One of the highlights of this year’s Macau Literary Festival will undoubtedly be The Script Road Concert, to be headlined by the Cantonese hip hop group LMF, and also featuring Brazilian rapper Gabriel o Pensador and local metal band Blademark
LMF is set to ignite and delight the Macau Literary Festival crowd on stage at the Cotai Arena at The Venetian Macao. And just as the Festival celebrates the beauty of creativity, the hip hop and rap veteran collective also values their creative freedom when making their music.
When asked how such an alternative band like LMF can survive in the mainstream music world of Hong Kong, guitarist Davy simple replies that the group is really only concerned about the music they want to make, and not what other people think about them.
The band’s all-original music comments on themes of social alienation and oppression. With the dramatic events of the Occupy Central protests in Hong Kong last year, it’s not surprising that the band has been asked quite a few times to write about the events. However, Davy argues that LMF do not want to write about what others expect them to write about.
“We want to do whatever we want. We want to be ourselves,” he notes.
The band reunited for their 10th anniversary in 2009, and recently have released three songs exploring what they see as the dark and sinister side of the world. Their inspiration comes from the documentary-style film Zeitgeist. Engulfed in a world of money, power and corruption, people are losing their individuality, led along instead by a herd instinct. Such ideas infuse their new songs, including the track Liberty.
The use of coarse language is widely associated with LMF’s music, but Davy notes that this is not a big deal, with many simply using it as a convenient excuse for labelling their music as inappropriate. He says the aggressiveness is not a style they purposefully choose to have. They do not avoid or choose any particular way of expressing their thoughts, but merely say what they want to say and create what they want to create.
When reflecting on the relationship between words and music, Davy points out that in Chinese culture, song lyrics can play a more important role than the music does. What most people really care about is whether the lyrics resonate with their feelings and thoughts.
But to Davy, the melody is vital, as its power needs to be strong enough to deliver the meaning. Song lyrics must be simple and catchy along with the music. They do not have to be flowery and complicated, he believes.
LMF gave a concert in Macau in 2010 and received rave reviews from their fans. Davy recalls that fans from China made up half of the audience at that time, and the band began to get a sense of just how many mainland fans they actually had. This year, LMF will return to Macau for the first time in five years hoping to reach an even larger audience and reconnect with their loyal fans, with their strong message and powerful lyrics.
Gabriel o Pensador
Social and moral critique have a vehicle in the vocabulary of Brazilian rapper Gabriel o Pensador. The Thinker’s beginnings date back to the early 90s when his first, self-titled album garnered attention for the caustic wit in tracks like “Lôrabúrra” (Dumblonde), “Retrato de um Playboy” (Portrait of a Playboy) and “Lavagem Cerebral” (Brainwashing). Over the next twelve years he would release another six albums and expand his renown both at home – opening for U2’s Brazilian tour in
1998 – and overseas – winning legions of fans on the Portuguese festival circuit. Following a seven-year respite from the recording studio, Gabriel has returned to hip hop with Sem Crise, featuring electronic tracks and
heavy stylistic flirtation with such Brazilian musical styles as forró and baião.
Blademark
Live performances are bread and butter for a band like Blademark, one of Macau’s most prolific and hardest working musical acts. The quartet is celebrating their tenth anniversary this year, and it is their tireless commitment and boundless energy that keeps them fresh. It’s also the key ingredient in their distinctive metal sound, one that has been infused with elements of rap, funk and melodic rock. Apt representatives of cosmopolitan Macau, this international group features founder and front man Fortes Pakeong Sequeira and bassist Raymond Nogueira, who were joined in 2013 by Japanese guitarist Akitsugu Fukushima and Canadian drummer Darren Kopas.
António Victorino D’Almeida
Conductor, pianist and author António Victorino D’Almeida is also one of the greatest composers of our times, meriting the attention of international critics. His hundred plus compositions span a wide variety of musical genres, from music for solo piano and other instruments to chamber, symphonic and choral-symphonic music, art songs and opera, not to mention film and theatrical scores and fado. His bibliography of written works includes fiction, journalism and publications about music. D’Almeida served for seven years (1974-1981) as cultural attaché to the Portuguese Embassy in Vienna, a position that earned him a medal bestowed by the Austrian President. In 2005 he was honoured with the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator for service provided in the expansion of Portuguese culture, history and values.
