Asian Voice

 

 

Chapter 1

 

Alex Chan had difficulty sleeping that night. A chance to meet Ono Yoko, the wife of his idol John Lennon. It is just something too remote for him a month ago. But now the opportunity is here. But even if he sees her, he has no idea what should he do. Asking for an autograph, perhaps.

 

At the age of 40, Alex is now operating a bar, Heaven Can Wait, in Wan Chai after quitting his job as an operation manager of the Hong Kong securities watchdog two years ago. His decision had met with laughter of his former colleague, but he didn’t not care. The bar, which has a stage for people to perform music, has been so far making a loss, exactly what he predicted before. But he is pleased that it has become a hub for metalheads and bands at night time. He has never questioned himself about the decision of opening the bar, nor the way it operates.

That’s just what he wants.

In the afternoon, he switches on the hi-fi and plays some oldies, 1960s - 1980s, while at night, he considers it’s time to rock and plays metal and heavy rock musics.

Since the bar’s inception, he got some interviews by local media, mainly magazines and newspapers. But he found the questions crappy - “Can you tell me what’s special about this bar?” “What happened to you and trigger your decision to open this bar”

Come on, it doesn’t need to have something happened to me to open a bar, he thought.

And what’s special? You should tell me what’s special, not the other way round. “Nothing special,” he answered duly.

 

Apart from the nuisance from reporters and the landlord coming to ask for rental increase, Alex is quite happy with the premise, where he meets his new friends.

Many of them come at late night. Occasionally after their gigs, the bands celebrate at the bar.

He is particularly fond of The White Elephant, a band that is weird in the eyes of other, even their music counterparts. The reason is simple - they all hold university degrees, with one even got a master.

“What the hell they get playing? They should be sitting in the office typing computers. Why should they grab the hell of the guitar and drum sticks,” Alex once heard another band talking about The White Elephant.

Alex met this band on the first week of the bar’s operation. At that time, the band members - Eden (guitar, vocal), Stuart (bass), Jessie (vocal, keyboard) and Charlie (drums) were still doing their studies. Alex had a deep impression of Jessie because she was the former president of the University of Hong Kong student union. She made a lot of noise, as far as Alex can recall.

 

Alex noticed Jessie when she stepped into the bar that day. She looked curious as she didn’t notice its existence previously. Alex greeted her and she ordered a drink. Alex saw her making some calls and three other people arrived shortly, sat down and started to discuss something. At that time, Alex thought they were all members of the student union and were planning some sort of social actions. But instead, they talked about songs and some sort of gigs.

After they came to the bar a few times later, Alex became their friend. They virtually talked about everything. 

 

A woman in her 30s came to the bar one day, asking to see Alex. “Hi, This is Alex, what can I do for you?”

“Oh, hi, this is Fion Man from The Standard,” the lady said.

Alex frowned and said: “Oh Fion, how are you? I’m sorry I didn’t return your call. I am busy these days and getting dizzy.”

Fion was obviously not convinced with what he said. “The reason I’m calling and coming is that I’m writing a feature story on the 25^th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Someone gave me your contact number and said you might be able to help,” she said.

Alex was a bit surprised about what she said, because he thought she was just another folk coming to ask why he set up this bar and what’s so special.

“Let’s talk. Do you want a drink? Coffee? Tea?” Alex led Fion to a table.

“Ice coffee will be fine, thanks,” she said.

Alex waved a staff member to get two ice coffees.

“My friend told me you are a super-fan of Lennon and you know a lot of his fans in Hong Kong as well. At this moment, my feature story will focus on Lennon’s influence to them throughout these years and what they are going to do to mark the 25^th anniversary.”

“Sounds interesting, how can I help?” Alex asked.

“Perhaps we can start with you. Yeah, how did you get in touch with Lennon’s songs?”

“Ummm, that’s my university days. Let me put it simple. I listened to some oldies, such as Bee Gees, and one day, a friend asked ‘how about Beatles?’. Then I bought a Beatles album, the greatest hits, and became hooked with the band,” said Alex, as their drinks arrived, he continued “Then I bought a VCD, Imagine - a documentary and a biography of John Lennon. From his forming of the Beatles, marriage, then indulged in drugs, meditation, the spilt of the band and he life in The US, I just found all these fascinating. I started playing his songs again and again. That’s it.”

