Piazzolla's Tango on Stage

A clear view of the HK Philharmonic with social-distancing

Last night, for the first time in over a year, I attended a concert by the Hong Kong Philharmonic in the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

The concert, called "Piazzolla at 100!" featured the works of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, who would have been 100 on March 11. He is best known for his tango music, the most famous piece is Libertango.

When concertgoers entered the Cultural Centre, they had to either use the LeaveHomeSafe app, or write down their contact details. Seating inside the concert hall was quite spread out, with four people sitting together, separated by several seats and another set of four. 

The first three rows were blocked off, so I essentially sat in the first row! What a treat!

Piazzolla would have been 100 years old this year

All the orchestra members were masked except of course those playing wind instruments, who were separated by plexiglass partitions. Musicians usually sit in pairs sharing music, but now were spread out and each had their own music stand.

Argentine conductor Mariano Chiacchiarini, who is based in Germany, went through the 21-day quarantine in Hong Kong to lead a few concerts, including one on Brahms last week. I was surprised to see him come out with one of those plastic see-through masks, but realized he needed to show his facial expressions more clearly to the orchestra members.

He is very energetic and knowledgeable about Piazzolla, who was born in Argentina, but then moved to New York with his family when he was four years old. There he was exposed to tango through his father's records, and learned pieces by Bach on a bandoneon, a button accordion.

The first piece, Tangazo starts off slow and then becomes a very robust tango style. Piazzolla, Chiacchiarini explains, liked to use a lot of percussion in his work, even having the double bass musicians hit their instrument like a drum, or knock on it, while violinists make a funny squiggly sound, and even one that sounds like a quirky whip.

Tango purists did not like Piazzolla was doing to the music, and the conductor said that even taxi drivers refused to pick up the composer in protest, but he didn't mind -- he felt he was helping tango music not only gain a wider audience but also developed it further.

Piazzolla first learned music on the bandoneon

The second piece, The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which is inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons, except Piazzolla's version starts with Summer, then Autumn, Winter then Spring. Here they played Winter and Spring. Originally it was only supposed to be played by a few instruments, and Piazzolla wrote it like a violin concerto, with the solo by the HK Phil's concert master, Jing Wang. 

He came out in a black T-shirt under a black jacket that had a dazzling silver spine at the back. One could tell he was itching to play and got a warm applause afterwards.

The orchestra also played music by Piazzolla's teacher, Alberto Ginastera called Estancia: Four Dances, op. 8a. When Ginastera was 25-years-old he was commissioned by the New York City Ballet's precursor to write a ballet score based on Argentine country life.

He wrote a one-act ballet where a city boy falls in love with the daughter of a cattle ranch owner, but he can only win her heart in a dancing contest with local cowboys. This piece had a very lively finish and we could imagine how the dancing went down in the competition!

Next up, some tango! Raymond Chu and Lily Cheng are well known in Hong Kong for their tango dancing and they came on stage -- very narrow due to the social-distancing of the musicians -- for them to dance. They seemed to look down on the ground often at first, perhaps a bit nervous about how much room they had to dance around in.

Lily Cheng and Raymond Chu danced the tango

But it was nice to see them dance to music by Piazzolla's contemporaries, like Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, and Julian Plaza. Chu and Cheng made it fun. In Piazzolla's Libertango, Cheng comes out on stage, but Chu hasn't arrived. Chiacchiarini turns around and she signals to him, Can you dance with me?

And he obliges and they twirl around a bit before Chu finally emerges on stage. Chiacchiarini points to his watch as if to say, "You're late!"

Check out this video of him conducting Libertango at the Lucerne Festival last year with fantastic tango dancers.

Afterwards the audience couldn't stop clapping for an encore (which sadly was a slow piece), but nevertheless, was a wonderful way to cap off a tough week for me work-wise and left me hoping to attend more concerts again in the future.

Piazzolla at 100!

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, April 16

Piazzolla: Tangazo

Piazzolla: The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires: Winter, Spring

Ginastera: Estancia: Four Dances

Matos Rodriguez: La Cumparsita

Plaza: Nocturna

Piazzolla: Libertango

Nine Sentenced for Illegal Assembly

Albert Ho and Martin Lee before hearing their fate today

 

Another dark day, Black Friday, whatever you want to call it.

Nine pro-democracy activists, former lawmakers, esteemed lawyers and a newspaper founder were sentenced today for organizing and participating in an illegal assembly on August 18, 2019.

Hong Kong's "Father of democracy" Martin Lee Chu-ming, 83, was handed a suspended sentence of 11 months along with fellow lawyer and former Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, 69. Sixty-seven-year-old Leung Yiu-chung also got a suspended sentence of eight months.

Jimmy Lai faces two more NSL charges

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, 73, was sentenced to 14 months in jail and was further indicted on two charges for violating the national security law, of conspiracy to commit subversion, and obstructing justice.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 64, a former lawmaker who also organizes the annual Tiananmen candlelight vigil, will also serve a dozen months in jail, 65-year-old "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung 18 months, 33 year-old Au Nok-hin 10 months, and 66-year-old Cyd Ho Sau-lan, eight months.

Another highly-regarded lawyer Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, 73, also received a suspended sentence of 12 months, but not before giving an impassioned speech to the court, defending her right to demonstrate.

