refusing singularity

[nic]

拒绝唯一

作者：陈通玲
来源： you优周刊 (第203期)

王力宏是名副其实的音乐痴，只要和音乐有关的任何问题，他都侃侃而谈。这是他的执着，不管你认可与否，他都坚持要牢牢地守住这块音乐圣地。

如此有原则的歌手，不是人人能当，也不是处处受欢迎，特别是迎合媒体的八卦需求上，他完全不及格。面对媒体时，他不喜欢，也不爱聊音乐以外的话题，所以无论记者问他什么, 都得和音乐挂钩才能引起他的兴趣。结果在超时的越洋电访中，发现音乐内容几乎垄断了整个访问。如果说好朋友陶吉吉是通过音乐来传达对社会课题的关心，那他是拒绝只当一个情 歌歌手的歌者。

他的音乐希望：放眼未来，创立新的华人音乐品牌，寻找属于自己的音乐天地。

01 标新立异？

撇开嘻哈音乐和东方乐器日渐密切的关系，也不去追查到底是那位歌手先开始演唱华人嘻哈曲的流行音乐 (毕竟也只是封号而已) ，这真的是第一次有歌手用 “Chinked-Out” 的音乐标签。
可是尽管如此，还是能在坊间听到 “标新立异” 和 “换汤不换药” 的议论。

“它不是一个噱头或宣传企划的slogan 而已，我会发明这个称号是相信它可以持续的演变。” (“Chink” 是美国人用来骂华人的字眼，就像当初白人用“Nigger” 来贬低黑人一样。)

力宏发明的目的只有一个：重新拥有“Chink” 。

“就像当初黑人积极将Nigger 写在他们的 Rap 词里，我希望让我们能重新用有这个本来是负面的字，并赋予它正面的定义。”

更重要的是， “Chinked-Out” 代表的是一种新的嘻哈派系，他希望让世人了解只有华人诠释的 “Chinked-Out” 音乐才够味。

“我觉得这是一个其他音乐人可以接棒的音乐行动，让人华人音乐在国际上更上一层楼，我们不能再以翻唱或抄袭取胜。”

可是在细听他的音乐野心时，不免开始担心，它会不会落得和电影<<十面埋伏>> 的下场一样，在亚洲只普遍获得一种评语：作给外国人听 (看) 而已。

“其实这不是个中国人和外国人的问题，而是中国人看中国人的问题。流行音乐是做给大家听的，不是为了锁定某一个市场的，重要的是能够沟通到一些讯息。”

因为相信自己的音乐，他并不担心“Chinked-Out” 的未来。

“我们真的必须要有国际观，因为嘻哈已经是全世界的流行音乐。”

02 看得起自己

在某个程度上，这也是种看得起自己的新尝试。

“我会去做这样的风格音乐，不仅仅是做给外国人听。我选择拿少数民族的音乐放在嘻哈里，除了能让人耳目一新外，也让我们重新认识自己的文化。”

因为很多时候，这类音乐的伸展舞台只限于冷门的世界音乐或纪录片里，几乎都被世人所遗忘。

“而且亚洲是个很国际化的地区，我们的音乐应该跟他们(指美国和欧洲地区) 不一样，包含自己的文化特色。”

“流行音乐就是它有机会去改变现况，打破stereotypes 的一些刻板印象。”

当然，要将两种风格迥然不同的音乐和谐地结合在一起，谈何容易，更不是三言两语能解释清楚的。

“怎么掌握？。。。。。其实没有这么黑白和简单。重要的是整个精神和听觉都要一致的。像<<竹林深处>> 这首歌，它的rap (说到此，力宏忍不住开始rap 起来。。。。。) ，但是题材讲的都是 chinked-out， 而且这首歌的MV就拉到竹林去拍，因为它已经是华人的一个代表。”

03 音乐的理想

从一开始，力宏就直言新专辑<<心中的日月>>是一张能让他看到未来10年的努力方向。

1995年出道 (第一张专辑 <<情敌贝多芬>>，当时的力宏是典型的可爱男生造型，唱着少男少女偏爱的情歌。

想必对他而言，当时的自己是 “惨不忍睹” 的。所以他一直在努力求进步，终于成功成为市场肯定的唱片制作及创作人。

对于音乐，他从来没有放弃自己的严苛标准，也不愿作出任何妥协。

“像我做了<<唯一>>之后，唱片公司会说在写一首<<唯一>>，因为卖 嘛，这样是给消费者他们要的东西，可是这不是我的出发点。”

