LIVE IS SO MUCH BETTER WITH MUSIC EASON CHAN CHARITY CONCERT
On July 11, Hong Kong singer Eason Chan performed at sunrise and sunset for an online charity concert and his joy at music-making is infectious.
What could be more fitting for the line-up than his classic Cantonese track Beautiful Sunset? Master lyricist Lin Xi takes a hackneyed Chinese phrase - "xi yang wu xian hao", which means that the sunset is beautiful but will soon fade into dusk - and breathes new life into it.
Where: YouTube
IGNITE! STAY HOME EDITION
Republic Polytechnic's annual music festival Ignite! celebrates healthcare professionals and charities in this Stay Home digital edition.
The home-grown acts performing includes singer-songwriter Lew, hip-hop artist Axel Brizzy and indie rock band Stopgap.
The festival started in 2008 and is wholly student-run.
Where: Online live-stream on YouTube and Facebook
When: July 18, 8pm
Folk pop
MUSEUM OF TEARS
Zheng Xing
4 stars
Chinese singer-songwriter Zheng Xing's debut album When I Leave Taipei (2017) was nominated at Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards for Album of the Year, Best Album in Mandarin and Best New Artist.
His poetic songs and caressing croon continue to tug at one's emotions on his sophomore Mandopop record.
Feng-ling's Bikes is a tender portrait of familial ties and the passage of the years sketched through his grandmother's three bicycles. And the melancholic Too Loud A Solitude is lifted by a buoyant chorus: "Take me to a place with no dark nights."
With time and distance, even a turbulent period can be seen in a different light. On the title track, he muses: "I have slowly grown to love this museum/Drops of tears, like looking at the sea."
This is yet another thoughtful and moving work.
Indie pop
BORN IN KOWLOON
Chet Lam
3.5 stars
A love letter to Hong Kong shot through with nostalgia, from the sepia-toned cover to the Cantonese songs.
Chet Lam potters down memory lane in numbers such as Kowloon CityBlues and Off Track ("How many Seven and Sasa's have opened and shuttered/Do you know").
Given the upheavals in the territory, a couplet in You Are Your City feels particularly poignant: "The city is you/You are your city."
Born In Kowloon is the prolific singer-songwriter's 19th studio album, his first since 2018's Travelogue 4 Escape.
