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Original post can be found here.

鄭秀文的「福音歌」

2009年10月28日 星期三

文：Michael Chu〈視博恩(香港)音樂節目《一激音樂》製作人〉


萬眾期待，鄭秀文的「福音歌」派台了！原來是一首包含著Rap的R & B風格歌曲《罪與罰》。Sammi事先張揚這張「福音大碟」有別傳統聖詩，將會很「型」，而且廣邀流行樂壇出色的製作單位合作，《罪與罰》的創作班底，包括了新加坡全能音樂人陳奐仁，本地樂隊24味及著名填詞人黃偉文。

一說到「福音歌」或「福音乜乜」，大家會想到必定要由基督徒包辦整件事情。就拿「福音歌」為例，理所當然是由基督徒創作和主唱，其他崗位例如編曲、監製等，基督徒佔越多數便越好。

而這一回Sammi的《罪與罰》，負責填詞的是一位非基督徒黃偉文，到底這首歌在基督徒們眼中，是否一首「正統」的「福音歌」？（按：黃偉文曾在多年前寫下一首被指為反基督教的歌曲《零號》，引起小風波）

筆者個人相信，上帝有主權和能力透過一切的人和事去完成衪的旨意，對此，筆者想起一段經文：

『（門徒）對耶穌說、夫子、我們看見一個人、奉你的名趕鬼、我們就禁止他、因為他不跟從我們。 耶穌說、不要禁止他．因為沒有人奉我名行異能、反倒輕易毀謗我。 不敵擋我們的、就是幫助我們的。 凡因你們是屬基督、給你們一杯水喝的、我實在告訴你們、他不能不得賞賜。』馬可福音9章38-41節

原來主耶穌對非基督徒參與或支持「基督教事工」有如此豁達的胸襟。將來也許在樂壇上出現更多的非基督徒「福音歌曲」，無論如何，我們也應該樂觀其成吧。

Wow, an unprecedented vocal duet between Peco Chui & Roger Chung. On Youtube only!!

I like it x 3!



你是我的歌 - 徐偉賢 鍾一諾 Duet & 行公義 好憐憫 - 鍾一匡 鍾一諾 featuring 伍卓賢 on piano

Jeff posted yet another great remembrance of the outlaw of the blues aptly entited "hey bartender, another knotty head." Here it is!!



Though he passed on over two years ago, I've been thinking about Jesse James a lot lately. I don’t remember the exact chain of events, but somehow shortly after I started showing up at blues jams around DC at the tender age of 19, I fell in with Jesse James and The Raiders. Looking back, It was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

The first night, I remember his amp being unreliable, his guitar going way out of tune, him getting belligerent after the third set break (smoking a Newport, downing a Seagram's, and yelling at his drummer Lee to "stop messin’ with the TIMING, man!" - even though Jesse himself was speeding up or slowing down). He was running the show (sometimes into the ground), and the people who came out to listen loved every second.

Adams Morgan hadn’t quite turned into the bridge and tunnel brodeo yet... it was still strong on its bohemian international flavor when I started with them. The owner of La Fourchette next door would give us amazing French food on set breaks while he rambled on about his undying love for American blues in a heavy accent; people would make the circuit of Columbia Station for jazz, any of the great African dance halls on the block, Madam's Organ, Mambo Room... there was always good, authentic music being played, attracting crowds of people from all over the city. Jesse’s shows at Cafe Toulouse ("right about now its showtime here at the Cafe Too-Loose!") were a cornerstone of it all for years.

My first night with him was a rollercoaster, and I dove in and played what I could, then backed off when I didn’t know where the song would go next. It wasn’t the best playing I'd ever done, but it was the best listening. At the time, I didn’t even realize it, but I was in the middle of an American Soul Music master class. Within only about a month, I knew half of Otis Redding's catalog. Albert King, Junior Walker, Rufus Thomas, Eddie Floyd... sometimes I had no idea who wrote the songs or how the originals actually sounded until years later, but I damn well knew the songs note for note.

