Wu Ying Yin (吳鶯音) : Nasal Queen of Chinese Evergreen

I am no Chinese scholar nor even speak the language but quite familiar with a few of her songs because she was as much a 40's Shanghai music icon as Zhou Xuan but I do not know her name and only managed to learn her identity through a few proficient and bi-lingually educated friends. 

Wu Yingyin (Woo Ing Ing - image) had passed away.  This songstress, known as the 'Nasal Queen' because of the quality of her voice, had recorded many songs which are now Chinese evergreens.

                                                     Wu Yingyin 吴莺音 - 岷江夜曲

Again, I learned of the songs through my mother, who used to have stacks of 78 rpm. records. Of course in the midst of moving from one home to another during the '50s when I was still a child, the heavy black records disappeared, either broken or just discarded. 

Some of the songs from these records included: The Bright Moon Sends My Love To You (Ming Yue Qian Li Ji Xiang Si), Regretting Not Falling For You (Hen Bu Zhong Qing Zai Dang Nian), Min River Serenade (Min Jiang Yue Qu), I Had Been Loved (Wo You Yi Duan Qing) and the New Year Song, Spring Returns (Da Di Hui Chun).

At 24 years, she won a nightclub singing contest and was immediately contracted to a Hong Kong record company and, I Wish To Forget You became a top hit in 1946.

A sampling of the song but not the singer. Uncertain.

Pathe Records in China made her famous and she went on to record many pop hits. Her voice was that of an *Oriole or Ying Yin as she recorded her first hit, I Want To Forget You. She went on to record more than two dozen hits.

Queen of the nasal voice became very famous and recorded many more songs in Hong Kong until the 1980's when she migrated to the US. She kept up her singing career.

At 82, she appeared in Singapore to hold a solo concert and became the oldest singer ever on record. She lived in Los Angeles, California with a family, friends and many fans to mourn her loss when she died at age 87.

Edited article from The Straits Times Life Section, Singapore (December 21st, 2009).

Images:  Google.

This article has been re-posted because of its popularity. 

*The Oriole bird  (image below) has a range of clear melodious whistles and Chinese songstresses of yore with beautiful voices have been compared to this particular bird.

Singapore Trivia: 
The image of the Oriole appears on the SG $500 bill under the Bird Series and the SG 50 Cents stamp (1991) and $1.00 stamp (2002) Garden Bird Series.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋节快乐! 2019 Growing Up With Moon Symbols & Tradition

  UP TO 2,100 VIEWS  

35 CHATS, COMMENTS

"The roundest moon can be seen in autumn. 
It is time for reunions. 
I wish you a happy mid-autumn day and a wonderful life - 1"

"最圆的月亮可以看出，在秋季。现在是时候团聚。祝你中秋一天的精彩生活"

It is the usual greeting this month since the moon-cake festival is here so I thought I would write something significant about this yellow ball in the night sky.  

When I googled, 'moon' it was quite a surprise where I found more than 700 million entries on the subject.  I realised there was nothing much I could write about except my own moon-walk on earth. 

As a child, I didn't bother much about the festival itself because at the age of ten the reason for the celebration was not important. It was only in later years did I learn what the lantern festival meant. But I welcome the delicious moon-cakes and beautiful lanterns that came with the annual hoo-ha. 

"Summer ends, and Autumn comes, 
And he who would have it otherwise 
Would have high tide always and 
A full moon every night - 2 ."

Moon Symbol:

It had been a yearly affair since the 1950's and as far as I could remember my father would take me to Victoria Street to the old Empress Hotel to buy a few bags of tong chu pia home. No, there were no fancy boxes to put them in. 

They came in simple white wrapping paper placed in a brown paper bag with string carriers. Today's moon-cakes are placed in jewel cases that cost a fortune (sixty Singapore dollars for a box of four?)

What I could not forget during the yearly trip to Victoria Street was the same large scroll I saw hanging outside the hotel pillar as I looked up.  There was a painting of a beautiful, slim lady in ancient Chinese costume with the words, "Queen of the Moon Cakes" and behind her the radiantly full moon.

"It was fascination, I know 
Seeing you alone with the moonlight above
Then I touched your hand and next moment... 3."

They probably took her down at the end of the season to be displayed again for the next moon festival.

Now the moon-cake. It was sweetened red bean or lotus seed paste baked within a delicious outer layer. Although it could get stuck between the teeth eating was part of the fun. Also, mooncakes in the 50's were simple, without the exorbitant colours, designs, special names and yucky taste that is found today. 

