[JETSTAR Magazine] FINDING HER VOICE
(美美的檔案照...被鞭打的牛? 可憐的孩子!)
http://www.jetstarmag.com/story/finding-her-voice/1407/1/
August 2011
Veteran Singaporean songstress Kit Chan has done it: she’s flown the nest of
a big record company, struck out on her own — and is having an amazing time
WORDS ELAINE EE
PHOTOGRAPHY MARK LAW PHOTOGRAPHY
Back in the mid-1990s, when Singapore’s music industry was still very much
operating within its shores, a young singer surprised everyone when she broke
into the well-established and seriously competitive Mandoand Cantopop markets
of Taiwan and Hong Kong. This was Kit Chan, then only in her 20s, whose
Mandarin album Heartache became a big success in Taiwan in 1994 and whose
performance opposite Hong Kong pop star Jacky Cheung in his musical
Snow.Wolf.Lake in 1997 sealed her breakthrough in those markets.
The rest, as they say, is history. For the next 10 years, Kit’s career went
from strength to strength, as she recorded more albums, in Mandarin, English
and Cantonese, performed in more concerts and musicals, acted in TV series
and — perhaps what she is most recognised for in Singapore — was the voice
of a widely broadcasted Singaporean song “Home”, written to celebrate the
country’s independence. In 2004, she took a much-publicised break from the
music and entertainment industry.
Kit stayed away from the industry for six years. But they were six formative
years, nevertheless, as she tried her hand at a corporate job, dabbled in
creative projects and searched her soul. When she returned to the scene last
year — with a best-selling Mandarin musical, December Rain — and this year
released her album Reinterpreting in January, and was the executive producer
of an extended, multi-artist version of “Home”, she was a different person.
She had set up her own record label, Banshee Empire, and was now out there
forging the next era of her career on her own.
“For the first time,” says Kit, “I am free from a big record company.
Being a singer feels like a new thing again and there are so many things that
I didn’t know I knew and things I never thought I needed to know. It’s
frustrating when you run into a wall or when things aren’t going well, but
in the end you emerge feeling quite exhilarated and energised.
I appreciate that because before, with a record company, I felt like I was
being put through a washing machine. Now, I feel like I’m doing artisanal
work, and it feels great.
“Having my own label is quite amazing,” she continues. “Banshee Empire was
the name of my singing group in secondary school! Back then we were a group
of seven girls called Banshee, and I remember saying when we graduated that I
wanted to have my own record company one day and I was going to call it
Banshee Empire. Friends who grew up with me are very thrilled and proud that I
’ve done it; in a way they are happier to see my little label on the back of
my CD than to see me do a big show. When you are going on 40 as I am and see
your dream come to fruition, it’s fantastic.”
Reinterpreting is an album of covers, Kit’s renditions of beloved songs that
she chose herself, released under her own label. “It started out as a very
wilful thing. I just sat and wrote down on a piece of paper the songs I
always wanted to sing that weren’t mine. That’s how 70% of the album was
formed. I dedicated some of the songs to important people in my life, such as
“Bridge Over Troubled Waters” to my best friend of nearly 30 years and “
Zhui” to my boyfriend because he has been hoping from the day we met that I
will one day sing it to him,” she says with a smile. The album has been
released in Singapore and Hong Kong and is doing so well in the Chinese
territory that Kit is creating a special version just for that market, and
was in Macau in July shooting videos for it.
“When I was the charge of a record company they were always making me sing
very high notes, thinking that the high notes are the money notes,” she
explains, touching on one of the things that irked her. “There are people
who are just KTV singers who judge your prowess by how high you can belt and
I think that for a lot of Mandopop that’s also true. I guess I should be
grateful because it has stretched me as singer, but now that I am doing my
own thing I will not subscribe to that. So I have quite deliberately not
belted on my new album at all. I told my producer we don’t need to prove
anything, and I think people get it.”
So what’s next for this dedicated songbird? Well, Kit’s return on her own
terms is no less driven than before, and already she has concerts lined up in
Singapore (October 2011) and Hong Kong (February 2012). Entitled Xiang Xiang
Kong Jian in Mandarin and The Music Room in English, these concerts will see
Kit treating her loyal and solid fan base to old favourites as well as songs
from her new album. “Almost everything will be something the audience wants
to hear, plus a few surprises,” she hints. “I also want to do things that I
don’t usually get to do in my normal performance space, so there might be
something in a diff erent language or a different genre. I hope it will be a
night where people deeply experience the music and a connection with me.
After having watched many shows, I realise that the ones I really remember
are those are quite emotive. That’s what I hope to create.” The Singapore
show will be performed at the Grand Theatre at Marina Bay Sands.
Being able to shape and choose her own work has been a careerand
life-changing event. “The motivation is diff erent,” says Kit. Using the
universal work model of farming as an analogy, she elaborates: “Before, I
felt very much like an ox, working when the farmer whipped me. Now I am the
farmer and I quite happily wake up and work, even when I’m xing ku (tired).
It’s almost like I’m operating on a higher level.”
And it shows in her music. “It has become more natural,” explains Kit. “
Everything just happens now, whereas before I had to make it happen. The Hong
Kong producer, who last worked with me in the 1990s, said he was surprised at
how much more relaxed I was. Before it sounded like I needed effort and now it
’s effortless. It makes my work easier too, I just do it.” When asked if
she feels that she has now found her voice, Kit nods knowingly and with added
earnestness, declares: “Yes, I think so. Thank you for saying that.”
KIT CHAN ON TRAVEL
CAMBODIA: I was there on a trip with World Vision Singapore about 10 years
ago as their youth ambassador with a bunch of tertiary students to build
toilets and playgrounds for kids. At the end, they were all more appreciative
of what they had and more sensitive towards others.
JAPAN: It’s one of the places I like to visit best; I never tire of it.
While Japan is homogenous in a way, it is also very diverse. The little towns
have their local food, art and customs that they are very proud of.
NEW ZEALAND: I went there as a teenager to perform with the World Youth
Festival. I met an old man in a nursing home called Mr Turner, whose words
moved me to write a song, which I will be performing in my concert. The song
is called, simply, “Mr Turner”.
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