My blog
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Wishing a Happy Reunion for Both Man and the Moon
( 繁 | 简 )Thursday, Oct 1, 2009 4:38PM / Standard Entry
Last night I participated in an annual mid-autumn festival celebratory event called 《Full Moon China》in Beijing. This year is even more special because October 1st is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, mid-autumn festival is on October 3rd, and the event was held at the National Aquatic Center, Shui Li Fang, which was previously used as an Olympic Games venue.
I had rehearsals here the day before yesterday and it was the first time that I’d gone inside Shui Li Fang. I thought it was very special and unique how the organizers set up the stage in the middle of the pool! Not only that, I honestly feel extremely happy and excited being able to perform for everyone at a place where so many world records were broken!
I sang a song called 《The Half Moon Crawled Out》 from my new album. This song is a traditional folk song well known in Mainland China; the song has been passed down in various areas for over 20 years. At first when I recorded this song, I suddenly thought of a special idea. Because this particular song reminded me of a song in one of Mozart’s musical plays, Don Juan, I immediately made a suggestion to the music producer, Zhang Yadong, that the song from Mozart’s play be added into 《The Half a Moon Crawled Out》, combining the feelings and affections of traditional Chinese music with the graceful style of western classical music, and I’ll perform the high female vocal part. People were surprised and satisfied with the resulting outcome!
A lot of people who listen to me sing tend to say that they like my middle and low tone vocals, but I really want to tell everyone that I also enjoy singing the high pitched female vocals as well!
To coordinate with the performances for the mid-autumn festival concert, organizers arranged for the stage to be set up in the middle of the Shui Li Fang pool. On the stage, they especially created a moon for me to sit on, allowing me to wish everyone a “happy reunion for both man and moon” while singing this song at the same time.
Rehearsals have finished, now it’s time to prepare to go on stage.
Do you like the Chinese qipao I’m wearing?
Last but not least, I hope that everyone has a happy mid-autumn festival!
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Karen Mok Appears at the National Aquatic Center, Wishing Everyone a Happy Reunion During this Full Moon (Mid-Autumn Festival)
( 繁 | 简 )Thursday, Oct 1, 2009 4:28PM / News
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5 More Days Until The Big Day
( 繁 | 简 )Thursday, Oct 1, 2009 12:01AM / Standard Entry
Recently I'm feeling really nervous and excited! Because a big day is about to arrive!
Last week I saw a rare scene in Beijing~! Has anyone ever seen a car-less Changan Street at 4 o'clock in the afternoon?
Each person was getting ready on the road. They were waiting to get ready for the rehearsal of the performance on national day on 1st of October!
I'm extremely honoured to receive an invitation from CCTV, to be a special guest performer at CPPCC's art and cultural evening <We Walk Together>, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Being able to perform on the same stage together with China's top singers is a real honour!
It is my honour to be able to sing <Sing a Song While Beating a Hand-drum> with the original singer, teacher Guan Mucun, on the same stage. We both hope to congratulate our great country through this song.
After the evening event finished the politicians who attended came up on stage to shake our hands, encouraging us performers!
I'm extremely happy to be able to take part in the national day celebrations! This evening event is the first national day celebrations, as a prelude to the big day. Through my songs, I sincerely wish for China to have an even more prosperous future, looking towards a better tomorrow.
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Your Voices Were So Touching!
( 繁 | 简 )Saturday, Sep 19, 2009 4:25PM / Standard Entry
Seven cities, seven very touching evenings. The seven mini-concerts that I held in association with China Mobile successfully came to an end with your innumerable applauses, cheers of support and your moving voices as you sang along with me. I would honestly like to say a very heartfelt thank you to every single fan and friend who managed to find the time to come and support me. Your warmth and enthusiasm was very touching, and I also believe that you all had a very memorable time just like me! This time I cooperated with China Mobile and used a new kind of music platform for the first time to release my new album. Being able to gain your outstanding support and achieving unprecedented results is all thanks to the hard work and efforts from every staff member! I’d like to say a special thank you to our main sponsor, China Mobile, for their all-out support. Apart from making my music available for everyone to download and share legally, they also organized for me to have mini-concerts in seven cities around China so I could interact with my fans up close and personal. I’m going to treasure these touching memories deep in my mind, and I hope that everyone will do the same too!
