Songs Our Parents Love 那些年我们一起听的歌

I felt nostalgic last night, after feasting my ears from songs of yesteryears.  The Philharmonic Youth Winds & its Resident Conductor Adrian Chiang presented a homage to all parents & grandparents by celebrating the classic songs of yesterday.  I did the reverse instead. I wanted to go & I brought AJ along.  The father was game for it too.  Hey, those were songs I once loved & I would definitely want AJ to know them too!

I grew up listening to those Mandarin & Hokkien songs that my mother, my nanny & my neighbour auntie played through Rediffusion, radio & television. I grew up learning to sing them by heart.  Much of my Chinese ability was built from listening & singing those songs.  When I was in teens & young adults, I started listening to English pop.  So when there was a chance for me to reminisce, how could I give it a miss?

The Esplanade Concert Hall turned retro overnight by dressing itself up with disco lights & mirror ball (yup, that's right) & every audience was given a glowing stick (imagine the fun awaited).

The concert started with its 1st song上海滩, which wow-ed the audience, of course. Bengawansolo & Country Road were the next. These 3 songs were conducted by Adrian Chiang, its resident conductor.

Then Marcus Wong, the President of Philharmonic Youth Winds took over the medley consist of 12 songs. With the help of the father, we managed to dot down 11 song titles but could not recall the last one: Chariots of Fire theme song, Final Countdown, Kitaro, Music Box Dancer, Ballade Pour Adeline by Richard Clayderman, Jasmine Flower by Kenny G, The Swan, Speak Softly Love, Gabriel's Oboe, Dancers with Wolves & Jaws theme song (I hope we were right with these 11 songs).  Yea, I wonder why there wasn't any programme sheet too.

Some other songs played included Sukiyaki, Top of the World, Yesterday Once More, Close to You & Sing a Song. Oh boy, you got what I meant? How could one not sing along?  

Just before the intermission, George Chan (田伟鸿) sang 当爱以成往事, 偏偏喜欢你 (in Cantonese) & 情人的眼泪.  This guy just pressed the right button!

The concert was brought to a higher height after the intermission with the homegrown singer Lindy Chia (谢苓莉, daughter of  谢金石), who was also the emcee for the concert, singing 橄榄树, 鲁冰花, 酒矸倘賣嘸, 爱神, 香蕉船 (banana boat song in Mandarin), 惜別的海岸 (in Hokkien), 家后 (in Hokkien) & 一人一半 (in Hokkien). I think the fact that the youth were willing to play these Hokkien oldies was quite an achievement itself for The Philharmonic Youth Winds.  Bravo to them!

Lindy continued singing 月亮代表我的心, with George coming in in 明天会更好 & 潇洒走一回.  The audience were invited to join in, & by then, we were already quite high in spirit.  :)

潇洒走一回 was supposed to be the last song but we encored & they obliged with another medley.  The last song in the medley, "我的热情, 好像一把火, 燃烧了整个沙漠 ... ...", was still ringing in my ears even when we had reached home.  Oh, such enjoyable night!