The Bund composer Joseph Koo (left), singer Frances Yip (centre) and lyricist James Wong in an undated image. Photo: Courtesy of Frances Yip / Ashlyn Chak
HONG KONG: With its assertive orchestral opening and diva Frances Yip Lai-yee’s commanding voice singing “long bun, long lau”, the first few bars of “The Bund” are immediately recognisable to many.
But just why has this 1980 Cantonese song, the theme of a television gangster romance set in Shanghai, become such an enduring anthem beloved by speakers of different dialects?
It helps that it was composed by Joseph Koo Ka-fai, with lyrics by James Wong Jim, two of Hong Kong’s greatest creative minds, during what was widely considered to be the golden age of the city’s popular culture.
“The Bund” was one of the earliest and most successful collaborations between Koo and Wong. Koo was then Hong Kong broadcaster TVB’s music director and tasked with writing the theme for a new series about love and loyalty in pre-communist Shanghai, starring Chow Yun-fat, Angie Chiu Ngar-chi and Ray Lui Leung-wai.
The powerful introduction, like a battle cry, instantly grabs the listener’s attention – and then Yip’s voice comes in with a memorable and poetic verse that translates in English as: “The waves run, the waves flow / The 10,000-mile-long river will never cease / All washed away, the world’s affairs, mixed up into a torrential tide.”
Chow Yun Fat and Angie Chiu in 1980 (left) and 2018. Photos: MTIME, WEIBO
For many, the Bund, is one of the most sensational songs in Cantopop history. This song gained worldwide recognition as the theme song for one of the most influential Hong Kong TV dramas, The Bund (1980), which is also widely praised as the ‘Godfather of the East’.
Today, both the song and the TV drama have become household names, especially among Chinese-speaking communities across the world.
TV period drama The Bund is also considered a super classic in the Hong Kong television history. It also shared an on-screen chemistry that is still considered one of the most unforgettable pairings in the history of broadcaster TVB - the legendary Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat and Angie Chiu.
Dubbed the Chinese version of the classic Godfather series, The Bund was first broadcast in 1980 and became all the rage among TV viewers. Set in Shanghai in the 1920s, the drama portrays a story of love and hatred among the gangs and the romance between Feng Chengcheng and Xu Wenqiang.
Due to its popularity and influence, the classic series is regarded as the "Greatest TVB series of all-time" in the hearts of many Chinese people.
The theme song, which shares the same Chinese title as the series and was performed by singer Frances Yip, also became a memorable Canto-pop hit.
In fact, when one mentions Frances Yip, the first thing you think of is her iconic Shanghai Beach song in The Bund series.
You know, the one with the opening line that goes “Long pan! Long lau!”.
Well, did you know that when the 76-year-old Hong Kong singer first recorded the song in 1980, she actually took two hours to get that opening line right?
“When I first heard the song, I thought, ‘this should be easy, the melody is easy’,” Yip recalled in a phone interview recently.
“Shanghai Beach was tailor- made for my voice. When (the late songwriter and producer) Joseph Koo wrote it, he knew that I was the one who was going to sing it, so he could use quite a wide vocal range for the song that would be easy for me to sing, but difficult for others,” she added.
Stills from the TVB drama The Bund. PHOTO: MTIME
What she didn’t realise at the time was that it is actually not an easy song to sing if you’re not a Cantonese singer.
“Cantonese is a tonal language so you need the right tones for it, and I didn’t know how to do it because I was a Western singer.
“The first two lines alone took me two hours, because you can’t play with the melody – it has to be powerful enough and have enough emotion, but it can’t be too big.
“So for those first two hours, I was nearly in tears!” she said with a laugh, adding that Shanghai Beach was the song where she really learnt how to sing in Cantonese.
Yip remembers taking almost two hours to sing the opening lines of 'Shanghai Beach'.
Little did she know it would also be the song that made her a household name in the Cantopop scene, and would be a major highlight in a long-lasting career that has reached 55 years.
Yip was first discovered in 1969, when she won a talent contest in Hong Kong called Sharp’s Night Four Lights Competition.
It was there that she met Koo, who roped her in to sing commercial jingles, which later led to her first ever record, Bu Liao Qing (Love Without End).
While most of her early career was spent performing and recording covers of English and Chinese classics, she eventually made her biggest breakthrough with Shanghai Beach in 1980.
After that, she made her name singing more iconic theme songs for TVB dramas, and was even selected to be the co-host of the British Farewell Ceremony in 1997, which marked the hand-over of sovereignty in Hong Kong from Britain to China.
Throughout her career, she has also released over 80 albums.
But no one deny that powerful voiced behind the lead song for the series 'Bund' was one of the many reasons that it became such a classic cult hit that some ways will redefine the ways people look at Hong Kong TV series shows.