Fion appeared to be spellbound and it seems she found the right person.

Then she asked questions about what’s unique about Lennon, how does it change his concept of life …..

“What’s great about Lennon? I think it’s his attitudes, his behaviour. He never disappointed you when he was under the spotlight. He always showed a sense of humour, no matter how hard he lived. To him, there is no compromise. When he wanted to say something, such as his anger over the Americans participation in the Vietnam war, he just said it straight, no matter he was in front of the camera, or he was writing songs.”

The question seemed to have turned Alex on and he went on and on.

When the interview came to an end, Alex gave her the contact number of The White Elephant. “Perhaps you can talk to Eden of The White Elephant. He’s young, but try talk to him. I’m just an audience of Lennon. Eden plays the songs, he may be able to tell you what it is like playing the songs, … I don’t know, …..”

 

Two days later, Alex saw Fion coming to the bar with Eden. Alex greeted them and proceeded with their orders. Because he had an appointment, Alex assured them to sit comfortably and order whatever they wanted and all would be on the house. He then left the bar. 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Jessie and Eden were talking to the microphone for a live interview of an on-line radio programme. They were invited by Yeah.com to talk about the band, their latest album and most important of all, to respond to some negative comments about the band imitating the music of a renowned old band – The Beatles.

“Today we have The White Elephant’s Jessie and Eden with us sharing their thoughts about their latest album and …..” the DJ carried on with a brief background of the group.

Jessie started to introduce the concept behind the album. “The theme is about Justice. We think this is a big question we all have to face. That is why it’s titled ‘A Matter of Life and Death’.

“The album starts with three heavy rocks in which we express how we loath big corporations squeeze staff wages, how globalisation results in local unemployment and destroy the uniqueness of each country… Then from the middle of the album, we start to explore how the world can be a better place to live, we deliberately inject some illusion element there, which, I don’t know, may be an irony indeed - that a better world is just an illusion,” Jessie said.

The host decided it’s time to play hard.

“Some people say your song, Share, is very similar to Beatles’ All you need is Love. A member of us even upload both songs to our website for people to compare. How do you respond to their accusations that you are copying the Beatles? Personally I found the two songs very similar too, especially the chorus,” the DJ shot to the heart of the matter.

“Let me answer this question,” said Eden. “Yes, in a way, what they say is true,” he said.

There is a stun silence as the host was waiting Eden to go on.

“We write the song base on All You Need Is Love, no doubt about it. But we believe the underlying message could be expressed in a stronger manner and more powerful. We made the sounds more compelling, we want the message to pound in people’s heart and so we choose a bass-lead and bass-dominant style. We have rewritten the lyrics a bit, adding some modern element about love. Now I think people will be interested in why we still keep the ‘shadow’ of the old Beatles song. The answer is we don’t know, we just think the basics of the song is too good to be replaced.

“We just do not want to make something different for the sake of difference. If we think this is what we think is prefect, just leave it like that,” he said.          

 

After leaving the studio, Jessie and Eden headed to Heaven Can Wait to meet the other two members.

Alex came to greet them. “I heard what you said on the web, you sound great, but a bit angry at the end.”

“Did I? I just tell what it is all about,” Eden said.

Alex did enjoy the on-line interview a few minutes ago, especially when they talked about their musical career after graduating from The University of Hong Kong. Alex knew it all, but it was still refreshing to listen to Jessie going through their path again.

Jessie has some musical background but not really into it. Then it comes to her term as the president of HKU student union. She organised many social actions, protests, marches, rallies, fasting. But then she began to think about the way forward, how can the messages last longer? A protest can arouse public attention for two days, including newspaper coverage next day, but it’s just a little spark and very likely not making any difference. And the next student president can continue with the protests, no worries. As she was still finding herself at a loss, she noticed Eden and bandmate Stuart carrying their guitars very often in the campus. She saw them anchoring themselves at the centre of the piazza, singing songs to peach peace and criticising social pitfalls. Jessie felt comfortable sitting there and watched them singing. And she got her answer. She wanted to form a band. She wanted to spread her message through songs. It doesn’t matter if the message can reach out immediately, somehow, someday, the message will reach the right persons.

