Live music

The singer, not the song. That could be Ralph McTell's mantra, so inextricably is he linked with his most famous creation, Streets Of London.

An enormous hit in 1974, covered by Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin and Sinead O'Connor, and an evergreen anthem of social consciousness, it will outlive McTell (right) and crystallise a career already well into its fourth decade. Although he commented, 'I've never mocked Streets Of London or slagged it off - I owe it too much,' before his last Hong Kong visit a couple of years ago, he also admitted to thinking: 'I wish there was something else, another song that had that penetration.'

You can decide for yourself if there is anything in McTell's extensive repertoire that fits the bill when he appears in a one-off show on Tuesday (March 27) at Island School, Mid-Levels. A guest of the Hong Kong Folk Society, the enormously talented singer-guitarist-raconteur will also be raiding his back catalogue of blues, ragtime and folk roots.

There is a world of music beyond our sometimes limited Hong Kong shores, and for those not already in the know it begins in Macau - at the Macau Jazz Club. The big noise on Wednesday (March 28) will be sultry songstress Laura Fygi, recently seen here, who will be letting her hair down after her official gig at the nearby Cultural Centre with an after-hours show at the 'new' venue.

'For 15 years the club was in a narrow street in an old district near the interior harbour,' says president Pedro Ascensao. 'But since we moved last year to what we call the Glass House, on the new waterfront, we've been packed every weekend.

'Now we're attracting the likes of trumpeter Tiger Okoshi from Japan and pianist Jeremy Monteiro from Singapore, and we're popular with the Hong Kong crowd - Eugene Pao, Dave Packer, Benny Inot, Angelita Li and others.'