The Singaporean singer-songwriter who took Hong Kong to his heart
Hanjin Tan has lived in the city for eight years, having performed live, produced top singers and picked up a prestigious local film award as well as a local wife
Singer-songwriter Hanjin Tan stands on a footpath in a rundown industrial estate in Hong Kong, smiling and gazing skyward for the camera. A tradesman holding a beer looks on, clearly bemused by the scene.
Tan has had time to perfect his poses. The Singaporean-born musician, who now calls Hong Kong home, has done everything over the course of his 15-year career from performing live shows and producing songs with big names like Hong Kong singer Eason Chan and American songstress Christina Aguilera to acting in a film about the late martial arts star Bruce Lee.
And the 41-year-old is showing no sign of slowing down. Tan has an album coming out this year, and a coaching role on the inaugural Singapore/Malaysia version of television talent show The Voice, which begins airing next month. He’s already had roles in mainland China’s battle show The Rap of China and Hong Kong’s version of The Voice.
I Know A Place: Hanjin Tan, singer-songwriter
Tan moved to Hong Kong eight years ago to be with his wife, Prima Wong, who he met in popular Lan Kwai Fong haunt Volar.
“I thought she was really cool,” he says, recalling how impressed he had been when she had politely rejected another man who tried to chat her up.
“Our first date was Melinda and Melinda, Woody Allen, I was late. She remembers it. I don’t think I will ever get back from that,” he jokes.
Nowadays, he’s a permanent resident – and he seems right at home in the city.
In a fast-paced tour of Wong Chuk Hang, the area in the south of Hong Kong Island where his studio is based, he takes time to chat with locals in Cantonese and even points out the hotspots, like Yip Fat Street public toilet.