“Hi, you are the president of the Student Union?” Eden asked Jessie as he saw her sitting there the whole afternoon.

“Oh, that’s a few months ago, my term has come to an end and I’m a normal student now,” said Jessie, who continued: “I found it great, I mean what you are doing. Can I join you guys?”

Eden was surprised to hear what she said but he decided to see what she wanted.

They talked for a long time in the piazza, their topics range from their study majors to current affairs, to music. When they got hungry, they go get some food together.

They worked out later that they would write songs by themselves, with Eden and Jessie being the main vocals. With some background in piano, Jessie started to learn various music instruments, including guitar, keyboard and drums to enhance her music sense. But most important of all, she worked really hard on writing lyrics. She could spend hours studying others’ works and spend days to fine-tune her own creations.

While Eden’s favourite artist is John Lennon of The Beatles, Jessie was fascinated by The Cardigans, a Swedish band defining themselves to be “between Celine Dion and Pavarotti”. Jessie saw the transformation of this band. She visualised how the virtually splitting of the Swedish band resulted in some subsequent musical bombardment when they re-united 5 years later. She was especially fascinated with the group’s ability to dispatch virtually any scenario in their productions, which embedded a heavy sense of attitude. Music with an attitude, yeah, that’s her way forward.              

Throughout the two years after the formation of The White Elephant, they issued three albums. The responses were not good, mainly because of a lack of positioning of the band. They also have doubts about what there are doing. Who are their target audience? What they wanted to achieve? The problems have been bothering them since the release of their first album. What matters is not money but what exactly it is. Now they have just released their third album. While the market response is not encouraging, they somehow find it a step forward to the right path.

 

This night, Alex is sitting at the Tsim Sha Tsui Hardrock café, waiting for a band show. He saw members of The White Elephant and greeted them. “Hey you are all here. Shouldn’t all of you be somewhere selling and promoting your records? Your manager will fire you all if he knows you are here,” Alex said jokingly. “Oh come on, it’s time to rock, we have been spilling blood these days attending those fucking radio and tv shows, doing MTVs and liasing with marketing guys. It’s just time to rock,” said Jessie.

“Just kidding, I’ve waited for the show for a long time, The Puppies is doing quite well these days , ……”

 

“Hey, how are you? I have to say thank you again. The story about John Lennon is published today and here it is,” Fion greeted Alex as she sat down.

“Thank you, it looks great. Let me take a read of it,” Alex said as he took The Standard.

The first sentence went:

‘Until the sound of the last note fades away along with the wind, Eden Kwok put down his guitar and sighed. He said he had a regret similar to that of heavy-weight rocker Wong Koon-Chung. “Wong once said he had a regret. He was born so late that he couldn’t attend the Wood’s Stock concert in 1969. My regret is I can’t witness the last concert of The Beatles held on a roof top in Liverpool in 1970”’

I didn’t notice this, Alex thought.

After going through the rest of the story, Alex said to Fion “I should be the one to say thank you. You wrote such a good story for Lennon and his fans in Hong Kong.”

“As I pursue this story, I started listening to songs of The Beatles and John Lennon again. I found the feeling very different after I have talked to you guys,” Fion said.

“Oh really, the people you have talked to are kind of die-hard Beatles fans.”

Alex went on talking about local bands and his customers.

“I found it very comfortable here, I should tell my colleague to come when they’re free. Any band shows to recommend to me?” Fion asked.

“Did you go to The Puppies’ show last weekend? That one is fantastic. Um … coming … oh yes, we will have three bands making a gig to pay tribute to Helloween next Friday night, I think you should come.”

“Is it the German band?”

“Yeah, the kids say they feel sorry for the split of the band recently. They say they grew up with the band and want to have a show ….”

“I meant to ask you last time but I forgot, how do you come up with the idea of having a space for the bands to do mini-gigs here?”

