Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Possibly The Best Concert Show By The Most Under-Rated Musician



Last night I met Leslie Loh at Champs as he had to pass me the JZ8 cds I ordered. Then he started to rave to me about a concert DVD by Lowell Lo Koon Ting, and how I must get to watch it. I paused, and then I said "Fuck you Leslie, do you ever remember reading my blog... I have fucking posted it as possibly the best concert show..." So, anyway we had a good laugh. Yes, Lowell is one talented, passionate and under-rated artiste that the world always seem to lack in. I have played the 4 DVDs almost once a month every month since October and it still tears me up. Get it if you are in HK, maybe Rock Records still have it.

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25 September, 2009


If you can, try and grab hold of this 4DVD concert pack by Lowell Lo Koon Ting. Highly under-rated singer and composer. The 2008 concert was called 2050 and thanks to the respect accorded to him by his peers, he managed to invite highly illustrious fellow artistes to share the stage with him. Lee Jun Sing is one, George Lam is another. Lowell's songs have been sung by many superstars though many may not be aware of them, including Danny Chan and Leslie Cheung. He even composed what I considered to be the best Cantonese song over the last 50 years - Jooi Ngoi (The One I Loved The Most) sung by George Lam. Plus some of you may remember the haunting love song in Stephen Chow's A Chinese Odyssey.

His delivery is inimitable, its always heartfelt, never perfect but in his imperfection lies the attraction. He gives all he has into every song. He chats a lot and brings the audience on an intimate journey through his songs and the people he worked with.

I found one copy imported by Rock Records but thats it, I had to go to HK to get my copy. Till then, you will have to get a taste via some poor quality mobile phone bootleg copies from youtube.



(Interview before his 2008 concert): Lowell Lo is a rarity. Famous for his songwriting – his work has been performed by George Lam, Jacky Cheung, and many others – he’s a versatile Old Cantopop Hand. He also has impressive credentials in jazz and folk. Lo’s singing is so distinctive that critics have tagged his oeuvre “Chinese blues”. Since leaving music in 1993, Lo has been an active environmentalist. Now, after an 18-year absence from the stage of the Coliseum, he’s set to return for a much-anticipated show.

What does music mean to you?

Music is my sub-consciousness. You can’t write a song that moves people if it doesn’t move you. Music composition is not about piling up material. I believe the songs that I wrote were not written by me. It’s some higher power who conveyed his message through me. I’m merely a channel. I’m just basically downloading information from the universe. When you sing a song, don’t think, just do it.



2 comments:

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

dali

my side of the story...

http://poppopmusic.blogspot.com/2010/05/moved-to-tears.html

SalvadorDali said...

posted by leslie

Monday, May 17, 2010
賺人熱淚 [moved to tears]
we blogged about veteran cantopop singer-songwriter lowell lo [盧冠庭】 in our hifi blog many years ago.

we still cherish how touching his music is, despite the fact that lowell is not even a good singer. but beneath that imperfection, therein lies his beauty. it is call "heart" or "connection". it is something that many singers dream of having but can never quite achieve.

last week we got hold of his concert dvd and we got another round of heart-warming performance that made us cry, more than once.

lowell's main guest is the famous jonathan lee 【李宗盛】, another accomplished singer-songwriter that has been thru life and is ever willing to share his life thru his music and lyrics (jonathan is simply one of the best lyricists that the chinese music has ever seen). what could be more enchanting than two middle-aged men, full of life's experiences, on stage sharing their music and telling their stories, in the most heartfelt and sincere manner? we could swear that lowell and jonathan live thru every word in the lyrics of the songs! listening to them singing gives meaning to the lyrics; it is because you are looking the man telling his personal story, you understand the lyrics better. damn real and meaningful. both men also shed tears on stage.

this post is not about lowell lo, it is about singing and writing songs . it is dedicated to today's aspiring singers/lyricists who want to sing/write well. it is about singing from the heart. it is about composing simple melodies that touch people's hearts, and not those formulaic, bored-me-to-death ballads that are dominating the chinese music today.

to all aspiring singers, lyricists and songwriters, watch this concert video over and over again. learn from lowell how to sing from the heart, how to connect with the audience with your music, how to compose songs that are sincere and devoid of pretensions, how to write lyrics that actually mean something.. how to make music that can be remembered for generations after generations.

we may be old fogies who still prefer oldies but there is so much to be learned from the old school of music and musicians.

singer-songwriters like lowell lo and jonathan lee are real musicians that make real music.

p/s a bit of trivia here: can you spot one malaysian celebrity (a very pretty one) among the audience?