他的出发点是：相信自己的音乐是可以给消费者一些不一样的东西。

“我相信我的世界是 What I make of it, not the other way around。”

每个人都可以决定自己的生活，重要的是相信自己，相信自己是能改变现状的。

而且他深信在他的音乐里，歌迷是听得到他对生活的热情，理想和梦想。

他也希望歌迷能借此听到一个希望的灵感，他坚持拒绝一一种招牌式的情歌，来巩固自己在市场的价值。

” 这是艺术家最悲哀的一个地方，像我认识的很多艺术家，就有一位用大象的大便去做艺术品的，结果他红了，出风头了嘛。可是他以后就只能做这个了，大家就只透过他的一个招牌的 东西去认识他。“

” 可是我不愿意去这样做。因为我的音乐底子和我的成长背景，是非常多元化的，我没有办法锁定一个频道。“

04 适应与牺牲

虽然出道10年了，但力宏说，自己是近两三年才终于适应艺人的吉普赛 (gypsy) 的生活。

” 刚出道时还是学生，所以只在寒暑假时才回台湾。当时我可以两边跑，美国开学时又重新当一个平凡的学生，有一种 balance。”

可是毕业后，当自己完全投入这个圈子时，就失去了所谓的平凡生活，像这五年来他就一直在做空中飞人。

“我现在会说我已经学会怎样去爱这样一个生活方式，不会无奈或遗憾，毕竟有得有失。。。。留一点遗憾也不错吧。”

05 家庭 vs 独立

对家人，他心里有无尽的感激和遗憾。

“这应该是我10年最遗憾的事吧(指无法陪家人) ， 现在一提起，心还是忍不住揪了一下。你无法想像我牺牲了多少东西。。。。。”

语气中，深刻感受到他的无奈及愧疚。

“我是18岁时一个人到亚洲追寻我的理想，可是也因此无法目睹及参与家人的许多重要时 刻，如弟弟的毕业典礼等。不过去年我的哥哥就给了我一个网络摄像机的圣诞礼物，可以装 在我的电脑，这样一来就能看到他的baby 长大了。”

他坚信因为有家人的存在及鼓励，自己在音乐的道路上才不会这么孤独。

重视家人的观念也是他最传统的一面。

相反的，自己的独立和自信则是深受西方教育的影响。

“我觉得心态要很健康，在西方的文化里，大家都比较有自信，可是亚洲似乎是比较多的人是自卑的，如我们会崇洋或哈日等。我们不要忽略自己的存在价值。”

这应该算是一种民族意识吧，强烈希望自己的文化精髓能在世界的音乐舞台上，得到应得的认可及肯定。

06 认同灵魂？

以力宏的外表，身边肯定不愁无人相伴，但是日前他在小燕姐的节目时，却自认可能患上社交恐惧症。

“我也不知道为什么如此，这是节目里的专家说的。但是我常常会当一个hermit(隐士蟹， 独来独往之意) 。”

他不是只有在筹备新专辑时才会如此颓废及不合群吗？

“不，我平时也一样，我喜欢一个人去看电影和吃饭。。。。。我不喜欢太表面地去交朋友，我也不太会。”

“我的音乐可以超越日常生活里很表面的接触。。。。。人都是有灵魂的嘛，应该认同别人灵魂的存在。”

所以，想认识力宏心灵的有心人士，请先肯定他的音乐灵魂吧。
否则，他会让你吃不了兜着走。

# 后记

曾和力宏作过两次访问，每次印象就是他很闷，因为他只爱聊音乐。
不是他没有生活，没有其他想法，而是他在面对媒体时，是为了宣传自己的专辑，因此他选择很专注且死心眼地把访谈内容局限在音乐上。

这一次，虽然也只聊音乐(其他话题并没有深谈) ，但感觉上舒服多了，或许是因为在聊其他话题时，不再从他的语气中感到他的不悦。

希望这个拥有正统音乐背景的歌者明白：懂得你的心，才能了解你的歌。

毕竟歌手和他的音乐是密不可分的，也是二合为一的。

use unicode (UTF-8) encoding to read.