“It’s just a coincidence that the neighbouring shop decided to close. The landlord approached me asking me if the bar needs some kind of expansion. I thought it was ridiculous but the landlord say rent could be negotiated. I thought about it again and gave it a go.”

“Where did you find those kids to perform here?”

“I don’t find them, they find me. It just spreads out by words of mouth. Some kids really do well, while some are bad to be frank, but I don’t turn them down, because I like band sound and I know every band has its belief and story. I believe a place like this will be good for them.”

 

Eden took out the small piece of paper and began dialling the number on it.

“Hello is it Fion? Hi this is Eden Kwok. Thanks for sending me the article, I appreciate that a lot. I’d like to post it on my website, is it possible?”

“Sure, I’ll deal with the copyright thing. By the way, I’ve heard that there will be a show at Heaven Can Wait, sort of a tribute to Helloween, will you guys go for the show?” Fion asked.

“Oh yes, we’d love to go. It must be great to get drunk there.”

 

The show turned out to be fine and they all got crazy. As Fion, Alex, and The White Elephant sat down during the break, Alex began asking how the band fared recently.

“Seems so far so good, nothing special,” Eden said.

“We are still struggling with some inspirations, we did pick up our pen to write something, but they are just all shit,” Jessie said.

“Be patient, you will be doing fine, just relax,” said Alex.

When Fion asked what’s going on, Jessie and Eden told her their puzzles and uncertainty and their lack of position and drive.

“I’m not an expert in music and I know nothing about the career path of a band, but I think it needs time to develop. And don’t give a damn on what the people say, I see no problems for university graduates holding guitars and keyboards to earn a living.”

Fion seemed to have recalled something suddenly.

“Do you all fancy a meeting with John Lennon’s widow Ono Yoko? I got an e-mail from her yesterday saying she has read my article and is interested in meeting you. I have no idea how come she read my story. But why not, I mean going to Japan. It will be great if you can meet this lady, the owner of Japan’s biggest music company Apple.”

“What! Ono Yoko wants to see us?” Eden exclaimed. “That is unbelievable.”

“What do you say Alex?” Fion asked.

“Me? I also got invited? That’s interesting. I’m just a businessman, have nothing to do with music. … But I’d love to go.”

“Eden?”

“Well I need to ask our manager. I’ll give you a call tomorrow to confirm, okay?”

“Sure, I also need to check with Ono Yoko on some details. She invited me as well,” Fion said.

 

That night Alex and Eden had difficulty sleeping. Meeting John’s wife, Eden would rank it as the most important event of the year, perhaps in his life. But somewhere in his heart, he felt a little bit inferior and uncertain on whether this is indeed a good idea.

However, Eden found himself agreed next day to go to Japan.

 

Chapter 3

 

And there they go, Eden, Alex and Fion arrived the Apple Studio in Tokyo. Eden thought of bringing the albums of John and Yoko for autographs but scrapped the idea immediately when he gave it a second thought. It seemed childish. The three of them were greeted by Yoko’s assistant at the airport. The assistant, called Aiki, accompanied them to the Apple Studio by a limousine. 

Both Alex and Eden looked normal during the journey, they seldom talked and have no idea why the arrangement would be six days. At a point, Eden thought the whole thing is ridiculous but that was too late, he was in Japan now. Fion, on the other hand, seems much more relaxed. She kept talking to them, and when they don’t respond, she talked to the driver and Aiki.

Apple Studio is a two-block high-rise building with a big green apple logo outside. Inside, there are a number of studios, music libraries, entertainment zones and even sports facilities. According to the assistant Aiki, they know that Ono Yoko wants to provide an “environment” for the artists to make their albums. The libraries have an extensive collection of albums in alphabetical orders, occupying two floors. As they walked along some corridors, they found some graffiti on it. “This bit is done by Stone Roses, can’t believe it,” said Aiki. That painting is a naked girl. Along the way, they also saw, through the transparent windows of some studios, that some people were recording or playing music instruments. Some of them were smoking while there were also cans of beer and cokes on the floor.  

They finally reached the studio where they were supposed to meet Yoko.

They glanced around. It was a normal studio for a band, with all the necessary recording equipment, including amplifiers, drums and keyboards. There were also electric and acoustic guitars. After five minutes, an old lady came in.