The mini-concerts were held at different cities and each place I stepped foot in gave me a different kind of feeling. For example at my most recent stop in Zhuhai – which was also my last stop for a mini-concert with fans - I honestly never imagined that being the first time I’d ever performed there, my “MokYu” fans had already established a fan club and had always been supporting me over the years. They even created their own uniform T-shirt and cheered for me below the stage. Every song I sang, they sang along with me. The feeling I had at the time is inexplicable; I was truly touched! That is why when they presented me with their T-shirt, I immediately put it on. Wearing the T-shirt felt especially heartwarming for me! Also, I remember the first mini-concert I held with fans was in Tianjin and it just happened to be raining that day. But everybody braved the terrible weather and came to watch my performance. Furthermore, there were fans from Beijing who gathered together and especially traveled to Tianjin to attend my concert – it must have been hard work for you guys! Fans from Changsha were particularly enthusiastic. When I went into the audience and shook their hands while singing at the same time, there was a young girl dancing and she took my microphone, started singing and didn’t want to let go of it. But she did remember the lyrics very well. She’s so cute! As for my friends and fans in Fuzhou, I totally felt how faithful and devoted you are. During the part where you had to guess the name of the song, the music only played for one or two seconds and then you managed to guess the song. You guys are really familiar with my songs. It’s amazing; you nearly know them better than me! And of course my friends in Guangxi, I know that the traffic that day in Yulin City was badly congested because people wanted to come see my mini-concert. Nearly everyone ran to the venue to see if they had any chance of getting in. To all my fans and friends who didn’t make it in that day, don’t worry. I will definitely come back again to see you! My friends and fans in Shenzhen were amazing. It was because of your screams and cheers of support that moved me to go into the audience and shake your hands. Also my fans from Guangzhou, we all speak Cantonese so of course we felt closer and more friendly~! “Don’t you think so?” hehehee…
However, the thing that left the most lasting impression on my mind was when each time Isang 《Shengxia De GuoShi》 (Summer Fruits) and 《Waimian De Shijie》 (The Outside World), everyone in the audience sang together with me. You know, as a singer, the most touching moment while on the stage performing is when I hear the audience sing the song with me. I believe that this is what every singer on stage dreams to achieve. I’d like to take this opportunity and say to all my “MokYu” fans from around the country - I know that over the years, you’ve always been supporting me from all different parts of the world. Even though we don’t get to see each other all the time, I will always embrace your love and blessings, and will always remember your lovely voices. Let’s all work hard together!
After a warm-up found of seven mini-concerts, the energy I’ve reserved is ready to explode! I’m going to hold my solo concert tour in December and the first two stops will be in Beijing followed by Shanghai! There will also be no exceptions this time and I will take on the responsibility as the concert’s creative producer, be in charge of stage lighting, costume design and choreography, and will also contribute a lot of ideas for the most important element of the concert – music. I hope to create a concert with non-stop entertainment for the eyes! I can reveal a little bit to you right now – this time I won’t hold back and will perform all my songs from over the years, all the classic songs you’re familiar with, and sing them all to you in one go. This will also be an ultimate test for a sing-together with everyone in the audience! So, before you come to watch the concert, be fully prepared and don’t drink too much water because there won’t be any time for you to go to the toilet! (hahahaha) You also have to be fit and train the body well because you’re going to sing with me from the beginning to the end, and dance with me to the end, okay?
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Karen Mok Revisiting Sichuan at End of Year to Rebuild for <Habitat for Humanity>, Newspaper Clippings
Wednesday, Sep 16, 2009 12:11PM / News
