Experimenting the extinct sounds.Blind Musician Dou Wun
Rotten Big Ass
Contemporary stage technology revealing the extinct song-art of brothels
Experimenting the extinct sounds.Blind Musician Dou Wun
Rotten Big Ass
Contemporary stage technology revealing the extinct song-art of brothels
Introduction
The shock-and-awe, created by the most advanced stage space, sound effects integrated with the almost forgotten Banyan tempo system, can only be felt by the audience on the spot.
The Banyan tempo once enjoyed wide popularity in the brothels of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Blind songsters like Dou Wun were called to perform in brothels to entertain the prostitutes and their guests. Among them, the most popular and unique music genre is Banyan, because it is performed only in brothels, nowhere else. After 1935, when Hong Kong issued a ban on prostitution, traditional public brothels disappeared, and Banyan became extinct.
Rotten Big Ass, also known as Quarrels between Two Loukais, is one of the recordings made by Professor Bell Yung for Dou Wun’s live performance in 1975. Loukai is a term which refers to the relationship between prostitutes and their clients. The song-story, sung in a first-person narrative, is about an elderly client nicknamed Rotten Big Ass who came to look for his prostitute Sui Choi, at a time when his wealthy days were behind him and he felt neglected.
The performance features the interaction of the original recording of Dou Wun’s song-art with a new version re-interpreted by Hong Kong contemporary composer Nerve (Steve Hui), a unique chance to relive the solemn and playful work of Dou Wun.
Creative Team
Artistic Advisor Bell Yung
Director & Designer Mathias Woo
Music Steve Hui
Illustration Lai Tat Tat Wing
Video Dan Fong
Performer David Yeung
Ticketing
$200
Free seating
Full-time students
$100
Ticketing
About Dou Wun
Dou Wun (1910-1979) is considered the last master of Deishui Naamyam (southern tone) in Hong Kong. In the 1950s, he performed naamyam, sometimes an impromptu with references to current affairs, at Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). In 1972, Dou’s programme was put to a halt alongside the decline of other traditional cultural programmes at RTHK. The audience took delight in his artistry, appreciating the way he played the paiban with his left hand and guzheng with his right, whilst singing simultaneously.
In 1974, the Goethe-Institut invited Dou to perform Sorrow Of The Traveller, Mourning for My Lady, etc. In 1975, Bell Yung, Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Pittsburgh, recorded 16 numbers of Dou’s naamyam singing at a teahouse. Dou also performed at the Hong Kong City Hall and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since Dou died in 1979, deishui naamyam has become a legend.
Banyan
The style of narrative song called Banyan was performed exclusively in the brothels of Hong Kong a century ago, where blind singers were hired to entertain the prostitutes and their “johns” with risqué stories. Using slangy, racy, and sometimes lewd expressions, many of which were unacceptable in mainstream society, these songs disappeared after Hong Kong banned brothels in 1935. In his youth the blind singer Dou Wun (1910-1979) made a good living by singing in brothels, as well as in opium dens and teahouses. Professor Bell Yung met Dou and recorded 40+ hours of his singing in 1975, including two Banyan songs, one of which is presented here. You can enjoy both the original historical recording and a version as interpreted by Zuni Icosahedron.
The Lovers’ Squabble, also called Rotten Big Ass after the name of the protagonist, is his first person telling of himself as down on his luck after spending all his fortune on a prostitute. He seeks out this former lover to borrow some money but ends up being beaten up by her thuggish new lover. Along the way he encounters various characters including Big Uncle Cook, a boat woman, a courtesan singer on the Pearl River, and Auntie Fat Mama, as well as his former lover and the thug. Dou shows off his many vocal colors, regional accents, and varied vocabulary, as well as Banyan’s lively melody and the bowed string instrument with which he accompanies himself, while portraying characters and a tragic-comic slice of life from a world that has long since disappeared.
Rotten Big Ass
Hong Kong’s Cultural Treasure: 3, “Rare Recordings of Melodies from a Bygone Age:
The Cantonese Narrative Styles of Banyan, Longzhou, and Yue’ou”
Song: The Lovers’ Squabble
Singer: Dou Wun
Creative Team
Artistic Advisor, Photographer (Dou Wun photos) and “Rotten Big Ass”English Surtitle:Bell Yung
Director, Artistic & Design Director: Mathias Woo
Comic strip creation, Puppet Design & Making: Lai Tat Tat Wing
Live-performance & creation: Steve Hui
Performer: David Yeung
Production Team
Production Managers: Carmen Cheng, Chow Chun-yin
Technical Advisor, Lighting Designer: Mak Kwok-fai
Sound Designer: Can.Ha
Sound System Engineers: d&b audiotechnik – Alex Poon, Allen Tin
Video: Dan Fong
Bamboo Structure and Fa Paai Production: Wing Kei Flower Store
Stage Manager: Satina Shum
Deputy Stage Manager: Zeta Chan
Assistant Stage Manager: Chan On-ki
Video Operator: Johnny Sze
Lighting Assistants: Zoe Cheung, Fong Ka-yin
Set Assistant: Venus Lee
Rehearsal Master: Charmaine Cheng
Stage Crews: Kenneth Chan, Chim Man-lung, Tse Man Kuen
Stage Intern: Tracy Chan, Caitlin Reynolds
Graphic Design: Racheal Chak
Graphic Design Assistant: Coco Cheung
Promotional Video: Chan Chin-ho
English Surtitle (Bell Yung’s interview): Mona Chu
Translation (Promotion): Mona Chu, Moyung Yuk-lin
International Exchange Director, Producer: Wong Yuewai
Company Manager (Administration and Finance): Jacky Chan
Company Manager (Programme): Doris Kan
Assistant Artistic Director: Cedric Chan
Senior Programme Manager: Bowie Chow
Public Relations and Publicity: Luka Wong
Programme Manager: Ho Yin-hei
Assistant Programme Manager: Ricky Cheng
Creative Assistant (Video and Multimedia): Wing Chan
Programme and Art Administration Trainees: Megan Hung, Stephy Yeung
Academic Partners



Technical Partners










![Mad_music_logo[1] [Converted] Mad_music_logo[1] [Converted]](https://zuniseason.org.hk/archive-2019/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Mad_music_logo1-Converted-1-185x130.jpg)


