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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Random Memories of my "Taiwan Entertainment" Days....

I saw this video when I was on YT searching for the latest Jacky news and just had to blog about it.  The video is a short 8 minute segment about some of Taiwan's previous generation 實力派 male singers.  It starts by talking a little about Jacky's appearance at Harlem's concert, then segues into a few of the hit Mandarin songs that Jacky did (loved the video segments!).   There is some commentary about Jacky's career (his peak was in the 90s) and how he was dubbed the "God of Song".  After that, it goes on to some other Taiwan male singers of the 90s who were truly talented and had quite a few hit songs in their careers -- the 2 that the video talked about in particular were Phil Chang and Jeff Chang (it's funny how all 3 of them happen to have the surname "張"...lol!)....

Anyway, watching the video (although it was very short and only showed snippets of the videos/songs) brought back memories of that time years ago when I was really into Taiwan entertainment.  It was during the late 90s / early 00s when I started losing interest in TVB because I was so disappointed with them, so I turned to other countries (still keeping somewhat in tune with HK entertainment, but not as closely as before).  Since I do not like to "follow" entertainment from countries where I don't understand the language, my only choices at that point where to follow Taiwan entertainment, mainland China entertainment, or Hollywood...the obvious choice for me was Taiwan entertainment, since I was already familiar with alot of the people -- plus I had taken Chinese classes in college for the purposes of learning Mandarin (so I can read Chinese newspapers, books, and understand the language completely).   So I started watching more Taiwan series and also listening to songs from Taiwan artists -- that's sort of how I amassed my collection of Mandarin songs that I like (outside of Jacky's Mando songs of course). 

I liked a few of Jeff's songs (like 2 to 3) and he's not bad as a singer.  But I liked Phil Chang more though -- probably because the way he sings is very unique (he has that deep voice that is perfect for love ballads) and very hard to imitate -- some have tried, but failed miserably in my opinion because they over-exaggerated (like they would "slur" their words really heavily in order to imitate his singing...I personally don't feel that Phil slurs his words, as I am able to understand everything he sings...I think his method is just unique and not everyone understands it).    Not only are his songs good (most are written by his wife and himself), he's also one of the few Taiwanese artists to truly become popular and make a name for himself in HK (illustrated by the fact that he won a few awards at the HK music award ceremonies, which are known for being rigged in favor of their own artists).  In my opinion, it's well deserved because not only can he sing well with alot of emotion, he also is a 'creative' artist who composes and writes his own songs. 

Watching this short video makes me want to go back and listen to all my Mandarin songs again (plus the Jacky ones)...true, it's only 8 minutes, but it sure brought back memories!





Source:  完全娛樂

20100410哈林庾澄慶-無底深愛巡迴演唱會-台灣站張學友助陣完娛超夯Elog

人魚王子哈林征服小巨蛋 庾式情歌超動聽每一首都是經典;哈林小巨蛋開唱 歌神張學友獻聲相挺;歌倆好耍寶搞笑 大秀樂器口技;歌神跳豔舞;二胡伸號合奏 展現超好默契;兩人一搭一唱鬥嘴 歌迷笑翻天;哈林音樂教室開課 歌神來踢館;超爆笑對唱 歌神忘詞哈林落拍。

實力派唱將什麼都是焦點??歌神張學友經典歌曲唱不完;每一首情歌 都是暢銷K歌金曲;只要跟歌神合唱歌紅人也紅(鄭中基高慧君);1990年代歌手 會唱才會紅?!張信哲的情歌 情感深刻好動人;張宇獨特嗓音 唱出男人的痛。

10 comments:

  1. Like I told you on MSN, I think that all the Cheung/Chang/Zhang are naturally talented or something. You couldn't even find one that doesn't have some abilities or potential - in one area or another.

    I love Zhang Yu too! I think I remember liking two or three songs from Jeff Chang too. LOL!

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  2. Yes..it's definitely very interesting about the whole Cheung/Chang/Zhang phenomenon. I think we should started coming up with a list of "talented artists with last name Cheung /Chang / Zhang" and see how many we get!

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  3. There are three of whom you listed already. The others: Dicky Cheung, Nick Cheung, Maggie Cheung Man Yuk and Maggie Cheung Ho Yee, Sharla Cheung Mun, Eddie Cheung (at least I think he can act BUT depends on you)

    Mainland - Zhang Tie Lin, Zhang Guo Li, Max Zhang (Ada Choi's husband)

    Taiwan - Zhang Chen Guang, Zhang Hui Mei, Michel Chang/ Zhang Xun Jie, Angela Chang/ Zhang Shao Han, Achel Chang/Zhang Xin Yu (but the 2nd last two are debatable since I think they have potential but opinions varies)

    I'll come back with more, maybe? Your turn! LOL!

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  4. Oh yeah, how could I forget Zhang Ke Fan?

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  5. Wow, you're good! I agree with all of your choices...except a few of the Taiwan ones, but mainly because I don't recognize the names.

    Ok, here are a few I can think of off the top of my head (just listing the pinyin, since too lazy too look up English names):

    Taiwan - Zhang Fei, Zhang Xiao Yan (Xiao Yan Jie), Zhang Yu Sheng (the one who died years ago), Zhang Qing Fong (I don't listen to her songs, but I know she's a good singer), Zhang Ting (well, this one depends on how you look at it -- she was the popular actress who starred in all those "Flower" dramas)...

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  6. OMG...I could we have forgotten -- I guess the below are too obvious that we seem to have neglected:

    Hong Kong - Leslie Cheung, Julian Cheung (Chi-Lam), Hins Cheung (also depends on how you look at it)...

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  7. As I was saying earlier, I want to kick myself for forgetting Leslie!

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  8. Oh yeah, I can't believe I woke up today thinking about your list. I have another name to add to the list. Janine Chang - she's impressive too (though might not get as many chances as others) - at least to me.

    Let's see if we can come up with more? LOL!

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  9. LOL! Yes, this has definitely become addicting. I've been thinking about this as well and now every time I see someone with that surname, I start thinking about the list as well!

    Don't have any new ones to add yet, but will keep thnking!

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  10. Oh yeah, there's also Nicholas Teo/Chang/Zhang - He's from Malaysia but his career is based in Taiwan. He has a nice, warm voice.

    ReplyDelete