Lou Dau (老竇)

Lou Dau is a slang commonly used only by Cantonese, meaning daddy. I believe not many Cantonese speakers know what the this word really means, most people think it's an impolite term to address 'father', but the fact is this word's came from a very special history. Please allow me to briefly explain:

The word LOU (Old), is a term to address someone who is respected, like LOU SI (Teacher); and the word DAU came from a person named DAU YIN SAN (燕山) from the famous Chinese THREE CHARACTER CLASSICS (三字經), a book of ancient Chinese social moral values teachings.

DAU YIN SAN *Mister DAU from Sparrow Mountain (竇燕山) was a famous Chinese personnel who's 5 sons has became 5 successful and respectful heroes under his teachings and training. LOU DAU eventually became a term describing someone who brings up good kids. And that's what me and sister call our dad.

We always hear people say "I've got the Greatest Dad in the world". And here is a few stories about MY Greatest Lou Dau I'd like to share.

A Major Influence in Music:
My Lou Dau (Hardy) is a professional piano/keyboard player and a dedicated jazz music lover. There's always music around us, in the earlier days, it's either hanging out at his gigs or band rehearsals or listening to the greats such as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Nancy Wilson, etc in the household.

When I was 9, he took me and my little sis Mikki to the recording studio to record for a TVC session, initially for the fun of it, but little did he know, that session was the beginning of a regular part-time job for me, while other kids staying home watching TV, I was in the studio singing to the songs they hear.

Discipline :
As we grew a bit older and mom decided to become a full time housewife. Lou Dau took on a full time job as an insurance sales and play keyboard at cocktail lounges during some evenings. He always finds time to sit with us and guide us with our homework. Mikki and I were no little angels at home, spankings, scoldings and time out sessions were inevitable. Despite of those pain in the butt and crying sessions there's always weekends we look forward to, Dennis' Children's Meal or Sushi Dinners, and we get to buy our favorite toys or stationaries. If we did good with our exams, we get to turn on the Atari TV game and play tennis or race cars.

Guardian Angel:
There was a what I call the "Black Hole Period", where I had no idea where i was heading in life ended up focusing on nothing but parties and discos. Not once giving me any hard times, Lou Dau took me to the clubs where he plays keyboards for a singer and 3 backing vocalists, they sing and dance with such quality and unity. I was fascinated by that whole package, ended up there most nights instead of elsewhere. Ever since then I took music seriously and ended up living in Bangkok, Los Angeles, Macau, Singapore following where the music's calling. With his handful in his new family life, Lou Dau will always shows his face wherever I was, taking me to do groceries when I had nothing in the fridge; giving me money when I'm low; bringing me music when I'm down, making sure I'm doing alright.

A Great Friend:
We share the love of jazz music together, many of my friends here I'm sure have seen me and Lou Dau watching concerts together. He will show me stuff that he listens to and share views. Whenever I have a gig, he'll always be in the audience, never once he complimented about my singing, but i always see the proudness glowing from his face when my fellow musicians tells him how good his daughter sings and when he's watching in the audience.

Unconditional Giver:
As you can see in the picture, Lou Dau and I don't resemble at all. It has been a topic people constantly ask and talk about that throughout these 30 some odd years (nicely or rude). I too, was puzzled for a long time but never dared to ask. The truth finally revealed to me by my great grandma before she passed away when I reached 17, and here's the story:
Lou Dau met my mom when I was a baby, until after they got married I was always known as the 'niece' of hers. Yeah so Lou Day was tricked.. ha...
I don't know what other men would do if this happens to them, but my Lou Dau, took me in, gave me birth certificate with a Chinese name and a surname after his, brought me up and with all those things that he is I have mentioned above, without ever asking for anything back.

I feel bad most of the times knowing I probably won't be able to pay back what my Lou Dau has given to me, at the least I want the world to know what an ANGEL my Lou Dau is and how lucky I am to be his daughter.

Lou Dau, I LOVE YOU too.

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