Ling Kam Chun, Kenisu
1055 0623/2161 9803
Asian Studies Year 3
生於斯 which is the latest music album released by C AllStar on the first
of December in 2015. Since their seventh album ‘Cantoposibility’ released, they
had not been releasing album for nearly 2 years. The political and social
issues happened in Hong Kong within these 2
years are more or less provided some inspirations for C AllStar to create their
new album.
In these two years, Hong Kong is facing a lot of uncertainties no matter on
the social or political aspect. From umbrella movement to mystery disappearance
of bookseller Lee Bo, these news make Hong Kongers reflect on today’s Hong Kong
is whether the ‘Hong Kong’ that they know. More and more Hong Kongers reminisce
about British Hong Kong who they share the same childhood, living environment,
and language… etc. All these fragments combine together to become a collective
memory that only belongs to Hong Kongers.
Collective memory of Hong Kongers
C AllStar uses their words to
record collective memory in the album. 逾越生死 mirrors the life in British Hong
Kong era. If listeners just translate this song literally, they may find it is
just as simple as normal love songs which are describing romance. But if listeners
probe the lyrics carefully, it is not difficult to find that C AllStar’s
production teams cherish the memory of before 1997 and even the governance of
British government.
In逾越生死, some historical heritages and
cultural property such as 路軌(railway
line),郵筒(postbox),寺廟(temple), and粵曲(Cantonese opera) are appearing
in the song. All the things were built before 1997 and have a symbolic meaning of
British Hong Kong. To speak in other way, these historical heritages are the
carrier of collective memory of Hong Kongers and construct a framework for them
to reorganize fragmented and incomplete memories. When people walk around and
come across these heritages, they can reminisce about the ‘good old days’
through them. For foreign visitors, they can picture how Hong Kong is look like
and differentiate Hong Kong and China
Nostalgia, memory in生於斯
后會無期 is a song describes a bride-to-be having love affairs with another man
before the day of getting married. In this song, the day before getting married
works as a metaphor of before Hong Kong return to China China
is an irreversible fact, C AllStar and their fans can reminisce the golden era
of Hong Kong through this song. In recent
years, the social and political development is stuck and not moving forward.
More and more Hong Kongers are not confident of Hong Kong’s future and believe Hong Kong will have a better future under the governance
of British government. More and more people are reluctant to hand over Hong
Kong to China
To conclude, C AllStar has used
their voice to provide a space for Hong Kongers to commemorate the ‘good old
days’ and Hong Kongers’ hearts resonate through the lyrics. This album may not
like some superstars to get everybody moving but it would be a part of Hong Kong as it has recorded the collective memory of Pearl
of Orient.
Words: 590
Lyrics:
逾越生死
http://www.littleoslo.com/lyc/home/c-allstar-%e9%80%be%e8%b6%8a %e7%94%9f %e6%ad%bb-%e6%ad%8c %e8%a9%9e-mv-lyrics/
后會無期
http://www.littleoslo.com/lyc/home/c-allstar-%e5%90%8e%e6%9c %83%e7%84%a1%e6%9c %9f -feat-%e6%a2%81%e8%a9%a0%e7%90%aa-%e6%ad%8c %e8%a9%9e-mv/
Reference:
Halbwachs,
Maurice. "The Collective Memory, trans. Francis J. Ditter, Jr. and Vida Yazdi
Ditter." NewYork: Harper Colophone Books 48 (1980): 1937-45.
Dear Kenisu, In terms of structure, the blog entry looks like a professional music review online. That's nice. The analysis of the key phrases in the selected songs also informs the reader of the local identity constructed in the album. There is also effort on linking the introductory paragraphs which are about local political environment and the analysis of songs. You can be more careful in writing so as to minimise grammatical errors.
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