"When the people, in the last resort, had to give collective expression to their anguish and urge the government to respond, protected only by their expectation that the government will respect their rights, I must be prepared to stand with them, stand by them and stand up for them," she said.

District Judge Amanda Woodcock said the accused had consciously broken the law during the anti-government protests in 2019 which she described was "as relentless as it was violent and disturbing".

The ironic thing about the August 18, 2019 assembly was that it was very peaceful. It was also very wet that day.

Cyd Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan before sentencing

But the judge did not consider this.

"The procession posed a direct challenge to the police and therefore law and order... Taking into account the prevailing circumstances in Hong Kong at the time, a procession of that size posed an inherent latent risk to possible violence," Judge Woodcock said.

"A term of immediate imprisonment was the only appropriate sentencing option."

Previously sentences for illegal assembly were fines of a few thousand dollars or a few weeks in jail.  

But these jail sentences send a terrifying signal that even moderates are punished for advocating peaceful protests.

"It's excessive, entirely out of proportion. What have they done to deserve such severe punishments?" said Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, a former lawmaker to the New York Times. "It was a peaceful demonstration for the public to display people's discontent. All these political leaders have done was walking with the people." 

1.7M protested in the rain August 18, 2019

Human rights advocates denounced the sentences as unlawful.

"These convictions are a violation of international aw, which states that participating in and organizing peaceful assembles does not require prior permission by the state," said Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International's director for the Asia-Pacific region. "All those sentenced today should be immediately released and their record expunged."

But the Hong Kong government will not listen to these comments; ever since the national security law was implemented last July, the ability to protest has been shut down completely, giving the public no outlet to voice their dissatisfaction with the government.

It has come to the point where people are voting with their feet -- to stay or go. 

The Times have reported 3,000 Hongkongers a week are applying for visas using their British National Overseas passport. So far 35,000 have applied for the five-year scheme.

The number of people who have applied within the first 10 weeks is more than one-tenth of the 300,000 the British government is expecting in five years, meaning it may have underestimated demand...

Quote of the Day: Police Chief Chris Tang

Schools all over Hong Kong marked national security day

 

Hong Kong marked National Security Day with lots of events, from flag-raising ceremonies in schools, lectures on national security, lots of speeches, children playing with replica weapons, riot gear-clad teddy bears for sale, to demonstrating how to quell a prison riot in a simulation.

Many used the opportunity to show off their patriotism, and in the case of Police Commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung, a chance to voice out an unproven accusation.

Some students re-enacted scenes in the MTR...

During a series of police events to mark National Security Day, Tang told the media the United States had agents in Hong Kong to undermine national security, and that's what they did in 2019 to incite the protests that year.

"I am not making allegations. I am talking about facts. The United States is one of the countries that tries to cause security threats in Hong Kong and China. I think this is not something secret," he said.

Tang explained foreign countries use various means to plant "anti-China" thinking in Hongkongers' minds.

Did they do that by spiking over 2 million people's drinks?

The protests in 2019 happened because people opposed Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's proposal to pass the extradition bill. Then it escalated into anti-China sentiment as Beijing became more involved in quelling the protests with greater violence instead of reconciliation.

Tang claims foreign forces caused 2019 protests

However, Tang says foreign agents pounce on issues to stir up hatred against Beijing, putting out inaccurate media reports to get their messages out to the public.

Then, he added, these agents mobilize people onto the streets, incite young people to break the law, and use public opinion polls to "hype up issues".

He said the protests in 2019 were not sparked by people's unhappiness with the extradition law.

When the media asked Tang to elaborate on his claims regarding foreign forces, he replied details would be revealed in a forthcoming trial.

Really! Looking forward to following that trial very closely.

Tang's alternative narrative is exactly how Beijing would like to explain the anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

Except over 2 million people participated in the protests and it will be hard for them to forget what really happened...

Jimmy Lai's Letter from Prison

Jimmy Lai released a handwritten a letter from prison

 

Two days ago Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying released a letter to his staff that he wrote from prison.

In it the 72-year-old media mogul encouraged them to "stand tall".

"Freedom of speech is a dangerous job," he wrote. "Please be careful not to take risks. Your own safety is very important.

Lai is charged with colluding with foreign forces

"As long as we are not blinded by unjust temptations, as long as we do not let evil get its way through us, we are fulfilling our responsibility."

Since the offices of Next Media were raided last August, the media has been under greater scrutiny. RTHK is now being led by a government appointee who has cancelled many programs he deemed unacceptable, and one of its freelance producers Bao Choy Yuk-ling was on trial for allegedly misrepresenting herself when applying for license plate information related to the Yuen Long attacks on July 21, 2019.

Lai said it was "a journalist's responsibility to uphold justice, but observed the situation in Hong Kong had deteriorated.

"It is precisely this that we need to love and cherish ourselves," he wrote. "The era is falling apart before us, and it is time for us to stand tall."

The police raided Next Digital offices last August

Lai is currently in jail awaiting trial to face national security charges of "colluding with foreign forces". 

He was convicted earlier this month for illegal assembly in the August 18, 2019 protest, and last week pleaded guilty to another on August 31 the same year. Sentencing for both convictions is this Friday, where Lai faces a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

In the letter Lai said his life in prison was peaceful and he spent time reading books, praying and doing exercise.

Indeed. We all must stand tall. 加油!