Post by nic on Mar 21, 2005 23:53:17 GMT 8
Chinese-American crooner Wang Lee Hom gives a cool twist to an uncool word in his new album Shangri-La
Magdalen Ng
Chink may be a derogatory word for the Chinese, but that hasn't stopped the Taiwanese-American singer Wang Lee Hom from using it in Shangri-La, his latest album.
in fact, the 29-year-old says the album - his 10th - embodies the spirit of chink-out". It's his made-up term for cool Chinese hip-hop whhich takes the sting out of the usual insult.
What's really cool is that he has done so even though - or maybe because - he "always faced discrimination" growin gup in the Ynited States, as he revealed at a media roundtable held at the Sony BMG office here last Friday.
The R&B popster then pointed out:"In the past, African-Americans used to loathe the word nigger, but now, they have repossessed it. You hear it in every other line of rap, and it strengthens their identity. "Besides that cool move, Wang has also infused Shangri-La with the music of China's minority communities in the hope of giving Chinese hip-hop its own identity.
As he put it: "It's high time we took pride i our own culture." To do that, Wang actually lugged about 15kg of sound equipment around China to record the music of its minority in Yunnan, Dali, Hunming and Tibet.
He recalled:"I madenew discoveries every day, and had to adapt to the many variables that could affect the recordings, like the wind."
It was worthwhile, he said, even though he ahd bouts of altitude sickness and food poisoning to boot.
The boyish-looking singer, who was musically trained in a conservatory, marvelled at how music was"part of them".
As he put it:"They have songs for hunting, songs for working - and they don't care if they're on pitch."
>Shangri-La is in the shops
~ LifePeople, The Straits Times
Magdalen Ng
Chink may be a derogatory word for the Chinese, but that hasn't stopped the Taiwanese-American singer Wang Lee Hom from using it in Shangri-La, his latest album.
in fact, the 29-year-old says the album - his 10th - embodies the spirit of chink-out". It's his made-up term for cool Chinese hip-hop whhich takes the sting out of the usual insult.
What's really cool is that he has done so even though - or maybe because - he "always faced discrimination" growin gup in the Ynited States, as he revealed at a media roundtable held at the Sony BMG office here last Friday.
The R&B popster then pointed out:"In the past, African-Americans used to loathe the word nigger, but now, they have repossessed it. You hear it in every other line of rap, and it strengthens their identity. "Besides that cool move, Wang has also infused Shangri-La with the music of China's minority communities in the hope of giving Chinese hip-hop its own identity.
As he put it: "It's high time we took pride i our own culture." To do that, Wang actually lugged about 15kg of sound equipment around China to record the music of its minority in Yunnan, Dali, Hunming and Tibet.
He recalled:"I madenew discoveries every day, and had to adapt to the many variables that could affect the recordings, like the wind."
It was worthwhile, he said, even though he ahd bouts of altitude sickness and food poisoning to boot.
The boyish-looking singer, who was musically trained in a conservatory, marvelled at how music was"part of them".
As he put it:"They have songs for hunting, songs for working - and they don't care if they're on pitch."
>Shangri-La is in the shops
~ LifePeople, The Straits Times
