AIMED at promoting Chinese songs and encouraging creativity among local musicians, a new Chinese song chart was introduced recently. The ''Global Ultimate Chinese Song Chart'', the most comprehensive and largest Chinese song chart of its kind, is jointly organised by Commercial Radio (CR) and the Central People's Broadcasting Station. A wide variety of songs, including folk songs, artistic songs, pop songs and songs from the mainland and other countries, will be selected for the chart. Each month, original songs from the mainland will be collected by the Central People's Broadcasting Station, and songs from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong will be selected by Commercial Radio. ''After selecting the songs here, we will send the list to the Central People's Broadcasting Station in Beijing for a panel of adjudicators to assess,'' said Mr Gary Ngan Luen-mo, Commercial Radio One's Music Director. The panel comprises music experts and celebrities who will select 30 outstanding songs for the monthly chart. The adjudicators will also take into account the popularity of the songs in various charts and the response from the music market. The two radio stations will jointly produce a 10-minute segment every day to introduce these 30 songs, plus a full-hour countdown of the chart at the end of each month. The programme will be heard in Hong Kong through Commercial Radio, as well as in all provinces in the mainland through the Central People's Broadcasting Station's nationwide network. Mr Ngan said audiences in both Hong Kong and China would be invited to vote for their most favourite song from the chart. Voting forms will be published in magazines and newspapers. ''We not only hope to promote music productions; we also hope that Hong Kong will become a music base in Asia,'' Mr Ngan said. The first 30 songs for the first stage of the ''Global Ultimate Chinese Song Chart'', from September 15 to October 15, were recently selected, including songs from Sally Yeh, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Sandy Lam Yik-lin, Vivian Lai Sui-yan, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau and Beyond. Tony Leung's ''A Little Love Everyday'' was one of the songs. Leung said he did not expect to be on the chart as he was a newcomer. ''I am very happy,'' he said. ''I will do my best to bring the audience good music.''
