... Tam, that is. Many people will never believe that, but yes, I went to watch this classic icon of Chinese pop last night. Even my best friend, when I told her I would be going, remarked, "You are going to watch Alan?!"
"Yes, anything wrong with that?" I answered. "Just that I have never heard you listen to his songs before. You always listen to Jacky. And you prefer English songs over Chinese ones anytime." True, but good music is good music, and great music transcend any language barriers.
But anyway, it is true that I hardly listen to Alan Tam. Perhaps because he had not many Mandarin albums, mostly Cantonese, and since I never listen to Cantonese songs, I hardly know what he sounds like. Besides, he belongs to my parents' generation, considering he is already fifty-seven years of age (even older than my mum!), yet somehow he still looks thirthish. Wonder how people manage to maintain? My mum also did a double take when I told her I would be going to his concert. Obviously she knows him better than I do.
So why did I attend the concert? It was to accompany a friend. He is a real Alan fan, and being Cantonese himself, he listens to all the songs and buy all the albums. He was looking around for people to go with him, and since he is treating and I know how lonely it is to attend a concert on one's own, I agreed to accompany him. Besides, I know who Alan Tam is, since I am more familiar with his movies than his songs.
It was a good thing I attended the concert. Listening to songs over the radio or via CDs or MP3s, a live concert is just different. The entire atmosphere is more intense, and one can really immerse oneself into the songs belting out by the singer. Honestly his entire body still looks good, not just his face. No one will ever believe he is already this age!
Most of the concert was in Cantonese, thus I could only understand bits and pieces due to my very limited knowledge of Cantonese. But I enjoyed the tunes and the songs, even though I could hardly understand the lyrics. Some of his older Mandarin songs are nice, as compared to the newer ones.
I came across some familiar tunes, namely "Hand In Hand" (the Mandarin version of the 1988 Olympic theme song) and "Friends". I actually performed these two songs before, long time ago, when my then music school was having a promotion concert, so my teacher asked me to perform at one of the shopping malls for the public. After so long, finally I realised who the singer was!
He also performed some of his own compositions. Some of the older singers are talented indeed, able to write their own songs, sing, dance, perform, act. Somehow the newer singers are not able to cut it, even with grooming and training. For someone almost sixty, he can still sing and dance non-stop for three hours. Amazing!
Overall it was an enriching experience. Now I am really looking forward to seeing Jacky in another few months!
"Yes, anything wrong with that?" I answered. "Just that I have never heard you listen to his songs before. You always listen to Jacky. And you prefer English songs over Chinese ones anytime." True, but good music is good music, and great music transcend any language barriers.
But anyway, it is true that I hardly listen to Alan Tam. Perhaps because he had not many Mandarin albums, mostly Cantonese, and since I never listen to Cantonese songs, I hardly know what he sounds like. Besides, he belongs to my parents' generation, considering he is already fifty-seven years of age (even older than my mum!), yet somehow he still looks thirthish. Wonder how people manage to maintain? My mum also did a double take when I told her I would be going to his concert. Obviously she knows him better than I do.
So why did I attend the concert? It was to accompany a friend. He is a real Alan fan, and being Cantonese himself, he listens to all the songs and buy all the albums. He was looking around for people to go with him, and since he is treating and I know how lonely it is to attend a concert on one's own, I agreed to accompany him. Besides, I know who Alan Tam is, since I am more familiar with his movies than his songs.
It was a good thing I attended the concert. Listening to songs over the radio or via CDs or MP3s, a live concert is just different. The entire atmosphere is more intense, and one can really immerse oneself into the songs belting out by the singer. Honestly his entire body still looks good, not just his face. No one will ever believe he is already this age!
Most of the concert was in Cantonese, thus I could only understand bits and pieces due to my very limited knowledge of Cantonese. But I enjoyed the tunes and the songs, even though I could hardly understand the lyrics. Some of his older Mandarin songs are nice, as compared to the newer ones.
I came across some familiar tunes, namely "Hand In Hand" (the Mandarin version of the 1988 Olympic theme song) and "Friends". I actually performed these two songs before, long time ago, when my then music school was having a promotion concert, so my teacher asked me to perform at one of the shopping malls for the public. After so long, finally I realised who the singer was!
He also performed some of his own compositions. Some of the older singers are talented indeed, able to write their own songs, sing, dance, perform, act. Somehow the newer singers are not able to cut it, even with grooming and training. For someone almost sixty, he can still sing and dance non-stop for three hours. Amazing!
Overall it was an enriching experience. Now I am really looking forward to seeing Jacky in another few months!
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