Up till now, I've always enjoyed the simple dark brown bean-paste inside but without the yolk.  Cut equally into four pieces I could eat only one quarter a day for the next four days.  

"Good behaviour deserves a reward," remarked my mother. "Another four pieces for the next four days, if you behave. Otherwise, I shall eat them myself!" My dad would quietly walk away because he knew the fun was in the buying too.

But I always had my share.

Light Symbol:

I remember the intricate and thin bamboo frames that were shaped into celestial animals and what-have-you, covered by transparent coloured papers making cute lanterns that could be lighted up at night with its tiny candle within. 

"Careful," mother would warn sternly, "a steady hand lights the wick, not the lantern," always warning us that we need to beware of a burn-up if we were careless with the fragile, combustible and bright, luminous magic art pieces.

To me, it didn't matter what the lantern was shaped like. The flickers inside changed colours as I walked the shiny being around. As long as I could carry it in the dark as the proud owner I was happiest. Good that my mother bought three lanterns to distribute to a Malay friend, an Indian neighbour and a pretty girlfriend who lived down the road. 

"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world - 4."

The friends were Hamid, who was so happy to be carrying one with me; the other was Naysar, in his sarong, who ran around the block with his fish lantern shouting, "Ikan, ikan."  He became a little looney I guess with the moon in full bloom.  We didn't think who we were, just children sharing in playful joy.

Nat King Cole; William Shakespeare; P. Ramlee; Hal Borland

The third friend was my heart crusher Mei Li and true to her name she was the prettiest girl in the vicinity. Short-haired, tomboyish, wide-eyed and fun, she readily accepted the butterfly lantern I offered her.

"Engkau laksana bulan, tinggi di-atas kayangan," crooned Hamid in Malay. It was one of P. Ramlee's famous songs and it meant, "Exquisite like the moon, you stand high above the rest." She did.

I've never seen our Malay, Indian and Eurasian boys and girls carrying lanterns with our Chinese children, have you? Well, they do I presume but I didn't see them this year... Let's have more of such fun and moonlit outings.

I enjoyed the moonlight nights very much. Did you?

A Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all in Singapore and across the seas.


NB:
The symbolic allusion to the moon underlines the dominating power of the feminine. So, just to tickle your mind a little, could it be a power to which a little boy may have felt exposed?

This posting especially invites readers to comment on their own moon festival experience.

                                             Fascination: Sung by Nat Cole.

The Moon Cake Festival, Zhong Qiu Jie or Harvest Moon Festival falls on 27th September 2015.

The article is original and under a copyright.

In The Full Moon Flowers Blossom - Yue Yuan, Hua Hao - Zhou Xuan
Song: Yan Hua / Word: Fan Yanqiao

The floating scattered clouds
The bright moon shines as people
Gather today for a happy reunion

Clean and shallow ponds
Mandarin ducks play in the water
Red skirts and emerald caps
Devoted married couples like lotus flowers 
Open in pairs, mutual love between spouses

The soft wind blows onto the beautiful flowers
Blowing with much warmth and affection 
Among the people

(Very close but not literal translation; suitable for the English ear.)

Aeroplane Lantern - 1960's  [Image: Mun Chor Seng (c)]

How mooncakes are packaged today

The frills cost a lot more; a box of four cakes will cost S$60 while an elaborate package of ten will cost S$120.

The mooncakes are filled with lotus n yolk, lotus n cranberries,  lotus n macadamia,  lotus n melon seeds, jasmine, black sesame, etc.

Footnote:

Images: Google, Mun Chor Seng and Personal Collection.

1. Chinese greeting.
2. Hal Borland - Nature journalist, poet, writer.
3. Song; Fascination (1932) sung by Nat Cole; composed by Fermo Dante Marchetti and Dick Manning (English version).  It became pop in later years with the movie, Love in the Afternoon (1957) starring Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper.
4.  William Shakespeare; A Midsummer Night's Dream.
YouTube Video: chakrasXXX.
5. Zhou Xuan: In the Full Moon, Flowers Blossom YouTube Video: cdman88.

SLIP NOTE:
25th September 2015 Friday.

The haze has been bad and has lasted for more than a week. Many Singaporeans stay indoors. Worse, it has gone out of control and many people in the region are suffering from the problem.  Indonesia, who has been providing us with the unwanted great smoke from the sky, doesn't seem to have done much to stop this sky pollution which has been going on for years!

"While the sun struggles to survive its choking cousin
The moaning moon whispers, "Love thy neighbour..."

People who celebrate the Moon Cake Festival will probably be experiencing a Moan Cake Terrible.

