Names like Zhou Xuan, Li XiangIan and Bai Guang were not only famous years back, their songs have transcended time and are now immortal. Made popular in the 1930s to 1960s Shanghai arid later in Hong Kong, these songs are now known as the Chinese golden oldies or in mandarin shi dai qu (literally translated as songs of an era).<\/p>\n
Back home, Dama Orchestra have given these familiar oldies a \u2018face-lift\u2019 over the last few years, introducing a theatrical presentation complete with lighting effects, costume and narration, and featuring trained vocalists.<\/p>\n
Although Chinese oldies have been sung by professional and amateur singers throughout generations in Malaysia, it was Dama who a breath of freshness and classical authenticity into these golden oldies in its concert \u2018Spring Kisses Lovers\u2019 Tears\u201d in 1997. The concert, which featured well known soprano Angela Cheok and Poon Sook Peng, received an overwhelming response and close to 60 shows were successfully staged.<\/p>\n
\u201cA song, after it has been filtered having gone through a period oftime, becomes a classic. Those that are still popular todaymust have their value. Thus shi dai qu can be considered an art form,\u201d says Khor Seng Chew, Dama Orchestra music director.<\/p>\n
To Khor, shi dai qu\u2019s legacy has lived on. For those in their 30s and above, these songs are familiar as their parents used tolisten to them.
\n\u201cThese songs have become a nostalgic and familiar part oftheir pasts. Even the non- Chinese educated know them,\u201d says Khor.<\/p>\n
A unique feature of Dama\u2019s oldies presentation is that it always provides English narration. It helped convert many English- educated who were once adverse to Chinese concerts.<\/p>\n
But it has not always been smooth sailing. Khor explains Dama met with some opposition when the orchestra diversified from performing traditional Chinese classical music to Chinese oldies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had comments like it would not be suitable for trained vocalists to sing oldies,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Also finding the right singers to sing shi dai qu is not easy. So far Dama has worked with trained Sopranos Angela Chock, Poon Sook Peng and more recently Tan Soo Suan, who will be staging\u00a0The Songs in Me 2 \u2013 More of My Favourite Chinese Golden Oldies and Folk Songs<\/em>\u00a0in The Actor\u2019s Studio, Bangsar, from August 8 to 12, 2001.<\/p>\n \u201cThe singer must be very versatile and she must be able to understand the different styles and moods of the songs and their original singers. It\u2019s an advantage when most of the trained singers also know some popular songs.\u201d Dama will continue to present Chinese oldies programs as long as they have audience, says Khor. And their concerts always offer a unique repertoire. For instance, for Tan Soo Suan\u2019s second concert with Dama, she will render both folks and shi daiqu sung by 12 different singers. They include evergreens like \u201cA Little Flower\u201d, \u201cMy Serenade To You\u201d, \u201cDoes He Know\u201d, \u201cMy Faithful Heart\u201d, \u201cJiu Li Li\u201d, \u201cWithout You\u201d and the formidable \u201cCarmen\u201d.<\/p>\n Tan, who also grew with Chinese oldies, will display her powerful and versatile vocals in a wide range of musical styles from the lyrical \u201cWhy Didn\u2019t We Meet Earlier\u201d by Li Xiang Ian to the laid back alto voices of \u201cWithout You\u201d by Bai Guang and the dramatic and forceful \u201cCarmen\u201d.<\/p>\n First Published on Kakseni on 06.08.2001<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Names like Zhou Xuan, Li XiangIan and Bai Guang were not only famous years back, their songs have transcended time and are now immortal. Made popular in the 1930s to 1960s Shanghai arid later in Hong Kong, these songs are now known as the Chinese golden oldies or in mandarin shi dai qu (literally translated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":5,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7758],"tags":[],"language":[7785],"writer":[7975],"class_list":["post-3702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artikel","language-inggeris","writer-jess-c-ms"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3702"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39050,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702\/revisions\/39050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3702"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=3702"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=3702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nExtra training is necessary on the part of the singer to deliver shi dai qu properly, exuding her character rather than mimicking.<\/p>\n