14 February 2009

Article published in Apple Daily

Chang Loo
(Apple Daily, 10 February 2009)

Urged by Allen, Fanne's brother-in-law, I submitted to Apple Daily (蘋果日報 Pingguo ribao) an article about Chang Loo (張露), a legendary Chinese singer who launched her singing career after making her recording debut for EMI (China) in 1941 and had been active in Hong Kong from 1952 when she resettled there until the mid 1970s. Chang passed away on the Chinese New Year's Day.

Chang Loo sang in a few languages, including Mandarin, English and Japanese, and had been capturing the fascination of the Chinese audience with her vivacious and versatile numbers for decades. She also covered many Japanese and English hits throughout her singing career in Hong Kong, among which was the classic 'Give Me A Kiss' (給我一個吻 Gei wo yige wen), adapted from Georgia Gibbs & The Yale Brothers' 1953 hit 'Seven Lonely Days'.

Had it not been for Allen, I wouldn't have written such an item for a newspaper. I suppose it would be vital for me to produce more academic papers rather than contribute articles to the press, since nowadays main measures of research performance are academic publications and citations, no matter whether the measurement is accurate and fair.

However, with respect to financial rewards and self-promotion, it might be worthwhile to spend a couple of hours in draughting a short article and have it published in a newspaper which circulates throughout the whole country.

Apple Daily, a national paper in the broadsheet format printed in Taiwan but owned by the Hong Kong-based Next Media Limited which publishes Apple Daily in Hong Kong, is usually perceived as a tabloid. Even though Apple Daily tends to be dominated by striking headlines, sensational stories and photographs, it gives commentaries on current issues and useful consumer information as well. It has the largest circulation, over 500,000 copies per day, among all newspapers in Taiwan.

It may not be as exciting as it was in 2005 when my first-ever research paper was published in Popular Music, a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to research on popular music, but it feels good.

For readers who do not read Chinese, please just listen to Chang Loo's 'Give Me A Kiss', and if you are interested, click through for the original English version of 'Seven Lonely Days' and make a comparison of the singing styles and instrumental arrangements.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

寫一些東西在大眾媒體也不錯,因為大眾媒體報導張露也只是拍一下頻果日報跟放一段youtube,看完觀眾也只知道某位舊時代的明星過世,沒有更多了解。另外台北奔牛節跟燈節你有去看看嗎,我相簿有拍一些。

Anonymous said...

學術領域的專業研究,確實是學者應有專注所在,但這就好像上班族把老闆交代的工作做好一樣。要能走出象牙塔,擴大自己的影響力,用非專業的言語和角度來談專業,是免不掉的。

傅佩榮也許不是一個好例子,他數十本淺顯談哲學的書也為哲學專業學者所鄙夷。但他在整個社會中"哲學專業"的代表性卻是由這些"淺顯"所建立,而他開啟哲學門外漢一探哲學之美的功績也不容抹滅。

期待你下一篇在學術及非學術的發表。不過若你跟傅佩榮一樣,全盛時期一年近300場演講邀約,帶來了滿滿荷包,好像也不錯^^ .....

Wei said...

To Henry: I noticed the Cow Parade exhibition in Taipei, but somehow I'm not really much into it. Thanks for those nice photos.

To Allen: I should invite you a drink for your advice, when I receive the payment from Apple Daily next month. It's quite lucrative, and reportedly the highest rate in Taiwan.