“Hello, how are you? Thanks for going all the way here,” the old lady said.

Ono Yoko looked a bit older for her age.

“Nice to meet you Mrs Lennon,” Alex and Eden said.

“Just call me Yoko,” Yoko is a woman in her 60s, short hair carefully gelled, wearing glasses with metallic frame and light perfume.

“I enjoy very much of the feature story and I’m glad to see you all here. I’d love to have a chat with all of you,” her voice is a little bit authoritative indeed.

A chat, sounds a bit expensive and troublesome, Eden thought.

“As you know it is going to be the 25^th anniversary of the death of my husband, I’m busy attending media interviews and I’m finalising my biography. But I’m really delighted that in a place like Hong Kong, Lennon’s influence is still there and people still remember him. The reason why I’m calling all of you here is that I’d like to have you involved in some of my projects. I’ll tell you the details and ask for your opinion. But as to now, I’d love to know more about you. Eden, which song you like most? … I’m of course talking about Lennon’s collection.

“Um, it’s a difficult question. I can’t tell you a single song. But I like Real Love, Happy X’mas, Imagine, Watching The Wheels and Free as a Bird.”

“I guess you are still in your 20s, why do you like John and his song so much? You should be still a small kid when he died.”

“Oh. When I started to learn guitar four years ago, I used the scores of Beatles’ songs. As I kept practising, I started to read the lyrics and later continued to play John Lennon’s songs. I think the lyrics and melodies have a great impact on me,” Eden said.

“Good, now about you Alex. You are running a bar in Hong Kong, right? And bands can play there as well?

“Sort of, actually it’s nothing special. I got some money after I quitted my job. The bar is just business.”

“Is it? I heard you are the vice president of some kind of Beatles’ fan club in Hong Kong, can you tell me a bit more of what it does?”

“That’s a decade ago, I mean the fans club. Hong Kong did not have memorial fans club in the past. But a key member of a Hong Kong band, Beyond, died 10 years ago and then the fans set up a memorial fans club for him. And because he likes John Lennon a lot, the fans and also Lennon’s fans set up a memorial fans club for John as well. Now that two members of The Beatles have died and every year we have commemorations during their death anniversary, we have members arranged some shows and sometimes have some gatherings. But you know, the committee members are not professionals in this area and we don’t have funding, we can’t do a lot,” Alex said.

“I see, that sounds not too bad, I’m surprised that there is a Beatles’ fans club in Hong Kong. I used to think Hong Kong is a place where East meets West – which means nothing there. Forgive me for being too sceptical but that’s my perception. Before I tell you what I’ve in my mind, I would like Eden to get a guitar and sing Imagine. It’s just for fun,” she said.

Eden was quite surprised and was totally unprepared, but with Yoko’s encouragement, he got a five-string in the corner of the studio, tested the sound for a while and began singing. He tried hard to concentrate but still he found himself nervous. Yoko is quite happy to see Eden has limbo fingers and a soulful voice when he geared up singing. When he finished, Yoko led others to give applause.

“Very well, no need to be nervous,” she said and continued “Do you fancy to do some sort of recording in Japan? Now I’m having a project called Imagine – Asian Voice, which means I will have people from different Asian countries and cities to play a part in the song. I don’t want to pay celebrities who don’t know about John in this recording. Do you want to play a part? The album will be sold for charity purposes,” Yoko asked Eden.

Eden said after thinking for a while, “I have to talk to my bandmates before giving you the answer, you know I’m in a band and I can’t sign up any commercial deals without their consent.”

“Fair enough. Now Alex, I would like to give 1 million dollars, that means yens, to your fans club to support whatever it is doing. It’s not a big deal, but I do hope the next generations can have at least an opportunity to get in touch with John’s works, is it okay?”

“Oh that’s a huge sum, we haven’t got donation indeed so far. You are the first one. But unlike Eden, I can say yes to you now.”

“And Fion, if you have some time next morning, I will be happy to tell you a bit more about Apple’s plan for the 25th anniversary of Lennon’s death .... exclusively.”

