my favourite photo

南宁市粤剧团生旦(2)

李東芳 - 善財童子(目連僧救母)
Lee Tung Fong as The Heavenly Child of Benevolence.

This is my favourite photo. It looks dynamic. Some artistes will just strike a standard pose with a stoical face. In this photo you can see joy in the girl's face and eyes. Obviously she enjoyed her role in the opera. Her pose reflects a cheerful optimism and her determination to bring goodness to mankind.


黃日梅 - 西宮娘娘(西河會妻)
Wong Yat Mui as Empress of the West Palace

Her haughty unreasonable ways in the show makes you think of Lee Heong Kam, the evil West Empress in old Cantonese movies whom people would throw rotten eggs at. Disappointingly, no one brought rotten eggs that night.


宁靖 - 鬼差(目連僧救母)

Ning Jing, a young sheng, played the role of a guard in Hell. I stumbled upon him resting quietly by himself at backstage. The place he was sitting matched the role he was acting - a dark corner behind the black backdrop. Maybe he was waiting to give his girlfriend a scare.


宁靖 - 赵子龙(三氣周瑜)

From Hell to the Battlefield, Ning Jing again. Here he was the formidable general Zhao Zi Long escorting his master safely home.


陈秋燕 - 刀馬旦(火凤凰主角)
Chan Chow Yin generally does the martial and main dancing roles.

When I saw her she had already removed her make-up and costume. Usually huadans don't like their photos to be taken like that. However, she obliged when I made a request. Gymnastics, acrobatics and dancing are her daily routine. Ladies, if you do this everyday, surely you will have a figure like hers.

Note: I will be taking a break. There will be no new posts for about 2 weeks.

photos - 南宁市粤剧团生旦 (1)

黄伟坤
Wong Wai Kuan was a guest artiste. He is from the Shenzhen Troupe.


The following are from the Guangxi Nanning Cantonese Opera Troupe.

梁素梅


余韧


姚艳, 余韧


黃俊成, 姚艳, 梁素梅


黃俊成 as 目連僧


姚艳


梁素梅


余韧


Here is a short clip by Wong Jurn Seng, the lead sheng of the Troupe. The huadan in the clip is Wong Yat Mui, 黃日梅.

南宁市粤剧团文武生 - 黃俊成

unlikely to happen

Last Sunday I watched the Opera Excerpts Show by the Nanning Cantonese Opera Troupe. At first I had no intention of taking videos. After the first two excerpts I took out the camera and wanted to take a short clip.

Soon after I pressed the button, the battery icon started blinking. Battery was going empty.

It was not complacency or taking things for granted. It is more like the 'unlikely to happen' attitude. I just charged the battery a few days ago. So I thought it was unlikely to conk out so soon. But I did not take into account that I took quite a number of photos in the past few days. Perhaps it is this thinking that sometimes unpleasant things happen.

Back to the shows. The Show was certainly one of the best of the 7 shows the Nanning Troupe presented. The 6 excerpts were interesting, entertaining and well-performed. There were generous displays of fine singing and traditional opera skills. For myself I liked the first 2 and the last excerpt.

The first was about a meeting between a scholar and the daughter of the Sea Dragon King. It was performed by Wong Wai Kuan and Leong So Mui.

The second was about the meeting of two brothers of the patriotic Yang family at a temple. It was performed by two young artistes of the troupe.

The last was about a young girl falling in love with a teacher. It was a short and sweet piece by Wong Juen Seng and Yew Yim.

Here is the very short clip I took, only 17 seconds. It showed a man beating a woman, opera-style. (The man was forced to beat the woman he loved.)

打寇珠 - 许光华, 刘希瑛 .....

$20 at keong siak road

A parking warden doing its duty at Keong Siak Road


I have mentioned that now there is no more free parking on Sundays and public holidays at the car-park at the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre as well as at nearby roads.

That Sunday I parked my car at Keong Siak Road. I displayed a parking coupon valid for one hour. Then I went to Kreta Ayer People's Theatre and after that I went to a shop at the ground floor of the nearby food centre to get something done. I came back and found a notice of a $20-fine on the windscreen. Because I was away for about 3 hours. I thought the traffic wardens wouldn't be so hardworking on a Sunday.

Driving to KAPT for an opera show is quite expensive. You have to park for more than 3 hours and then there is ERP charges and petrol cost. It is better to take public transport.

Our public transport system is good, comfortable and efficient.

wet pants

A few evenings ago I was sitting in a bus returning home. My bag was on my lap. Suddenly I felt my trousers becoming wet. What happened? I tried to feel mentally if I had let out any fluid. No, I didn't.

The culprit was the water bottle in my bag. It contained some water and had fallen sideways. But there was one thing I did not know until then - there was a crack on the cap. See picture below.

It was uncomfortable sitting in wet pants with strangers around you. And what would they think when you stood up and they saw a wet patch at the front of your trousers. I used my bag to shield the embarrassing part.

Fortunately my phone and cameras were not damaged by the water.

Now performing

at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre till 13 June 2010 .....


Artistes of the Guangxi Nanning Cantonese Opera Troupe .....




Newspaper article .....

religion

On Vesak Day, I saw in the news people burning joss-sticks but from what I learnt about Buddhism, Buddhists don't do such thing. They believe in self-reliance.

My family burn joss-sticks, incense papers and we pray to Chinese Gods and to our ancestors. That is Taoism, right?

My earlier contact with Christianity happened when I was in upper secondary. I had a friend and classmate who often invited us, his classmates, to his YFC gatherings. They were held at premises near our school and it was held once week after school. But he did not pester us to go or preach to us. I attended a few sessions.

He was a tall pleasant helpful boy who looked like he wouldn't harm a mosquito. It was his conduct and action that impressed me and so gave me a good impression of Christianity too. It is like the conduct and action of Muslim terrorists that give Islam a bad name. That impression about Christianity remains till now.

Over the years I had young people who came up to my flat to try to talk to me about Christianity or invite me to talks. Usually I just talked to them for a while and then sent them away.