TODAY, SINCE TWO DAYS AGO, THE HAZE IS BACK: 26TH AUGUST, 2016.
(An obvious reference to a past hazy sky problem. Now the sky is clear.)

Zhou Xuan (周璇) On Artistic Vinyl Record Covers

Zhou Xuan's first album Wandering Songstress 天涯歌女

SOME SLEEVES SPEAK:

Continuing with the same theme, here's another revelation on Chinese record covers.  Chow Hsuan or Zhou Xuan (周璇) was one of the top seven-star singers in China from the 30s to the 50s and many of her songs are still favourites and being played even today. 

I have a collection of six Zhou Xuan records. That's about sixty songs altogether and includes titles like A Mahjong Game, Choosing A Wife, Little Bridal Chamber and the famous Wandering Songstress (天涯歌女).

These albums had been compiled many years after the original recordings and would not be in their respective order of production. Except for some slight scratching and hissing sound, they play well on the turn-table. But this posting is neither about her nor her songs.

This personal collection of vinyl discs are 33rpm Long Plays but come in a 10-inch and not 12-inch format.  Talk of outsourcing, this collection has many countries to its origin.  Although Zhou Xuan was from China, the record was issued by The Gramophone Company Ltd of Hayes, Middlesex, England.  The collection was recorded in Hong Kong but produced in India (like many of Cliff Richard's records).

Her third album.

The record label reveals a media company well-known in the earlier part of the twentieth century for its pre-movie documentaries in the cinemas. Pathe (image) with its cock-crowing icon is well known by many readers of this blog - you have to be at least in your 50s to remember this one.

Now here's the surprise. The unique drawings on the record covers had been painted by two Singapore artists; the earlier ones by Ms Nah QH and the later ones by Mr Tan KC. The first image above is described on the back sleeve and shows a "reproduction of a Chinese village scene of some *thirty years ago (probably 50 years ago today).  It depicts the Wandering Songstress on her travels from village to village, inn to inn, eating-house to eating-house earning her living by song."

Back Cover of Fourth Album

I guess the art form like the brush strokes, colours and Chinese characters reveal the artistry of paintings done those years.  But honestly, I am no art critic and the illustrations are as modern today and look good enough to be hung on the wall.  But the bonus about this collection is the English translation of the Chinese titles as it helps non-Chinese readers to understand the theme of each melody (image 3).  Wish they would do that today.

So there you are, the lady's from China, her songs were recorded in Hong Kong, the cover pictures were done in Singapore, the records pressed in India and the whole package controlled, produced and issued by England.  If you are complaining about outsourcing today just remember that it's been practised a long, long time ago.

(This posting is a byte size or bite size information about what little I know, to share with some of my younger readers. If you wish to know more about the other 4 covers and songs recorded just write in.)

You can read more about Zhou Xuan by clicking her name under Labels below.

Article/Images: Original/Own collection.

Searching For My Favourite Chinese Oldies: Yao Li - 那個不多情 姚莉

UP TO 45,000 VIEWS, 

40 CHATS, COMMENTS

Yao Li has passed away on 19 July 2019 from The Malay Mail.

Chinese Mandarin oldies: 那個不多情 姚莉 (Yao Li). 

YouTube: by sydneylam19

Songs I Love

If it weren't for the magic of the computer, Google and YouTube I would never have been able to retrieve or even listened to the Chinese oldies by the great prewar songstress Yao Li.  In fact, I didn't even know the singer's name nor the song title.  There was an evening I googled, Chinese Mandarin Oldies found the above video and recognised the melody immediately. Memories of my childhood flooded my data bank.



PYE Radio 1950s in our living room shophouse.

These songs were my mother's favourites and I used to listen to them in the 50s when she tuned in to some Chinese programmes from the radio. I am not sure if they were from our own stations or from overseas but the family's PYE radio certainly took us to places unknown and songs so beautiful. 

Today I wish to share these songs especially with those who are not familiar with Mandarin songs from the 1940s. But first... the singer.

Yao Li or Yáo Xiùyún (姚秀雲) was raised in Shanghai and rose to popularity singing in one of the city's dance halls.  She had her songs broadcasted over the radio in 1935 at aged 13 and recorded her first single with Pathe Records at 14 with Yan Hua (嚴華) called Xin xiao fang niu (新小放牛) or the new cowherd. 

She also often recorded as a duo with her pop singer brother. At that time she became a rival of Zhou Xuan, and was called Silver Voice as opposed to Zhou Xuan's Golden Voice (check Labels below).  Yao Li's success in Shanghai was partially due to the vocal training of the Russian diaspora court musicians. 

