Some of China’s top musical artists have come together this week for a series of live-streamed concerts paying tribute to those who helped overcome the coronavirus outbreak.
Faye Wong, Gloria Tang Tsz-kei, and classical pianists Lang Lang and his wife, Gina Alice Redlinger, are among those performing in the three-part series “Believe in the Future”, billed as a tribute to “every ordinary individual who has worked hard to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic”.
The first concert, which featured more than 130 performers, was streamed on May 4. The second will be streamed on Wednesday evening; no date for streaming the final concert has been announced.
In April, American singer Lady Gaga organised “One World: Together at Home”, a cross-platform concert in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the charity Global Citizen, but Lang Lang was the only artist from mainland China to perform and the event was not shown there.
The first of the three concerts, which lasted two hours, featured Wong performing with Chang Shilei. The singer adapted the lyrics of her popular song Mortal World, belting out inspirational lyrics including the line that a beautiful sky must come after rainstorms.
Viewers saw stars performing in their homes and personal studios. Malaysian-Taiwanese singer-songwriter Gary Cao sang What a Wonderful World in his garden. Cradling his sleeping cat, William Chan Wai-ting performed Cantonese classic Through Many Winds and Rains, originally sung by Roman Tam.
Hong Kong-born American singer-songwriter Coco Lee broke into a hot dance and belted out her trademark song Di Da Di. Chinese actress Zhou Xun delivered an a cappella version of The Wandering Songstress from a famous 1930s film.
Hong Kong singers Joey Yung Cho-yee, Hacken Lee Hak-kan and Tang, and Taiwanese singer Richie Jen Hsien-chi, also took part. Lang Lang and Redlinger delivered a rousing coda with a performance of Ode to the Yellow River, the second movement of the Yellow River Piano Concerto.
The “Believe in the Future” concerts have been put together by Chinese talk-show celebrity Gao Xiaosong and Chinese entertainment platforms including Tencent Music, NetEase Cloud Music, and Weibo.
In a message posted on Weibo, Gao said the concerts are dedicated to every ordinary individual who had worked hard to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
“We want to use the power of music to soothe the hearts of all,” he said. “Whether they are at home, in their studio, at a quarantine hotel, on a production set or out there in the wilds, musicians sing for all.
“The charity concert is free of all commercial elements. We are not paying any music royalties, taking adverts or soliciting product placements.”
The live stream on Wednesday evening will feature pop star Cai Xukun, Hong Kong singer Karen Mok, Chinese rock star Wang Feng, and others.
With the music and concert industries hit hard by the disruption the pandemic has caused, Li Jie, one of the concert organisers and the chief executive of online concert and event ticketing platform Damai, was quoted as saying the concerts were intended to help musicians resume work.
“Damai will launch a scheme in collaboration with [streaming platform] Youku to provide performance venues and services to independent musicians and music bands for free, letting the musicians keep most of the proceeds from performances.”