His bandmates had been with him for decades, but I never felt like the odd man out. I was 45 years younger than them, but we joked like old friends. "Brother Jeff" had joined "Brother Lee" and "Brother Turner" as his permanent backing band. I really never thought of it as "Look at me! I'm playing with this cool old black guy!", but I understand that a lot of his friends were wary. We’d usually play outside the scope of the established "DC Blues" scene, and do big shows in old R'n'B clubs of the more segregated parts of NE and SE DC. I’d get stared down by doormen ("I think you’re looking for 14th St. NW, this is 14th St. SE"), or visibly make some folks uncomfortable as we loaded in and enjoyed a pre-show meal ("Sorry, all we have is soul food"), until the music began... then we were all friends. A massive 4th of July block party in Anacostia will undoubtedly go down as my favorite memory of *real* DC. We played on the front porch of his friend’s house. The whole neighborhood was out dancing, grilling, carrying on in the street... then we watched the fireworks over the river while old LPs spun on the record player. It was 2002, but it may as well have been 1967.

We would occasionally meet up to rehearse at an old red brick house on Rhode Island Ave NE. Have a cigarette and a beer on the stoop, neighborhood folks would walk by laughing and smiling when they saw Jesse. We’d go into the wood-paneled basement, and an unmistakable electricity was in the air. Some old recording equipment was in the corner... yellowed framed photographs on the walls. I strained to look closer between songs. Bo Diddley, 1961. The Bo-Ettes headshots. Tour photos, festival programs, letters from all around the world, framed 45’s. "Oh, yeah man... I didn’t tell you? This is Bo’s house. We recorded here a lot when I was in the band."

He never bragged about his career... I think 95% of the people who came out to the clubs to see him didn’t even know he was there from the beginning... but it didn’t matter. Jesse James and the Raiders was his world now, and it was going strong. Every now and then he’d show up to a gig in a full cowboy-getup, shooting cap guns at women in the audience and strutting around like he was in a duel during his solos. Putting the guitar down and dancing with the young women in there with their nervous dates. Thinking about it now, he could barely play lead guitar worth a damn (he was actually Bo's bass player). But none of that mattered. Even into his 70s, He was a true soul showman, playing with heart and conviction, making audiences feel connected with everything the band was doing through nothing more than his gravelly, infectious laugh.

-Jeff Conlin

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My experience with Jesse James was not unlike Jeff's. In fact, it was largely similar. Now looking back, it was a good lesson for me. Thanks to Brother Lee Hailey for bringing me to Jesse. If it wasn't for Jesse, I'd never have met Clarence. If it weren't for them, there wouldn't be no Sonny Boy Chung.

I remember once I was playing in Bohemian Caverns with Clarence and Jesse and his then Raiders were playing in the club upstairs. We crossed paths again. That might've been the last time I saw Jesse. And Jesse still had that old smile at me, and told his new harmonica player (name escapes me) that "You gotta learn something from that guy," pointing at me. In vanity, I was satisfied with his comment, as I was always proud to be in his band. And as always, I was his favorite. He would yell at Brother Lee for the TIMIN' thing and the saxophone player for playing too damn loud. Jesse would never yell at me.

Once we were playing at Cafe TouLOOSe, Jesse told me why he wanted me to be the harmonica player in his band. "The reason is simple. Those bastards (the other harp players who sat in) play over my singing. You don't play over my singing. You listen to the music. You respect the music. So when people ask me who's my harmonica player, it ain't gonna be those bastards. You know who it's gonna be!" I was deeply thankful for his recognition, which would shape me into a bluesman later on in life.

That's how our friendship started. The rest was history....

新報 Nov 10, 2009
劍膽琴心
撰文：馮慧殷　攝影：張福宏



Original post can be found here.

西裝畢挺的Henry Chung（鍾一匡）正職是一名律師，立志在不公平的社會尋找公義；拿起口琴，吹奏起悠然黑人藍調音樂，希望給人們了解音樂源頭，與音樂對話。

他為了兩種身份賦予自己兩種使命感，選擇做肩負正義之劍的口琴師。

同現在很多小孩一樣，我在6歲也是被家人捉去學畫畫，跟了位水墨畫家學，我怎麼畫都畫不好，家人們不死心，說「你總得學點甚麼」，恰好我剛學懂綁鞋帶，想有點突破就轉去學琴了。

學了二十多年，總考不到8級，最後只好放棄繼續。不過學琴學到了樂理，為日後了解音樂奠基，也是算收穫了。

家人有沒有刻意培養音樂才能？

自小都是聽港式流行曲大的，爸爸會聽歐西流行曲如貓王。家人都喜歡聽歌，也不揀擇，不會刻意讓我接觸甚麼音樂。不過耳濡目染下，對音樂的觸覺早受到影響了。

何時愛上藍調音樂？

15歲去到美國讀書，發現了藍調，是爵士樂的一種。感覺這種音樂好像和我說話，我知道這是屬於我的音樂，因為它可以在靈魂層面和我接觸到。不過那時還沒想過去學，直到2000年，當時我在華盛頓讀法律，有次行街，見到有個黑人在吹口琴賣藝，吹得極好。

