PyC coming to Shenzhen on September 15!

活動時間: 二零一二年九月十五日 (六) 晚上8時至10時

Time: 8:00pm – 10:00 pm, 15 September 2012

活動地點: 舊天堂書店

(深圳市華僑城創意園园二期A5棟120# 電話: (0086) 0755－86148090)

Venue: Old Heaven Book Café

 (120, Building A5, Oct-Loft Phase 2, Shenzhen Tel: (0086) 0755-86148090)

6 presenters and 12 images from Over-It-All, May 4 2012

This was the last in a cycle of PyC themes. PitchYrCulture was started in August of 2011, and at first we thought we could do it every month! But we have done a PitchYrCulture four times, on September 16 and November 11 in 2011 and February 17, and May 4 in 2012.

Our three initial themes were supposed to represent three phases (or ages) in musical development. Each presenter had a relative easy or difficult time in adopting these themes and indeed, creatively adjusting to the PyC format.

It should be well known by now that fundamental format of PyC is that the presenter CANNOT SPEAK/PRESENT LONGER THAN THE SONG THEY PRESENT.  But there is another not as well noted aspect to PyC: each presenter should create a succinct and entertaining presentation that adapts and enhances the possibilities of the interaction between a live performer and a projected set of images (or texts).

Our three themes were: Before-It-All, where we did see the first wave of great creative outbursts, but presenters interpreted the theme via a wide range of ages, though we did have a few “children’s songs”. 

Into-It-All was easy enough for the presenter’s to locate, and we also had great and varied interpretations of the theme and the format. 

And finally Over-It-All (please note that we also collaborated with Social Media Week in HK for a one-off event). Over-It-All was perhaps the most difficult (and potentially sad) theme to interpret. Over-It-All was perhaps the most difficult (and potentially sad) theme to interpret. (Over-It-All theme explanation)

#1: "Mo Money, Mo Problems" by Notorious BIG, Puff Daddy, & Mase

Paul DuPont, the out-of-the-crowd invitee (you say “hello” after a PyC and then “I want to do it”) presented a song/genre easily relevant to the Over-It-All theme - a Hip Hop song, a genre subject to endlessly contentious debates about when it died (or did it die?). And indeed one of the performers of this song, Notorious BIG, is somewhat famous for being dead (murdered).  Paul nicely encapsulated this song’s moment in Hip Hop, which some cite as part of the “the golden era”.

Paul explained this phase of Hip Hop by mentioning information about the lyrical shifts in Hip Hop, the East Coast / West Coast dichotomy, and the excess of certain players, most notably Puff Daddy and Mase’s role in the presented song, which when compared with Notorious BIG contribution is akin to Jim Carrey (Dumb and Dumber) appearing in The Godfather (with Marlon Brando).

#2: 

"Cha-La Head-Cha-La" by Ricardo Silva 

Nadim Abbas practically went back to the first theme while bringing it up to the last. One gets over it all when we move from the head aching jingles of childhood, growing up and into the more complex musical structures of adulthood.

But part of Nadim’s disillusionment/ironic amusement with "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" was the globalization of the product realized through T-Shirt/logo merchandising and Spanish dubbed versions of the anime’s original theme song.

#3: 

“Oi, tudo bem?” by Garotos Podres

 

Joao Vasco Paiva flipped the jingle on its head while sticking with its terse length. Presenting a 45 song Brazilian hardcore song, he gave a brief history of the Punk sub-genre known as “Hardcore” while explaining the song’s political significance and context. Have we forgotten that in 1983 Brazil was living under a military dictatorship that was paranoid enough to suppress rock/pop culture/music?

Garotos Podres adapted to this by inserting homonyms into its fast and furious songs. “Maldita Policia (Damn Police) “ became “Maldita Preguiça (Damned Laziness) “. Even so, in sticking with the Over-It-All theme, Joao mentioned that he was over the political or cultural aspirations of Hardcore given in the limits of its aesthetic.

#4: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana

Tilly hit on the Over-It-All theme in a few ways, one of which highlighted how music distribution and promotion was radically altered due to the internet, especially for a young person living in Perth, Australia, which pre-internet, had two broadcast TV stations making MTV a focal point for what was supposedly “cool” in music.

