Many say that beautiful music comes from suffering. From woeful blues to the angst of punk rock, musical expression stems, for some artists, from painful experience.
Paul Candelaria understands that. One of the more recognisable bass players on the local jazz circuit, Candelaria's musical pain is a literal one.
'It's very painful on the fingers,' he said of his bass. 'But it has a very transparent sound. If you have it set up the right way, it sings. You can slide up and down like a human voice. When I start to hear it singing, I tend to forget about the pain in my fingers. It's well compensated.' The pain however isn't the only reason for Candelaria often leaving his wooden bass at home and replacing it with a standard electric bass or an upright electric bass he recently bought from the United States. With gigs across town, including a Sunday brunch stint at Oscar's in Causeway Bay, Candelaria has discovered that carting the instrument with him is a tiring and expensive trial.
'In a taxi it can hit the back of the driver's head. Most of time I rent a van, which is expensive. And on stage it occupies too much space.' The 49-year-old has been playing bass since he was 19 and although he loves the instrument, it wasn't his first choice. Growing up in the Philippines, Candelaria initially wanted to be a trombonist, but a car accident in his youth stunted those aspirations. Jazz however has always been a great love, particularly jazz standards, of which he performs many at Oscar's.
'It gives you room to improve yourself and portray what you feel at that very instant.' His passion for the repertoire - which occasionally includes Latin tracks - takes away the sting of being background music. Like many of Candelaria's gigs, including Staunton's Bar and Cafe and the Peak Cafe, Oscar's audience members tend not to be there specifically to listen to music. Although at times he feels like he's selling out on his artistic integrity, keeping the audience happy is usually his prime concern.
'I'm trying to programme myself that you're not supposed to please yourself, you have to try to please the paying public. You can't just play what you want. But I try not to think about it because I don't want to get depressed.' What is particularly frustrating is to be performing in venues that are dedicated music spots and audience members still choose to disrespect the artist. 'Sometimes at the Jazz Club, people have their mobile phones and pagers on, or some people will sit right in front of the musician and they'll be talking business. It's really insulting.' Candelaria has no aspirations to record his own work. 'I don't think I have that talent for making music from nothing, so I try to stay away from composing. I tried that once when I was younger and my brother listened to the tune and he said it'll never sell; it sounds weird. So I lost interest.' Nonetheless, Candelaria considers himself to be incredibly fortunate. Well-respected on the jazz circuit, he is often called on to support international jazz acts performing locally. He was recently seen on stage with Georgie Fame, Canadian crooner Rita di Ghent and veteran saxophonist Hal Singer. Having performed in Japan and Taiwan and familiar with the jazz circuit in the US, Candelaria also believes that in terms of opportunities available, the Hong Kong music scene can be good to its artists.