tips, $180 if we are lucky, which comes down to about $30-$50 per person."
Still, Wu is glad to be playing out for money, which, though little, keeps him going. With over 30 years of experience, he wants Americans to hear Cantonese culture through the music and discover a beautiful world of new sounds.
"If anyone is interested in Cantonese music, come to Portsmouth Square next Saturday and check me out," he insisted seriously, like a Night Market sales man, promising a good show.
