June 4 and the power of music

Those wanting to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre are not restricted to brandishing banners and chanting slogans. The Artivist, a group of musicians playing for activism, performed a 'Nine Years!' June 4 Memorial Free Concert last night at the Cultural Centre Plaza.

Lenny Guo Da Nian, 44, is the guitarist of Blackbird, a band which plays a mixture of rock and roll, folk and underground music. A freelance TV journalist who puts music above everything, he talks of music's spiritual power 'transcending the spirits of the dead as well as the living'.

What's on your mind? The June 4 bloodshed. Our band's demands are the same as student unions and the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China: that is the reversal of the June 4 verdict and the release of all political prisoners on the mainland. But we voice our concerns through cultural expression.

Why is your band called Blackbird? Blackbird is the 'black hand' behind the whole conspiracy. We formed in the early 1980s, when the Sino-British agreement sealing Hong Kong's future was arranged without any public consultation.

Are you cynical about the society you're in? We have demands for our Government and the society: we are against the increasing gap between the rich and poor, and the resulting domination and exploitation. But our band members don't have a collective political philosophy. Our beliefs basically boil down to one of egalitarianism - of mankind and wealth.

It's socialism, then? Yes, socialism. More accurately we are a band of cultural expression.