If hard-charging flamenco and Latin jazz is your bag, Hong Kong Stadium is the place for you tonight and tomorrow. The meat of the evening's entertainment will be provided by locally based outfit Red Taurus (pictured), now in residence at the Speed Sports Bar and Grill. Although one of the most versatile of Hong Kong bands, Red Taurus remain comparatively low-profile, which suits main man and synthesiser guitar player Jason Ho, who has firm views on the live music scene.
The proverbial red rag to the band's bullish leader, he feels the 'scene', despite its shortcomings, is often no more than audiences deserve. 'The band can play almost anything,' Ho says. 'We play a wide range of music live - because local clubs and bars demand it to cater for the majority of totally tone-deaf, idiotic, unsophisticated and pretentious music lovers who know enough to shun Kenny G but think playing sax to the tune of Unchained Melody is jazz. We strut our stuff best though to the nouveau flamenco material, and the vibes from our percussionists can drive a crowd wild.' The Red Taurus story began in 1996 at the SwinG Jazz Bar, which stood on Wo On Lane, Lan Kwai Fong, for 18 months. Musicians of all persuasions gathered there and eventually the outfit now called Red Taurus emerged, consisting of a loose affiliation of players. Today the band is a six-piece, with core members from Sri Lanka, the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore - but in Ho's mind it is still a nebulous concept.
'We like to think of Red Taurus as more of a musical event or session than the name of a band,' he says. 'Red Taurus' was in fact the title of a flamenco concert by the SwinG Jazz Group ... but somehow it became the name of the band too. 'We never plan anything more than two weeks ahead, other than trying to record, produce and market our own CDs of original tunes. The Internet may make this possible: it has opened new ways for small, insignificant (but sincere) artists to promote and sell their work.' Alongside the original work in the Red Taurus playlist are classic offerings such as Chick Corea's Spain, Dave Grusin's Havana and Santana songs.
