Bitter or sweet

Early morning view from my window!

2 days to go and then back to the UK. An intense week and in my daily conversations with Kathryn at home we agree that it feels more like a month! While I have been here she has been, on top of her regular huge workload, preparing for the annual Kite Festival in Morecambe that she produces with Ben McCabe for More Music. I am sad to miss it and not to be there rigging the flags, banners and windsocks and strolling down the prom as a one man band!

In the morning I talked with Kakee, the woman who owns the flat where I am staying. She came to the show last night (for the first time seeing me work after I have stayed at her flat for many years) and she has some interesting feedback. She said that when she saw the way that the elders had dressed so beautifully he became confident that this was going to be more than a ‘community’ show. This sense of quality was then confirmed with the brilliant band, the music arrangements and the smoothness of the running of the show. She talked about how this could be a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for these people. To come into the city onto such a prestigious stage and with such a mixed community. What a life changing moment. And then she asked questions about the words and the content of some of the songs. She felt in some songs we could have used more local dialect to make the lyrics smoother and more singable, and she felt 2-3 of the songs were just not as powerful as the others – a bit ’emptier’. Finally (and this has been echoed by others) she wasn’t sure about the very traditional sounding folky song that was also sung in Mandarin saying  it’s words really didn’t say anything at all!  I argued that this song was different and although the words were less powerful it was good to have a moment of more reflective character in the show. Whatever… it has started the reflective evaluation that will now carry on for the next month as we start to plan the next year !

I prepared a set of precise notes for the band and the singers so that we can really try and take the performance to another level.

These make sure people focus for the second night show and also try to avoid the sticky moments from the first night. We work through these from 3pm and then chill before the show start at 7.30.

All the work is worthwhile and the show lifts in so many ways. Performances clearer, words more clearly sung, band tighter and watching more and Kelvin getting more control of the lighting cues and states. As I conduct the end song the energy and love coming from the singers is quite overwhelming – I actually lose my way and have to stop and start the song again!!  We finish and the photos begin as we all say our goodbyes and thanks.
As one of the lyrics says

Bitter or sweet, we still call it a meal
Bitter or sweet, it is life
What matters is to have you with me, despite the hard times

and another

Let’s come together, sing and dance
Laugh every day with health and happiness

Mok, Elisa (another director at CCCD) and Nancy (programme manager at CCCD) walk out into Wan Chai to try and find a place to eat. We end in a huge Seafood palace as the only customers apart from a some private parties – it is great because it is quiet and we can talk.

And we do – about the movement and the show.
I like the fact that now people stop talking about the protests and talk about the movement. It is not going to stop – it is moving but into dangerous territory. Nancy has been very active these last weeks and is very in tune with the digital communication. She explains that for these days people have voted on one of the groups to stay away and preserve energy for Monday – July 1st. 80% have voted for this (out of 18,000 people in the group). This is because on Monday at 6.30am there is the raising of the Chinese Flag to mark the day of handover from the UK and the plan is to try and stop it happening and invade the site. It is likely to be dangerous especially as the Chinese Army now has a pier on the harbour front that is theirs and from where they can operate. And then there is the news that today a young woman committed suicide in Fanling and her note (on the wall and also in Instagram) said that in dying she hoped “to help fulfil the wishes of the 2 million people who had marched against the extradition bill”. The story unfolds that she has had a history of mental illness but this doesn’t make it any easier to hear.
They then talk about the counselling service that CCCD and a few of their therapist friends have been offering to people who have been affected by the protests.
Here’s an article https://tinyurl.com/yygl5o2k.  And a post (strangely translated) from Paper, one of the musicians.