The second point to Tilly’s presentation was getting-over the glorious martyrdom of self-destructing rock stars, some of whom, in particular Mr. Kurt Cobain, were so heavily promoted by MTV as “hip and happening”. Tilly noted that once the internet loosened up what could be or should be focused on in music, in particular any force-fed idea of “cool” it became an almost overwhelming task for the individual’s search for “my music”.

#5: "The Beautiful Ones" by Suede

Adam Lee, the second staff member of the online indie music magazine Mugazine.net to present at a PyC, picked the Brit-Pop band Suede as an example of music that fell out of his favor. Adam said (among other things) in Cantonese.

當時認識Suede，就多得他們的其中的一張專輯《Coming Up》，當時一聽就愛上之。破格的曲風，還有他們黑衣示人的形象已令我印象深刻，有很酷的感覺。而且當時的同學有些是喜愛他們的，因而成為同學間茶餘飯後的討論話題。當時在這專輯裡眾多的曲目當中，喜愛的除了有〈The Beautiful Ones〉，還有〈Saturday Night〉等，從那時起就成了他們的樂迷！

#6: "Say It Ain't So" by Murray Head

Over-It-All’s last presenter, Calvin Wong, appropriately picked a melancholic song (for the sad theme) which he also used to exemplify as an alternate song-writing method to “beat based” music. 

First giving us some background to the unidentified song that he first heard and then had to track down after hearing on British radio, Calvin reversed the Over-It-All theme and presented a song he identified as getting-over-the-usual. 

 

Line Up for PyC#4 on May 4 at Culture Club

Here's the line-up  for Over-It-All (see description below). Put it on your calendar now! 

May 4 Culture Club

Adam Lee is a member of the web music magazine "Mugazine" which hopes to spread “Indie” rock (and other genres) into the confines of Hong Kong and greater Asia. mugazine.net

Calvin Wong has been involved in the Hong Kong music scene for many years, both as a promoter and musician. He is the A&R for the Underground (http://undergroundhk.com), contributor to local music news source Bunny Warren (http://www.bunnywarren.org), as well as co-host to the premier indie band program Underground Battlefield on online radio platform Radiodada (http://www.radiodada.hk).

João Vasco Paiva is a Portuguese artist based in Hong Kong since 2006.
His work has been presented in several exhibitions around the world. Most recently he had a solo show at the Saamlung Gallery in Hong Kong. Since 2008 he has been an instructor at the School of Creative Media, CUHK, and a lecturer at the Hong Kong Art School.
http://joaovascopaiva.com

Nadim Abbas is a Hong Kong born and based artist. He has shown extensively in Hong Kong in various group shows in galleries such as 
Osage Kwun Tong, Para/Site Art Space, and 1a Space. He also contributed to the Louis Vuitton: A Passion for Creation exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. His most recent  solo exhibition, "Cataract", was held at both EXPERIMENTA & Gallery EXIT. He is currently teaching at Hong Kong Art School  and The School of Creative Media, CUHK. 

http://nadimabbas.com/

Paul du Pont is a New York born blues guitarist, drummer and singer.  A recent newcomer to Hong Kong as co-founder of Vox, a company that manages supply chains for mobile networks in places few have heard of, he can often be found in studios around HK, white Stratocaster in hand, cranked to 11.   www.voxnt.com

Australian-born singer-song writer, Tilly, moved to Hong Kong in 2008 with her day job building solar power stations across Asia. What was supposed to be a two-year stint has now stretched into a four-year adventure in this dynamic city, helped along by her involvement in the burgeoning local indie music scene. Tilly performs regularly as a solo artist and also fronts local band; Who Shot Holga?. www.tillysings.com

The Next PyC on May 4 2012!

Over-It-All 
Friday, May 4, 8pm
Culture Club, Lower Elgin Street, Central Hong Kong
Presenters are listed at this link: click

After three highly successful events of the PitchYrCulture format, in which 6 – 8 individuals explain a particular song within the confines of that song’s time limit, PitchYrCulture returns to its first venue, Culture Club in Central, Hong Kong for another exciting program involving the theme:

Over-It-All : And finally, you either have seen it all (or you think you have) and you start to become disillusioned with what is ‘out there’. You might have even dug out some of your old favourites and felt disbelief at your old tastes! This program will examine songs, genres and trends that you used hold in high esteem, but that over time lost their shine, that you now find embarrassing and/or irrelevant.  