[nic]

Wang Leehom
Refusing Singularity
Source: you magazine (issue 203)

Author: Chen Tong Ling

Wang Leehom is a typical music fanatic. He will speak freely as long as the questions are musically related. This is his punctilious nature. Doesn't matter whether you approve of it, he will insist on defending this piece of music sacred ground.
Not everyone can be a musician with such principles, neither will his popularity poll be high everywhere. When it comes to the gossipy requirements of the media, he totally failed in that aspect. When he appears before the media, he hates to talk about topics outside of music, so no matter what the reporters ask him, it will have to be musically related before it will ignite his interest. That is why, during the overtime cross-nation telephone interview, one would find that most of the content is on music. If you say his good friend David Tao shows his concern over social issues through his music, then he, is a musician, who refuse to be just another singer of sentimental songs.
His musical aspiration: Look into the future, create a new Chinese musical brand, searching for the musical heaven that is truly his.

01 To be Different?

Putting aside the increasing relationship between Hip-Hop music and the Eastern instruments, as well as whom first started singing popular Chinese Hip-Hop music (it's only a title after all), this is the first time a musician has used the musical term "Chinked-Out".
But even so, we can still hear the words like "Unconventional" and "the same old stuff, just changing a label".

"This is not just an attention grabber or a publicity slogan, I invented the name because I believe it can continue to evolve." ("Chink" is a derogatory word used by the Americans on Chinese, just like the word "Nigger" which the Caucasians used to degrade the African-Americans).
Leehom’s purpose of inventing the name was to repossess the word.

"Just like in the beginning when the African-Americans persistently used Nigger in their rap lyrics, I hope that we can repossess this negative word, and give it a more positive meaning."

More importantly, "Chinked-Out" represents a new style of Hip-Hop which he hope to let the world know that only the Chinese can fully annotate the flavour of "Chinked-Out".

"I feel that this is a musical motion that other musicians can follow-up on, thus allowing the status of Chinese music to rise in the international arena, we cannot continue to hype on refurbishing or copying other people’s music."

But while listening to his musical ambition, one may start to worry if its end would be that of the movie <<Total Ambush>>, whereby the general sentiments of Asia: Made for the Westerners.

"Actually, this is not a question of Chinese and Westerners; it is more of a question of how the Chinese regard their own. Popular music is made for all to hear, it is not made for a specific market. The more important objective is to be able to communicate certain messages."

Because he believes in his music, he is not overly concerned over the future of "Chinked-Out".
"We must have a more international outlook as Hip-Hop is already the popular music of the world."

02 Thinking Highly of Oneself

On a certain level, this is also a new attempt for someone who feels he could do it.

"I didn’t create this style of music just to let the Westerners listen to it. I chose to incorporate the music of the ethnic minorities into Hip-Hop, so that other then giving listeners something new, it also allows us to renew our knowledge of our culture."

As more often then not, the runway for such music has been restricted to the less popular world music and in documentaries, almost forgotten by the masses.
"Asia is a very international area, our music should be different from theirs (America and European countries), it should consist of our cultural characteristics."

"The nature of popular music is that it has the chance to change the present, breaking the inflexible image of stereotypes."

Of course, it is not easy to harmoniously combine two distinctly different style of music together, nor is it easy to explain it all in a few words.

"How to grasp it?….. There is actually no hard and fast rule nor is it that easy to accomplish. The important factor is that the whole essence and what you hear are one. Like the song <<Deep within the bamboo grove>>, it has rap (after saying that, Leehom began to rap…), but the topic talked about is chinked-out, and the MV of the song was filmed in a bamboo grove, just because it is already a representative of the Chinese."

03 Musical Idealism

From the start, Leehom has straight-forwardly communicated that the new album <<Shangri-La>> is an album which allows him to see his future path to strive for the next 10 years to come.

In 1995, when he first began (first album <<Love Rival Beethoven>>), the Leehom, at the time, was a typical adorable boy image, singing the love songs that young boys and girls like.

One could imagine the image of him then, to him now, must have been unbearable. That is why he strived to improve and finally he successfully became an album producer and music creator highly recognized by the industry.

When it comes to music, he never forgoed his strict standards, neither is he willing to compromise.
"Like the time when I produced << The One and Only>>, the record company will say to write another <<The One and Only>>, just because it sells. This is just giving the consumer what they want. But this is not my original intention."

His original intention: Believing that his music can give the consumer something different.

"I believe my world is What I make of it, not the other way around."

"Anyone can determine his/her own way of living, the more important thing is to believe in yourself, believing in yourself can change the present situation."

