Hong Kong and Guangzhou performers deliver musical message in blending of styles

Hong Kong and Guangzhou musicians will celebrate their common musical source over political differences in an experimental fusion concert aimed at forging a new style of Cantonese music.

The “Guangdong Music Assembly”, four young local and four Guangzhou masters, will perform both new and traditional works on Chinese and Western instruments.

“In performing Cantonese music, I see no difference between Hong Kong and Guangzhou,” said Ricky Yeung Wai-kit, a local dizi player and organiser of the sell-out concert at Yau Ma Tei Theatre on Saturday.

“We share the same source, even the swear words are the same. Only in politics some people draw a line and get polarised.”

In recent years a number of political activists in Hong Kong have stressed the need to protect local autonomy and culture, leading to protests against the apparent rising interference of Beijing in the city’s affairs and the increasing number of mainland Chinese immigrants and tourists.

Yu Lefu, a master of Chinese instruments and a band leader in Guangzhou, saw nothing new in fusion music, but he said blending traditional instruments was a surprise move.

“We in Guangzhou perform with a rustic flavour, and the Hong Kong style is cosmopolitan,” said Yu, co-artistic adviser to the concert.