“That will be great, I can cancel my leave after flying back Hong Kong because this will be a business trip, not a vacation,” said a happy Fion.

“Okay, it seems we are done today, should we go downstairs for some food?” Yoko said and led them the way out.

 

Chapter 4

 

The answer Eden got from his bandmates is “yes, go for it, don’t make us look bad”.

Fion and Alex told him that it was a chance in a lifetime.

But is it a good idea? What if he sings badly? What if people don’t listen to the song simply because they don’t know who the hell Eden Kwok is? If this is his own album, that doesn’t do any harm. If it’s others, he could simply say sorry if he screws up.

But it’s an album for John Lennon, his idol.

 

 

After confirming with Yoko that he would give it a go, Eden practised the song for two days for a 2 minute recording. Yoko was there watching. After five attempts, Yoko waved Eden and said “Why do you have to imitate John? If I want you to sing like him, why should I do another record? The point I’m making this album is “Asian voice”. By this, I mean Asian’s interpretation and also expression in their own way. I suggest you take a break tonight to think of singing the bit in your own way. Sometimes, just read the lyrics and feel it on your own, singing is just to express what you feel. That is what I do usually.”      

 

The bit is

“Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...

 

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one”

 

That night, Eden was upset after going back to his room. He had a sense of failure. He began to follow Yoko’s instruction to read the lyrics, close his eyes, and began to imagine...

 

“You sound great today!” said an excited Yoko. “It seems you can finally sing in your own voice. I think the recording is fine. You have achieved the mission. Congratulations!”

“I was thinking about how to sing it last night but then I slept. Kind of figuring out the way to sing in my dream, I guess. And I just rushed to the studio this morning. But I like this recording as well,” Eden said.

Yoko seems like to have remembered something and took out some papers from her bag. 

“I came up with this song last week when I was bringing my grandson to the kindergarten. I saw the gardener watering the plants and sweeping rubbish on the ground. I thought he must have done a good job. Let me share with you this,” said Yoko, who moved to a piano.

Although the song was still conceptual and that the joints between some sentences were not very good, Eden thought her musical talent was far better than all the people he met.

“My philosophy in making songs is simple, actually that’s what John taught me years ago. That is - songs tell you everything, and everything can be songs,” she said.

 

Returning to Hong Kong, Eden was so excited that he grabbed his bandmates and forced them to listen to his adventure and glance the photos in Japan. While they were all excited for a few days, their manager one day called them for a meeting to discuss the band’s future because the sales of their third album was disappointing.

“The problem, according to our survey, is that people find your songs too serious and the melodies are simply too boring,” the manager said over the phone.

After the call, the band wanted to forget all these and go out for beer. At Heaven Can Wait, they got drunk although Alex and Fion asked them not to drank that much.

Eden began to think about what Yoko said about songs. “Songs tell you everything, everything can be songs” Is it a motto? Oh come on, I’m not genius, I can’t understand this.

The other day, still three hours to go before meeting his friends, Eden decided to watch a movie by himself. The film was directed by former US vice-president Al Gore, about what he felt about pollution after he failed to get elected to be the president. Eden forgot about music as he watched, and he did share what this Al Gore say about the dark future for human being. He likes the idea of a vice-president making a movie telling people what he thinks. As the movie goes towards the end, Eden felt like being suddenly awaken. “I want to make a song for this” he told himself. Some words simply kept flowing in his mind and he immediately got a pen to write down. He called his friends to cancel the gathering and rushed to the studio to work that out, trying to fit the words into the notes he came up with last night.

Later on, with ideas keep popping into the minds of Eden and Jessie, the band began to become productive and they figured out their way forward. There is not need to find a target audience. Now need for a particular position. Just write whatever they can think of and sing it the way they like. 

 

Two years later, Eden was on the stage of the Hong Kong Stadium, giving a short speech after getting the best local creation prize from heavy-weight rocker Wong Koon Chung.

“First of all, I would like to thank all of you for supporting The White Elephant. We are happy that we still survive after four years since we formed the band. We have been in the dark, we have been at a loss. Somehow, we meet good people who keep giving us strength. In particular, we would like to thank Ono Yoko, who is not here today that …..”

 

ENDS