REBECCA PAN Wan-ching is nothing like the vain and petulant characters she plays in Wong Kar-wai movies. In person, the 76-year-old singer is charming, patiently retelling her life story and describing preparations for her concert on Saturday - a gala evening with a big band in Macau. Better known by her stage name, Pan Di-hua, she sees the material as her memoirs in music. The songs will retrace her life, from her teenage years in Shanghai to her debut in Hong Kong nightclubs, touring the world as a cabaret singer and supporting Louis Armstrong when the jazz great visited in 1963. 'I'm looking forward to this concert because I've got material and want to see how the audience responds,' says Pan. As well as some English numbers and her jazzy Putonghua classics, she'll perform Chinese folk tunes such as Four Seasons. 'Friends said the audience wouldn't appreciate the old melody, but I want to give it a new arrangement,' she says. 'I don't know if it will work or if people will like it, but at least I can introduce these songs to the younger generation.' Pan will be backed by old friends. The band is led by long-time collaborator Joey Villanueva, and she has worked with a number of the 15 musicians for 40 years. Pan is meticulous about making sure everything is just right for her concert - from the sound system to music arrangement, costumes and script. She handles many of the details herself, just as she has done from the start of her career. 'I've never had a manager,' she says. 'I did have an agent, but I was the one who decided whether to take a job. I'm not the kind of person who accepts what people tell me to do.' This tough and independent streak was honed while growing up in a chaotic Shanghai during the 1940s, and it stood her in good stead when she and her mother fled to Hong Kong in 1949 to escape the worsening conflict. She married and had a son, but the union was brief. After her divorce, Pan tried her hand at singing. Her big break came in 1957 when she was invited to take over for a singer who quit unexpectedly at the Caesar Palace Nightclub. Her aptitude for languages - she learned to sing in English, Japanese, French and Spanish, among others - and an eclectic repertoire of folk, jazz and show tunes as well as Putonghua ballads paved the way for a world tour two years later. She appeared in Australia, India, Britain, France, Spain and Israel, and went on to perform in the US. That cosmopolitan flavour is reflected in her first recording, Pan Wan Ching Sings the Four Seasons, with Portuguese company Diamond Records. After signing with EMI in 1964, she released her first Putonghua album, Rendezvous on the Bridge, but continued to embrace other cultures, regularly delivering Chinese covers of French, Japanese, Arab and English hits in more than 30 albums. Her singing career slowed considerably in later decades, but she remained in the public eye, spiced by sporadic film appearances, including Wong's Days of Being Wild, for which she won a Golden Horse award for best supporting actress, and In the Mood for Love (2000). Pan doesn't hit the high notes like she used to, but she's confident she'll deliver a quality performance at her first concert in three years. The chances of her reprising the show in Hong Kong are slim. Pan says her material generally isn't commercial enough to make a profit. As it is, she says she won't be able to recover the costs of her Macau concert even if it's sold out. 'Some people have invited me to stage a couple of concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum, but I don't like singing there,' she says. 'The sound system isn't suitable for my music. 'I was angry when I was young,' Pan says. 'The way I work doesn't fit in [the entertainment business] - not that there's no market for my music. It's all because of my stubborn personality. Maybe I would have been very popular and famous and made a lot of money if I changed. But if I did that, I wouldn't be myself.' At this stage of her life, others' opinions don't matter that much, but Pan hopes the Macau concert will win enough fans to help realise her dream of putting on a concert version of Pai Niang Niang: the Legend of White Snake, the 1972 musical she produced and starred in. Pai Niang Niang was Hong Kong's first major Broadway-style show, with original music by the successful songwriting team of Joseph Koo Ka-fai and the late James Wong Jim. Although kung fu star Bruce Lee described the musical as 'at least 15 years ahead of its time', the production was a commercial flop. In recognition of its groundbreaking role, the Hong Kong Music Fair will feature memorabilia from Pai Niang Niang at an exhibition later this month. Titled Hong Kong Pop Culture: Creativity and Dynamics, the exhibition showcases milestones in local pop history. Pan lost about HK$1 million on the 1972 production - a fortune at the time - and she can't afford to take risks a second time around. 'I have to save some money for the rest of my life,' says the singer, whose son died from liver cancer several years ago. 'I'm already 76 and may live until 90. There are still some 10 years to go.' Even if there were backers, she says it's more realistic to stage a concert version of Pai Niang Niang rather than the full musical. 'There's lots of work to be done to polish the music. And it's hard to find young talents in Hong Kong who can sing and act,' says Pan. 'I've been working hard since the 60s. Although I'm not that successful, I've always pursued what I believe in. People may say it's just fantasy, but this is my ideal. You have to have dreams in life. 'Maybe 20 or 30 years later, when people listen to my music they'll find it interesting,' she says. 'Or they may think it's rubbish. But that's OK. At least I have a record and I think it has value.' The One and Only Rebecca Pan & Big Band, Sat, 8pm, Grand Auditorium, Macao Cultural Centre, HK$80-HK$250. Inquiries: 2380 5083 Hong Kong Pop Culture: Creativity and Dynamics, Mar 21-23, Hall 7A, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
