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Author Topic: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas  (Read 13137 times)

Offline Masa

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[CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« on: April 05, 2009, 11:05:28 AM »
Shanghai Lounge Divas



Before the Communist regime took full force in 1949, Shanghai was known as the “Hollywood of the East” and the “Paris of Asia”. Shanghai in the ‘30s and ‘40s was a city dripping with sophistication and decadence: showgirls, cocktails, intrigue, avant-garde artists, and the Shanghai Lounge Divas who cooed in whispers over jazz and swing. Their voices would have remained whispers in the past, if not for a discovery in 2003 when over 1,000 original recordings of the Shanghai divas were saved from dusty obscurity in an Indian studio. The songs were resurrected into two albums: Shanghai Lounge Divas Volume I (2004) and II (2006), both a blend of the original divas’ voices remixed with electronica, jazz, blues, drum’n’bass, traditional Chinese opera and folk music.

Shanghai Lounge Divas Vol. 1

DOWNLOAD

CD1 - Original 1930’s Sessions Remixed for Today
01. Li Xiang-lan / 李香蘭 - Plum Blossom / 梅花
02. Bai Kwong / 白光 - Waiting 4 U / 等著你回來
03. Li Xiang-lan / 李香蘭 - If Only… / 恨不相逢未嫁時
04. Chow Hsuan / 周璇 - Stop Singing / 不要唱吧
05. Bai Kwong / 白光 - The Pretender / 假正經
06. Chang Loo / 張露 - All the Stars in the Sky / 滿天星
07. Yao Lee / 姚莉 - This Love is Not for Me / 得不到的愛情
08. Bai Hong / 白虹 - Listen Up / 且聽我說
09. Bai Kwong / 白光 - Autumn Evening / 秋夜
10. Chow Hsuan / 周璇 - The Wandering Songstress / 天涯歌女
11. Chang Loo / 張露 - The Plough Song / 鋤頭山歌
12. Chow Hsuan / 周璇 - Ye Shanghai / 夜上海

CD2 - The Original Recordings
01. Li Xiang-lan / 李香蘭 - Plum Blossom / 梅花
02. Bai Kwong / 白光 - Waiting 4 U / 等著你回來
03. Li Xiang-lan / 李香蘭 - If Only… / 恨不相逢未嫁時
04. Chow Hsuan / 周璇 - Stop Singing / 不要唱吧
05. Bai Kwong / 白光 - The Pretender / 假正經
06. Chang Loo / 張露 - All the Stars in the Sky / 滿天星
07. Yao Lee / 姚莉 - This Love is Not for Me / 得不到的愛情
08. Bai Hong / 白虹 - Listen Up / 且聽我說
09. Bai Kwong / 白光 - Autumn Evening / 秋夜
10. Chow Hsuan / 周璇 - The Wandering Songstress / 天涯歌女
11. Chang Loo / 張露 - The Plough Song / 鋤頭山歌
12. Chow Hsuan / 周璇 - Ye Shanghai 2003 / 夜上海
13. Gong Chio-xia / 龔秋霞 - Longing for You / 秋水伊人
14. Man Ping / 曼萍 / Lingering Love / 愛的流連
15. OuYoung Fei-ying / 歐陽飛鶯 - Shangri-La / 香格里拉
16. Zhang Yi-wen / 張伊雯 - Shanghai Miss / 上海小姐
17. Gu Ying / 谷鶯 - Love That’s Gone / 霓裳恨
18. Wang Ren-mei / 王人美 - Song of the Fisherman / 漁光曲
19. Lang Yu-xiu / 郎毓秀 - Harmonious Couple / 鸞鳳諧鳴
20. Li Li-hua / 李麗華 & Yan Hua / 嚴華 - Hundred Birds / 百鳥朝凰
21. Lu Min / 璐敏 - Fallen Petals /  落花飄零
22. Lu Ming / 路明 - Heavenly Spring Dream / 天堂春夢
23. Chow Hsuan / 周璇 - The Blossom Youth / 花樣的年華
24. Pei Ni / 佩妮 - The Night Is Too Beautiful To Last / 良夜不能留



Bai Kwong -Waiting 4 U (Ian Widgery Remix)

Offline Masa

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2009, 11:06:02 AM »
Quote
The Triumphant Return of the Shanghai Lounge Divas

Ian Widgery remixed Chinese pop music 70 years old, and created an Asian smash hit.

“I wish I could beam myself back to experience it first hand,” Ian Widgery sighs. He is talking about Shanghai in the thirties and forties when it was “Paris of the east,” a city like no other, cosmopolitan, decadent, sophisticated.

Widgery did the next best thing by recreating some of the sound of the era, the golden age of Shanghai pop. He found original songs, remixed them, and issued them on an album called Shanghai Lounge Divas. The result: music as unique as the city in its golden era, a mixture of Eastern and Western influences, blues, jazz, traditional Chinese opera and folk music.

