Anthony Wong Yiu-ming

I grew up in a temporary housing estate called Jordan Valley in Ngau Tau Kok, which has since become a park. The kitchen, bathroom and laundry room were all shared. I was motivated to work hard because I didn’t want to live there forever.

My parents gave us a lot of freedom, playing out in the hallway. Sometimes we would sleep outside in the summertime because we didn’t have air conditioning and only had one window in the flat.

Two of my sisters finished primary school and had to work for their secondary-school tuition. I didn’t do very well in Form 5 and stopped school after that, but my parents are happy with my success today.

I work with Oxfam because I believe that everybody has the right to life and education. I visited Ghana, where many people don't have food or even a pencil to write with. Some people live on one US dollar a day.

I don’t write about poverty because my music cannot carry the message. Not everything can be expressed through music.

Since the beginning of Tat Ming Pair, music has always come first. But when we released our first album, people were interested in the cover before they heard the music. A music lover should never look boring. David Bowie has always been exciting in his music and his visual image, as well as stage presentation. He is an important source of my inspiration.

What I care about today is different from what I cared about in the 80s. If I do a rendition of [Tat Ming Pair hit] "Ten Firefighting Youths" now — we have actually written a sequel to the song — it will be different. I was very sensitive to social context back then, but now I am more sensitive to internal emotions.

I shifted the focus to music because it can say more than words. Chinese people count on words too much. If I were angry, I could express my anger with the music I play. I don’t have to say: “I am angry.”

Mainstream or alternative? It’s in the eyes of the beholder. I have always been in a crack between the two. There is less and less need to distinguish between mainstream and alternative. I want to blur the line because the labels are unnecessary.

I don’t like the dirtiness and crowding in Hong Kong. The crowding makes you breathless, but from another point of view it pushes you forward. Hong Kong is a super city with lots of energy, with so many people stuck in such a small area. There is an urgent need for efficiency that is very affecting. Sometimes I love and hate Hong Kong for the same reasons, but I would never love the dirtiness.

When I’m in New York, I think it’s like Hong Kong, although it is culturally richer. But if we make Hong Kong more interesting it can become like
New York.

I really want a vacation right now, in a place where I won’t see Hong Kong people. South America would be a good choice, especially Brazil. I like bossa nova and Brazilian pop music. Their music is very interesting. It’s not just about passionate dance moves, but also about arrangement and vocal technique. Their melodies are actually very oriental, which I like, but the harmony is different.

I deal with age better if I don’t think about it. I don’t think of how many years I’ve worked. I’d just live and make music according to the way I feel. Tat Ming Pair’s music was socially conscious and I made no conscious effort to separate from that — my style just evolved naturally. It is unnecessary for me to compete with Edison Chan by doing the things he does. I believe in my experience, and I have something uniquely Anthony Wong to offer.

Too many people, regardless of age, aren’t proud of themselves. They want to assimilate, and they are afraid to be different. Hong Kong loves a homogeneous society, but I have always believed in developing one’s uniqueness. Older people tell you to humble yourself and not to stand out, but that is negative. By developing your uniqueness, you become more interesting.

I am indifferent towards religion. Religion is the spiritual communication between a person and a superbeing. My experience with religion has been tainted by too many human factors. I don't need to sit with a congregation to communicate with the superbeing.

People spend too much time trying to learn about the superbeing, and they forget about the people around them. Instead of thinking about life after death, I’d rather focus on living a good, solid life.

If music is my religion, so are film and love. I am a man of many religions.