When Macau singer Ari Fabio Calangi stepped onto the stage for his debut performance on the hit reality TV show “Sing! China” on July 27, it was daunting experience.
“Stepping onto a new stage is like walking into a jungle. It’s like, OK, you don’t know what’s going to happen, but you know you’re going try to survive, try to make it through.”
China’s smash hit TV singing competition “Sing! China” used to be called “The Voice of China” and was first place in national TV ratings for the vast majority of its run. This year, in its fifth season, the rebranded show has become the most watched TV program in its prime time slot since it first went to air on July 15. As well as leading in TV audience ratings across the country, the program’s total webcasts have exceeded 500 millions views so far.
The show aims to find new singing talent among aspiring singers around the country. Consisting of a blind audition, a battle phase and live performance shows, the series employs a panel of four coaches who critique the artists’ performances and guide their teams of selected artists through the remainder of the season. This year’s coaching panel members include Jay Chou, Na Ying, Wang Feng and Harlem Yu – some of the most well-known and top-selling singers in the greater China region.
Ari’s debut performance wowed all the judges and the audience, and clips of his performance on the show were released after the TV broadcast and have already exceeded 281,000 views on YouTube. With countless comments praising his performance, the clips have been shared multiple times on social media, and many people from Macau have posted messages to his Facebook to share their support and their proud.
“It’s very moving to see that a lot of people take proud that I was able to participate into the competition,” says Ari thankfully.
Inspiring with music
Born to a Filipino family in Macau, Ari considers himself a genuine local.
“I was born in Macau, raised in Macau, and I speak all four languages that are used in Macau,” he said, “I’m considered Macanese, and I believe I represent a lot of things from Macau.”
Musical influences run deep in his family. Ari’s mum used to be a DJ here and was his first teacher. She started teaching him guitar at the age of 7, then he had his first piano lesson at 10, and first drum class at 12. At 16 he started his own band, and at 17 he had decided to choose music as career.
“After my performances, people would always come up to me after the show and tell me how much they enjoyed it. That’s when I saw there is a certain influence from my music. So I thought if I have such an ability, why not go with that,” Ari explains.
To chase his music dreams, Ari stopped studying psychology at the University of St. Joseph’s and applied to get into the Berklee College of Music, in the US. The school is well-known for its talented young musician students from all over the world. Ari was accepted and the experience has helped him to grow a lot as a musician. Most importantly, with the encouragement of his schoolmates, he started to have confidence in his voice.
“When I went to the USA to study, the most appealing thing to all the musicians there was my voice. When I was sitting in the lobby, playing guitar and started to sing, all those musicians were wowed. To be honest I don't really know if my voice is that good, but if it is capable of giving people that feeling, yes, I would like to pursue this career,” he says.
After coming back from the US, Ari stepped into the music industry in Hong Kong, and helped singers like Khalil Fong, Fiona Sit, Tse On Kei and Alex To with their concerts and recordings as a drummer.
In May this year, on the suggestion of Hong Kong singer Jonathan Wong, Ari decided to audition for “Sing! China” by sending out a demo to the production company. The company soon showed interest, called him and brought him to Shanghai to join the blind audition.
Going it alone
Ari recalls that before the blind audition there was no one to guide him. Basically it all depended on how much he could give and what he could bring to the stage. He had to choose his own songs, make his own music arrangements, record everything onto the computer to have a basic reference, and of course practice by himself most of the time.
But looking back at that period, Ari really appreciates what it taught him.
“Nowhere else have I ever experienced such a drive before. Every single day I had to give my best 100 percent or even 120 percent because that determines whether you continue or not,” he remembers. “Over there you have all the best singers from all over China, we’re always pushing each other. It’s not like ‘oh, I wanna be better than you’, but more like, because you see everyone doing their best, you know you have do your best as well. The drive of the competition really helped me to grow”.
Ari believes he has made a lot of improvements, and not only with his music skills, but also with his Mandarin. Though he only just started to learn Mandarin before the show, when he was on the stage, he could sing Chinese songs, and also communicate with the four judges.
Being on the show has already opened many doors for Ari – with invitations to sing coming from different parts of China, Thailand, and the Philippines, he has lined up performances until the end of the year. He is now involved with two on-going projects, one with his band “WAT DE FUNK”, the other his own EP that he has been working on for four years on and off, and hopefully will release by the end of this year.
“Sing! China was the opportunity to show one side of what I can do. The show helped me start and now it is all about my hard work”.