Since its launch in January 2004, Shanghai Lounge Divas soared to the top of the charts in Asia and has been released in 18 different countries. Although Widgery always felt confident about the material, he has been little bowled over by the success. “I didn’t expect this,” he told The Tyee.

School of Bowie and U2

Widgery who is from the UK and now lives in North Vancouver, was always passionate about music. By his last year in high school, he had decided on a musical career, although the counselors at his school advised against it. “They told me it was really hard, that I shouldn’t bother and that I’d be better off working on an oil rig.” Widgery ignored them and applied to the University of Newcastle on Tyne where he was the youngest of 50 students accepted into a program that taught him all about music production. “I knew I wanted to go into the record side of it.”

After graduating in 1993, Widgery worked as a producer/mixer on commercial albums for more than 60 sixty groups including David Bowie and U2. “It’s not as glamourous as people think. I didn’t get to meet Bono. But I did get feedback. David Bowie said my remixes were the best he’s ever had. They were very interesting.”

Then Widgery did two singles for an Irish pop group called Bewitched, just to see where it would lead. When the singles hit number 1, “that opened a lot of doorways really fast.” One of the doorways was an offer from Morton Wilson who owned Schtung Music in Hong Kong. Widgery was happy to move out of the UK. “I wanted to expand my horizons musically. I thought that Asia would be the place to go.”

Rescuing doomed 78s

Cut to 2003, Mumbai, India where the global music company EMI was clearing out an old warehouse in preparation for its demolition. EMI had been there since the 1920s when it manufactured and distributed records under the Pathe label. In the warehouse, workmen unearthed a trunk with Chinese writing on it and inside were the mother shells of about 800 songs from the thirties and forties. These were the reels used to press the stamper that produced the old vinyl 78s. Recognizing the historical value of what they had, EMI decided to preserve this musical heritage by recording it on CDs. The trunk was shipped to Hong Kong. That’s where Widgery came in. When Morton Wilson had him listen to the songs, he thought, “Wow this stuff is brilliant.” He was haunted by the melodies. “Because some of the songs had been out of circulation for seventy years, I felt I had something really special.”

Just for the love of it, Widgery decided to produce a couple of demo tracks, re-mixing the songs for a contemporary audience. One of the things that helped Widgery was the old technology of the original. “They recorded live with one microphone in the middle of a room. When the vocalist started singing, she’d go closer to the microphone. She would get louder. Then if there was a coronet solo, the singer would back away and the musician would walk up to the microphone.” This made it easy to extract what he wanted.

Because EMI liked Widgery’s two-track experiment, he was commissioned to produce an entire album. He listened to 500 songs and out of that, remixed 12 by six different divas. Widgery sees an irony in the track listing. “This is Chinese music listened to by western ears. Somebody from Shanghai would probably pick a different selection of songs.”

Persecuted divas

EMI Hong Kong first put out a five-disc set of the original material and then distributed Widgery’s album in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. “They also released one with a jazz slant on it but mine was the one that charted.” The CD includes brief histories of the divas whose lives spun out in very different directions after their moment of glory in Shanghai.

Bai Hong was despised by the Communists for her American style of singing and persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.

Chang Loo, on the other hand, escaped to Hong Kong and continued her career there for many years.

Li Xiang La who was born and raised in Japanese-occupied Manchuria by Japanese parents was a mega-watt star in both Japan and China during the war. But afterwards, she was arrested as a collaborator, and forced to leave China.

For Widgery, one of the many odd twists that this story took was discovering that four of of the six divas were still alive. “I thought they would all be dead,” he said. Chang Loo apparently liked his album. “It makes me feel young again,” she said.

First Nations project next

Widgery recently moved to North Vancouver because his wife who is Canadian wanted to open up a dance studio here. His current project, called Nomad Voices, involves working with songs by the Orochen, a traditional people from Northern China.

Next Widgery would really like to do something with First Nations. “That would reflect where I am now.” Hey said he’s had difficulty connecting with any First Nations musicians, however, and he’s hoping that Tyee readers may help him to forge a link. “I like the whole fusion thing. I think world music has so much to offer. We’re about to discover what it’s all about.”
http://thetyee.ca/Entertainment/2005/03/25/ShanghaiDivas/

Offline daigong

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2009, 11:16:05 AM »
HOLY! SHIT. I heard of this shit back in the daze, when my gramps and/or old ass uncles be kicking it.

This is pure pure CLASSICS. Their voices are golden, and I ain't talking about showers. Some of the best voices of all time from this era! Now I know the names XD Thanks Masa!