我就忍不住問他怎麼吹，他同我講，其實不難，叫我回家學好頭三個孔，他說，練好這三個孔，再返去找他。之後我苦練下學懂了便再找到他，最終得到他傳授畢生絕技。

大學為何不選讀音樂？

我從未想過讀音樂，也沒想過以音樂「搵食」。我覺得音樂不是讀出來，音樂是要實踐出來，否則會似紙上談兵。以最直接的方法去聽和看，才可感受音樂，而且我沒有這種才能，應該留給更厲害的人去做。

律師與音樂的共同點？

做律師之後，多了音樂界的朋友找我處理法律問題。其實不少獨立音樂人，都沒有法律的代表，即使他們有經理人，都可能是一知半解的，在知識產權上未必得到更好的保障。如果有個律師，又搞音樂的，而且很熟悉兩方的流程，那麼這樣的一個我，就可以幫助到他們受到應有的法律保護，可以更大度幫助到他們了。

想用音樂表達甚麼？

律師的工作很繁忙，而音樂可以為我真正的解壓。不過即使音樂是我的娛樂或消遣，但我都是百份之百投入的，我敢說來看我表演的觀眾，絕對不會悶，有很多不同的音樂元素給到他們。
在11月27日的太古港島東Friday Fest＇戶外 表演，我會和加拿大「靚聲」女歌手Gigi Marentette，及Jesrael Lucero這位盲人鋼琴家合作表演，我相信我們三人的互動，可以給觀眾一點震撼的感覺，讓他們能融入到我們的音樂中。

生活與音樂有何關係？

為甚麼我要玩音樂，為甚麼要堅持？因為除了事業、工作之外，人應該還要有文化的。我想將在外國學到的，令我感觸的藍調，想製造一個平台再貢獻給香港人。因為如果你給香港人好的東西，他們會懂得欣賞的，會推動的。而我擁有的是純正的藍調，可以給他們除了工作外，生活上的另一種選擇。

音樂之路走得平坦嗎？

自己是個黃種人，吹黑人的音樂，卻被白人歧視兼「柴台」，其實是很奇怪的，我更被華盛頓一些Club列入不受歡迎人物。不過上天對我不薄，有一位鼓手聽我吹過後，覺得我吹得還可以，便帶我去找了位黑人藍調歌手Jesse James Johnson。

Jesse沒有嫌棄我，更讓我參加他的樂隊來鍛練我。後來，輾轉再認識另一位黑人藍調結他手Clarence Turner，得到他的提攜同教誨，才有今天的我。一路走來，有波折，卻幸運。


對金錢有甚麼看法？

人不可以沒有金錢，但我不會拿錢去投資買樓甚麼的，又帶不入棺材。不過，有時音樂是精緻文化，需要有支持才能享受，例如有人會儲很多錢買部機，以便聽得到「靚聲」的音樂CD，既然從中得到樂趣，何樂而不為呢？人的生命很短暫，盡可以都應該抽時間體會人生。

況且不一定要錢才有享受，就像去效野公園不需要很多錢，但隨時可以享受到鳥語花香。

藍調之源

藍調最早的起源應該在19世紀初，起源於新大陸殖民者的黑奴拓墾區。非洲黑人被白人抓來美洲作奴隸，他們就藉着工作或閒暇時間以歌唱來減輕肉體與心靈的苦痛。有學者考據，藍調音樂與某些西北非的民族音樂甚為接近。「blues」 原意指憂鬱，在黑人音樂裏面就是藍調的意思。

肩負正義的口琴師

Henry說他想當律師，是由來已久的，因為有種使命感，即使只有一點能力，都想在不公平的社會，彰顯公義。他說當聽眾聽到自己的音樂會感動，便想繼續做下去，他想帶給聽到他音樂的人，打開心扉感悟人生，同樣是一種使命感使然。憑着想在俗世中盡力做一股清泉，如同他的音樂，Henry給自己背負不少，卻樂在其中，也許就是音樂的美妙之處。