Hong Kong Christmas syndikat

Wong Jim 黃霑 - Hong Kong Christmas 又到聖誕

Santa Claus comes on the 6th of December and Jesus was born in October. Historically there is no reason to celebrate Xmas on the 25th and spend 24 hours of family madness with a distended stomach unless you’re a miscreant enslaved to the Law of Capital or late Christendom. But if you’re a Hong Kong humorist like Wong Jim, then you can sing it all year long and it's never too soon in Toyland.

This parodic medley was first uploaded by Zoundcracker - Godtube bless him. The album was released in 1990. Hong Kong was still a British colony then and the toy industry was flourishing. However "Uncle Jim" chose the middle way, and decided to mock both his communist and liberal neighbours in a classic buffoonish style. Followed by a children choir and a saxophone, he swings all the way down to the mall, trashing drunken fathers, warning against the coming of Deng Xiaoping, and praying for Hongkongers’ independence. Zoundcracker was charitable enough to post the lyrics in Chinese, Google will translate them for you.

又到聖誕
（Santa Claus Is Coming To Town）
喂　又到聖誕　啦　又到聖誕
下個聖誕有無今年咁嘆
鄧小平is coming to town
趁又到聖誕　人就要嘆啦
第處聖誕有無香港咁嘆
阿鉅子誠都怕且就 yang
八番次共你聚聚　唱歌搭住晚飯
九七先至諗大鑊飯　係要今年玩多晚
趁佢又到聖誕　人扮下懶
伴你嘆下　撇甩左阿燦
趁鄧小平未黎到自己嘆 哈
八番次共你聚聚　唱歌搭住晚飯
九七先至諗大鑊飯　係要今年玩多晚
趁佢又到聖誕　人扮下懶
伴你嘆下　撇甩班阿燦
趁鄧小平未黎到自己嘆 哈

跳啦老豆
（Silent Night）
跳啦老豆　跳啦老豆　依家就跳夠喉
係話乜都會照舊　但係怕佢一轉左 tun 後
總之今晚跳先　聽朝事聽朝先抖
笑啦老豆　笑啦老豆　九七後怕應酬
但係今天不靠左靠右
儘量 long weekend 散多兩舊
總之依大個口　出年事出年追究
do . . do . . do . . do . .
醉啦老豆　醉啦老豆　酒精係你汽油
茅台 XO 都殺啦老豆 自便加冰水雪啦老豆
總之乜都係趁手　今晚未必有回頭

乜鬼都買
（Joy To The World）
乜鬼都買　好鬼高興
Christmas shopping shopping
一九九七一早注定　新衫新錶應早買定
莫待日後賣清　到時頭暈頭慶
買件油多都要話睇身份證
今天不買　他朝盞慶　
Shouting 小平　小平
因此今天不必冷靜　沙堡罌撐一早買定
莫待日後買清　到時頭暈頭慶
買盒牙簽都要話擔心呃秤

香港長是我的家
（We Three Kings Of The Orient Are）
香港你長是我的家　風打雨淋係我聖地
我愛香港　萬年亦不變　點肯點忍你別離
啊　我會發狂抱住你　我要永恒照住你
我愛 Hong Kong We Love Hong Kong
愛國愛民愛護你
香港你長是我的家　千千百年係我聖地
我愛香港　熱誠絕不變　點都不會別離
啊　我會有頭有尾　永遠永恒照住你
我愛 Hong Kong We Love Hong Kong
愛國愛民愛護你

我發奮做人
（Away In A Manger）
一想起中國　我發奮做人
長懷熱誠民主與自由既心
一想起東西德　我發力做人
同胞一德一心　會將牆撞冧
一想起中國　我發奮做人
抬頭望埋架仔　就自然勇敢
歐洲加洲乜洲　我拍住做人
同保可愛香港　要佢將來莫冧
一想起中國　我發奮做人
人權自由民主已熱紅我心
一想起淺水灣　我搏命做人
同保可愛香港　再講明就 chum

祝你聖誕快樂
（We Wish You A Merry X＇mas）
從聖誕想到日後　若果他朝一切未舊
如果九七肯押後　人人未洗換竇
同志無曬事　任我地自由
我個陣既家財　銀行十間未夠
臨聖誕許個願望　望香江好到日後
唔洗九七押後　人人停止互鬥
同志你快樂　換我地自由
我祝福你身裁　同埋肥肥互鬥