Offline Masa

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2009, 12:07:19 PM »
Shanghai Lounge Divas Vol. 2

DOWNLOAD

CD1: Original 1930's Sessions Remixed For Today
01. Overture - About Shanghai…… / 有關夜上海
02. Cui Ping / 崔萍 - This Precious Night / 今宵多珍重
03. Ou Yang Fei Ying / 區陽飛鶯 - Shangri-La / 香格里拉
04. Woo Ing Ing / 吳鶯音 - Love From Far Away / 明月千里寄相思
05. Li Xiang Lan / 李香蘭 - Three Years / 三年
06. Poon Sow Keng / 潘秀瓊 - Lover's Tears / 情人的眼淚
07. Koo Mei / 顧媚 - Along The River Of Love / 相思河畔
08. Bai Kwong / 白光 - Without You  / 如果沒有你
09. Gong Qiu Xia / 龔秋霞 - You In My Dream / 夢中人
10. Mona Fong / 方逸華 - The Blue and The Black / 藍與黑
11. Yao Lee / 姚莉  - Rose Rose I Love You / 玫瑰玫瑰我愛你
12. Grace Chang / 葛蘭 - I Want Your Love / 我要你的愛
13. Chang Loo / 張露 - Give Me A Kiss / 給我一個吻

CD2: The Original Recordings
01. Cui Ping / 崔萍 - This Precious Night / 今宵多珍重
02. Ou Yang Fei Ying / 區陽飛鶯 - Shangri-La / 香格里拉
03. Woo Ing Ing / 吳鶯音 - Love From Far Away / 明月千里寄相思
04. Li Xiang Lan / 李香蘭 - Three Years / 三年
05. Poon Sow Keng / 潘秀瓊 - Lover's Tears / 情人的眼淚
06. Koo Mei / 顧媚 - Along The River Of Love / 相思河畔
07. Bai Kwong / 白光 - Without You  / 如果沒有你
08. Gong Qiu Xia / 龔秋霞 - You In My Dream / 夢中人
09. Mona Fong / 方逸華 - The Blue and The Black / 藍與黑
10. Yao Lee / 姚莉  - Rose Rose I Love You / 玫瑰玫瑰我愛你
11. Grace Chang / 葛蘭 - I Want Your Love / 我要你的愛
12. Chang Loo / 張露 - Give Me A Kiss / 給我一個吻
13. Chow Hsuan / 周璇 - Blossoms Under The Full Moon / 月圓花好
14. Yao Lee / 姚莉 - The Spring Breeze Kisses My Face / 春風吻上我的瞼
15. Koo Mei / 顧媚 - Love Without End / 不了情
16. Bai Hung / 白虹 - Intoxicating Lip Rouge / 醉人的口紅
17. Woo Ing Ing / 吳鶯音 - Beautiful Spring Night / 好春宵
18. Chow Hsuan / 周旋 - Eternal Smile / 永遠的微笑

Offline Amarghetta

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2009, 06:26:07 AM »
Awesome!  :twothumbs
I've just listened to a couple of songs, but I like it so far.

Offline ytl

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2009, 12:20:59 PM »
Oh man.... where did you find this jems out of nowhere???

Thank you very much.....  most of those artists are really one of a kind divas to most chinese ppl in their 70s or 80s.......  and 張露 just died couple weeks ago and her son Alex To was a famous artists back in the early 90s in HK.


Offline EnkaFan

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2009, 04:35:58 PM »
Very very cool, Masa.  I didn't even see this thread (but then again,
I'm a newb round here).  I'm in download heaven these days - I think
I'm gonna need a terabyte's worth of external drive to hold it all!
 :D

Offline U.S.S. John E. Badass

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2009, 03:28:11 AM »
Ooh, yeah. Great stuff. I don't understand a word, but I love it.

By some kind of coincidence, I recently heard a Li Xianglan collection that was so good I wanted to share it but didn't know where. I hope it's okay to intrude on a related thread.

(I didn't manage to find a picture of the cover)
百代中國時代曲‧李香蘭

01 - 蘭閨寂寂
02 - 烏鴉配鳳凰
03 - 身世飄零
04 - 河上的月色
05 - 心曲
06 - 分離
07 - 梅花
08 - 他總有一天回來
09 - 歌舞今宵
10 - 小時候
11 - 三年
12 - 情枷愛鎖
13 - 十里洋場
14 - 恨不相逢未嫁時
15 - 只有你

http://www.twitter.com/?d=0TTA5TA6

Edit: updated link.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2009, 12:40:35 PM by U.S.S. John E. Badass »

Offline daigong

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2010, 08:33:45 AM »
Classic Diva 白光 Bak Gong in rare video!


Offline daigong

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Re: [CHI] Shanghai Lounge Divas
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2010, 07:15:31 AM »
Mid Autumn Concert in China!!! 2010央视中秋晚会  from 2010-09-22

sexy A Duo (阿朵) sings the classic "Rose, Rose I Love You'


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