Over-it-all/ 當一切已成往事

五月四日(五)晚上八點

香港中環伊利近街15號 Culture Club

最後, 當你(以為自己)經歷所有, 一切幻滅如煙消. 你開始看清事實, 或許再也不沉迷於舊時愛曲, 並且懷疑自己的品味.

本次分享將回顧你以前十分喜歡的歌曲/風格/潮流. 時光消磨了它們的光輝, 令當下的你覺得尷尬, 甚至不認同以前的自己. 

Vickie Chan's blog about PyC3 "Social Media and the Search for Music"

Our co-organizer, Vickie Chan has an excellent post about our last event. Check it out here.

Time Out article

Thank you Time Out magazine for a lovely preview of our recently completed PyC in conjunction with Social Media Week. We want to thank all of our presenters and all of the people who attended and made it, yet again, a highly successful event! Hopefully sometime in the near future I will post a full report on "PyC 3: Social Media and the Search for Music".

The line-up for February 17 at XXX

Here's is the FINAL confirmed line-up!

Adam Cheung is a fictionional writer, an English teacher, a programme editor at RTHK Radio 3, a moderator at Kubrick Poetry and an 80s Canto and J-pop junkie. Since returning to Hong Kong from Toronto in late 2009, he has developed a deep interest in the Hong Kong literary circles, the local indie music scenes, as well as those of Taiwan.  He doesn’t keep a TV nor have Internet at home; he does not download music.

Leung Arto - 摩格聲的創辦人及總編輯, 筆名L. A., 自發於2010年在Facebook上招募義務編輯, 旨在分享自己對音樂的想法及見解, 希望能歐美及亞洲獨立音樂在華語社會中有更透澈的介紹.Arto Leung, who uses the pen name L.A, is the founder and the chief editor of  the online music magazine, Mugazine. which was founded in April 2010 with the aim to express and to share feelings for music in the hope of bringing a fresh and clear perspective of Indie music into Chinese society.

晴海:「晴海的音樂天空」博客的網主，兩年半前開始寫網誌的習慣，希望通過互聯網與人分享自己喜歡的音樂，工餘時間為興趣作曲和填詞，亦開設了youtube頻道發表個人創作及翻唱作品。今次跟大家分享的作品，是以電影《那些年》為藍本而填寫的粵語版歌詞，兩個月來在youtube上錄得近十萬點擊; 在土豆網的轉載更獲得逾四十萬點擊，對自己的音樂創作是很大的鼓舞 Harumi (or) Ching -hoi began a blog two and a half years ago to share and highlight Hong Kong people’s favorite music, composer and lyricist. She also opened a YouTube channel and released a Cantonese cover version of the theme song of the Taiwanese smash hit movie “The Apple of My Eye”  which has garnered over 100,000 hits.

Derek Bullen was born in the Northeast of the US somewhere, but has recognized HK as home for more than a decade. After dabbling in digital media at Daytona State College, and majoring in international studies at Florida International University, he's worked variously delivering pizzas, driving a dump truck, removing the remains of demolished buildings, as international student coordinator at a flight school, bar-tending, in product development at a toy company, and more recently as a writer.

Isaac Leung is a curator and artist who most recently organized the city-wide exhibition and symposia, One World Exposition, which matched Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese artists. He received a BA in Fine Arts at the New Media Art Department of Art Institute of Chicago and is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong. In 2002, Leung was the Program Director of the Hong Kong media art organization Videotage.

Reign Lee is the founder of Indie Mag – a magazine for independent musicians. She is also a touring musician who has played shows all over Asia, England, Canada and the US. Her music has been licensed to prominent television networks in the US and used by brand name companies. Reign’s catalog is released under Vereign Records and digitally distributed to the world by Blue Pie Records.

Stuart Lennon is a Hong Kong-based singer-songwriter who performs regular solo acoustic shows, and fronts local band Papancha. Stuart is Senior Communications Manager for Animals Asia, an animal welfare organisation that cares for bears rescued from the bile trade in China and Vietnam. He manages Animals Asia’s social media strategy. He also co-hosts Crossed Wires HK, a weekly podcast that showcases the Hong Kong music and comedy scenes.