又到聖誕
（Santa Claus Is Coming To Town）
喂　又到聖誕　又到聖誕
下個聖誕有無今年咁嘆
鄧小平 is coming to town
趁又到聖誕　人就要嘆啦
第處聖誕有無香港咁嘆呀
巨子誠都怕且就 咯
八番次共你聚聚　唱歌搭住晚飯
九七先至諗大鑊飯　係要今年玩多晚
趁佢又到聖誕　人扮下懶
伴你嘆下　撇甩左阿燦
趁鄧小平未黎到自己嘆
趁鄧小平未黎到自己嘆



Wish I can post more often next year
Big bisoux to all comrades

"Nightingale of the Orient"

Grace Chang - I love Cha cha

First artist from Hong Kong to appear on American TV, Grace Chang had such success singing in the Dinah Shore show that Capitol records shortly decided to release a LP afterwards, sung in chinese, but split between an A-side blended of various wordwide styles (Mambo, Calypso, Hawaïan...), and a more traditionnally chinese B-side.

Liner notes try to both explain and justify the use of these various musical styles more familiar to american people: "The colorful port of Hong Kong, one of the busiest in the world, is a melting pot of music from all over the world. Businessmen, travellers, immigrants, students, sailors, everybody brings his music (or musical preferences) when he comes to Hong Kong, and the result is a free exchange unmatched anywhere else. In the selections of this Miss Chang dips into a world-wide variety of styles, and comes up with a demi-dozen of surprises to delight you."



I love Cha cha is an extract from the 1957 movie Mambo Girl, classic but charming musical produced by MP and GI film studio (main rival to the Shaw Brothers). This huge commercial success definitely turned her into one of these delightfully out of time musical icons, a statu confirmed later by various killer sequences like this 1960 floating carmen cover extract from The Wild, Wild Rose:

Purple Brain

Xper Xr - Nao Lin Mieh

The most thrilling thing regarding Hong Kong's mighty Xper Xr, could be to discover along interviews how much his intensive practice of musical dumbness may actually challenge all the Deuleuze, Derrida, and Heidegger quotations he's sprinkling on a crust of Prince's Purple Rain.

Let's consider his own instructive post-situ views for the classy french magazine Revue et corrigée in 2001:

"Once upon a time, in an obscure county of this obscure world, there was a kid playing obscure guitar to become a rockstar. It happend that after four years practicing electric guitar, and a little bit of drums, something was reveald to him: what he was calling music then could actually be summarized in few words: basic melodies, sterling virtuosity and pretty face (and maybe our hero actually didn't have any of this in his possession. But nevermind)."


"Nowadays artists don't have the mind configuration to criticize the commercial system's holy trinity: Music - Lifestyle - Image, and these mechanics working nights and days to produce what we don't want, but always end up buying." (...) I wasn't conscious that my music could contain any irony, but if it is the case, it's only to justify and appropriate the critic I'm criticizing, the copies I'm copying."

"The ultimate goal of our civilisation is to turn everything into something popular. Everything that can be named must be labelised under the banner of fashion: fashion doesn't follow any principle, fashion is what is to become something else. We can then hear techno music, or indie pop that incorporated noise without being disturbed at all. Is it sonic pollution, or the ultimate form of fascim in times of peace?"

Aside from these fascinating considerations set aside the glamorous skills of a guy able to cover such thing as Maximum Overdrive, Xper Xr is also mythically known for another very specific activity: driving dragsters. Wow.


The well titled " ... .. . .... .." in entirely made of billboard hits transcriptions for a chinese traditionnal orchestra. However, it strongly looks like people were recorded separatly, unable to hear each other, and almost discovering the scores for the first time, everything being afterwards edited alltogether to get the expected result.
Indeed, record finally contains some of the all-time best versions of songs such as Right on Time, S'Express, and other fundamental classics.

Lün Hsiao Shuai, earlier piece in his discography, is a more solo, pleasantly junk and stimulatingly chaotic album also containing live elements recorded on radio Aligre.
While some connexions might occasionally be found with Negativland, V/Vm, or some of the things produced by Yoshihide Otomo / Yamantaka Eye, the result remains hugely haunted by personal obsessions, as proven by this Santana guitar karaoke unique overdub.




Xper Xr - Bao Zhen Go


Xper Xr - Bas Ma Ti

These records are still avalaible, here or there, track them down !
Hours of fun with friends, at the beach, or vacuuming your nest.

For complete fascinating interview (in french), you can order the excellent n°47 of Revue et Corrigée.