Violinist and Composer Kung Chi-shing
Classically trained violinist and composer Kung Chi-shing is Hong Kong’s leading figure in experimental music. He directed the hit multimedia show The Box and currently runs regular outdoor concerts known as the Street Music Series. He tells Penny Zhou about his artistic journey.
I was born in a Tai O fishing village, a very isolated and remote place.
There wasn’t much to do so I paid a lot of attention to the sea, the mountains and the sunset. We were poor, but those were the happiest times of my life. My philosophy of life was formulated in those seven years.
My parents had a grocery store selling wine. That’s why from a young age I knew everything about alcohol. My dad used to say, “If you’re gonna get drunk, get drunk on something good.”
When I was seven, I had to move into town for school. I felt like a prisoner trapped in the city.
But during that time my older brother introduced me to classical music. It was like a reality beyond reality. It became my escape from the real world. By the time I was 11, I knew this was what I was going to do for the rest of my life.
I went to college in Hawaii to study music with a full scholarship when I was 17. In the late 1970s, you still saw hippies. People went to school barefoot. I heard Bob Dylan there—it opened up the world of pop music to me.