Moreover he strongly believes that the fans can hear his passion, ideals and dreams of life in his music.

He also wished that his fans will hear the inspiration of hope. He simply refused to use a signature love song to strengthen his industrial worthiness.

"This is the saddest part of an artist. Among the many artists I know, there is one who uses elephant defecate to produce works of art and he became famous for it. But after that, that is all he can work with. Everyone will only come to know him because of this signature work."

"But I am not willing to do that. Because of the diversity of my musical foundation and my background, I can't lock in on only one channel."

04 Adaptability and Sacrifice

Even though he has been in the business for 10 years, Leehom confessed that it was only during the last 2 or 3 years that he finally got used to the gypsy way of living of an artiste.

"When I first started out I was still a student, I only returned to Taiwan during the summer and winter holidays. At that time, I could commute between countries and when school starts in the US, I will be an ordinary student again, in a way there is a sense of balance."

But after graduation, when he became completely immersed in the industry, he lost the so called ordinary life, and for the past 5 years, he has been a frequent flyer.

"I can say that I've learnt to love this way of living, without helplessness or regret. There will always be situations when you either win or lose. It's not so bad to leave a little regret behind."

05 Family vs Independence

Towards his family, he has the utmost gratitude and regret.

"This should be the most regretful thing these 10 years of my life (on not being with his family), even talking about it now, my heart can't help but sting a little. You can't imagine how much I have sacrificed."

One can deeply feel the helplessness and regret in his tone.

"I came to Asia alone at 18 to pursue a dream and because of that I missed many memorable family moments, like my younger brother's graduation. But last year, my elder brother gave me a webcam as a Christmas present which I could mount on my computer, that way I can watch his baby grow up."

He firmly believes that because of the existence of his family and their encouragement, he is not alone on his music path.

Strong regards of family values is his most traditional side.

Alternatively, his independence and self-confidence shows strong western influences.

"I feel that a healthy mind is essential. In Western culture, everyone is more self-confident but in Asia people generally have inferior complexes, like when we mimic the West or the Japanese. We must not overlook the value of our existence."

This should be considered a kind of racial consciousness, strongly hoping that his cultural existence can be recognizes and acknowledged on the musical stage of the world.

06 Soul Acknowledgement?

With Leehom's physical attributes, there should not be any problem on companionship, but a while ago when he was on Xiao Yan Jie's program, he admitted to suffering from social phobia.

"I'm also not sure why this is so, it's what the experts in the program said, but I have always been a hermit."
Isn't he decadent and unsociable only during his new album's production period?

"No, I'm like that most of the time, I like to watch movies and eat alone… I don't like to go out and make friends just for the sake of making friends. I'm not proficient in that."

"My music can overcome any superficial contact in ordinary life… Everyone has a soul. We should acknowledge the existence of these souls."

So, for those who want to know Leehom, you will first have to acknowledge his musical soul.

If not, he will not let you achieve anything.

Afterword
Having done 2 interviews with Leehom previously, my impression both times were he was very boring, because he only love to talk about music.

Not that he doesn't have a life, or other thoughts, it is just that when he meets the media, it is to promote his album. Therefore he chose to focus adamantly on musical topics only.

This time round, even though we only talked about music (we did not go deeper on the other topics), but the feeling was more comfortable, probably because when the conversation veered towards other topics, I no longer sense the unhappiness in his tone.

Hope this musician who possesses a traditional musical background can understand: The one who understands you as a person can better understand your music.
For a musician and his music are inseparable and unified as one.

translated by: yours truly

[singer]

Wow you can tell Leehom really knows what he is talking about. And I agree on what he says about international music that it is made to hear and not only for the ¡°american¡± and ¡°chinese¡± audience. I also admire him for being so reinventive and not ¡°locking into only one channel¡±. I¡¯m glad he makes music for change and passion and not for the ordinary love song. We need more artists like Leehom!

[aMy]

thanx 4 e article.. i thk is e kinda person who is v determined n will do what he wants.. its true we need talents lik lee hom.. he is known for his talents n innovations n creativity.. "This is the saddest part of an artist. Among the many artists I know, there is one who uses elephant defecate to produce works of art and he became famous for it. But after that, that is all he can work with. Everyone will only come to know him because of this signature work." i totally agree wor.. wad for be known for jus a signature work n not e rest..

[Jayne]

Thanks Nic! That was a great translation...