Yao Li

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/arts/music/yao-li-dead.html

In the 1940s,  she was encouraged to imitate Afro-American singers seen in Hollywood movies.  These movies were available in Shanghai. Her voice improved tremendously and in the 50s she developed a singing style like her idol Patti Page.

Because she got married and had family Yao Li halted her career in 1947. Following the Communist power seizure in China in 1949, popular music was banned and Yao fled to Hong Kong in 1950. She continued singing and recording as these became hits.   Within five years she made the popular 桃花江 (Peach Blossom River) as her singing voice was used in films to dub those of famous Chinese actresses.  Soon the featured songs became hits for Yao Li too. 

In 1967  she halted her singing career and within two years acquired a position as an executive with EMI Music Hong Kong.  She returned to performing in Taiwan from 1970 and retired in 1975.

The above song on YouTube is one that I listen to very often and the melody never strays from my mind.  Roughly translated this song, (姚莉 -那個不多情 姚莉) means, That's Not Sentimental.  Ironical. Another favourite of mine is  The Spring Breeze Kisses My Face (姚莉 - 春風吻上我的臉) recorded in 1956.

There are still many other Chinese melodies swimming in my mind and if I find them I shall share them on this blog. 

Check Richard Rajoo and Yao Li. Connect below:

.: Richard Rajoo Recalls Famous Yao Li [姚莉] Songs His Mother Loved...

Edited information from Wikipedia and whatsinmyipodblogspot. 

Certain information about Yao Li may not be accurate and I stand corrected.

19 July 2019

She passed away in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and has given a performance in 2012. May she Rest In Peace.

Images: Google.

The Late Wu Yingyin - 40s Shanghai Songstress

Another one bites the dust...

(3) Showcasing New Songs: 30s - 40s Shanghai Movie: 'Street Angel' (Ma Lu Tian Shi)

(3) BLOGGER'S CHINESE MUSIC EDUCATION:

As a younger person in the 50s, blogger goes to either the Queen's Cinema at Geylang Road or the Jubilee at North Bridge Road in Singapore to watch Chinese movies. This particular film is one of them.

The songs Wandering Songstress (tian ya ge nu) and The Four Seasons Song (Si Ji Ge), by Zhou Xuan, featured in the 1937 movie Street Angel (Ma Lu Tian Shi). She was about 18 at that time and played the part of Xiao Hung, a young girl who had to follow her exploitative father on his rounds of teahouses to sing for a living. The father accompanied her singing on an erhu (spike-fiddle or southern fiddle), the Chinese instrument featured.

Xiao Hung had a kind-hearted elder sister who was also exploited by the greedy parents and was made to walk the streets of Shanghai, having been forced into the oldest profession; thus came the movie title, Street Angel.

In Zhou Xuan's times, a movie is sometimes just a convenient vehicle to showcase new songs from potentially popular Chinese actors/singers. This song had little to do with the main storyline and depicts the longings of a girl for her distant lover through the four seasons. Zhou Xuan's character had a love interest in the form of a struggling, marching band trumpeter.

Reference/article edited: You Tube - De Producers.

Image: http://www.people.cohums.ohiostate.edu/

(2) Zhou Xuan: 30/40s My Chinese Music Influence

In the 50s, I listened to some Mando pop (Mandarin popular) songs by actress/singer Zhou Xuan. I remember the songs but not the singer and with my limited understanding of Mandarin, I am still able to appreciate the music. Again I must thank my mother for introducing me to these beautiful melodies from the past. Without her patience and effort I would have been devoid of this music genre.

In those days, the songs were played on old gramophones grinding 78 rpm records but some songs were also played regularly on radio. And like the singer (image), the songs are classic beauties!

*Perhaps the best-known of the early Shanghai recording artistes, Zhou Xuan recorded some of the most evocative songs of this era. An exceptionally beautiful one is her recording of the song Zang Hua (A Flower Burial), with lyrics from the classic novel of the Qing dynasty, Dream of Red Chamber.

These songs are now available on CD and some of the more popular ones (loosely translated) are, Shanghai Nights, Street Angel, Song Of Four Seasons, A Warning, Spring Morning, Please Tell Me, The Winds Of May and a personal favourite, When June Comes Again.

This particular double CD album boasts 40 titles by Zhou Xuan. And the digitalised technology is so advanced the recordings are devoid of surface noise.


You Tube Video by zzenzero: Yellow Leaves Dancing in the Autumn Wind.