RED BOAT TROUPES AND CANTONESE ... - University of Georgia

Ling: What is in your mind when you write libretto?
Wong: It is all improvised.
Ling: What is the difference in music between Cantonese opera of the 1930s and the new modern
style?
Wong: In the 1930s, it was all boun huang; there were no siu kuk. Gradually, more siu kuk, yuet
au, and southern tunes were added. The famous Southern tune singer and performer Yuen Siu
Fai had been my students; he is one of the best Southern tune singers of today. [Southern tunes
were sung by blind performers in the past; singing of southern tunes today is not limited to blind
singers].
Ling: Who is considered the best Southern tune singer?
Wong: Blind Duk [Toa Wun].
Wong: Cantonese singing is unique, it doesn't have scores. Other genres have scores. Cantonese
singing is hok hou hok sit (emulate sound, emulate tongue). [What he meant is the pitch in
singing changes according to the pitch of the speaking tone.]
Ling: Does Cantonese Opera use different key as tonic according to the range of individual
performers?
Wong: Never. In Ma Sze Tsang's time, people sang up to A (Western music pitch); nowadays,
people do not practice as much as then. Performers used to sing with C# as tonic; nowadays they
lower to C as tonic. During the time of Yum Kim Fai, performances use C#; starting in the
1980s, C is used.
Ling: Have you ever seen the famous Nam Hoi Sup Sam Long (Thirteenth Son of Nam Hoi, a
famous librettist of Cantonese opera).
Wong: Of course; he is from a family of literati.
Wong: Red Boat Troupe flourishes between 1920 and 1940. After most Red Boats were
destroyed by the Japanese invasion, “Black Boats” were used as carrier for troupes to the ocean,
particularly to Hong Kong. Bunk-beds were used in these non-flat base boats. We student
instrumentalists slept close to the boat rowing area. Some people slept on the ji coeng (wooden
boxes for costumes). When permanent theatres such as Po Hing, Tung Lok and Go Sing were
built, we performers would sleep on the second and third floor of the theatres. Go Sing Theatre
was the earliest performance venue in Hong Kong. Po Hing was another theatre that teamed up
with Po Hing (called Go-Po line) that performed the same plays.
Wong: In the 1920s, five pieces of harmonic instruments called ngh ga tau (five main
instruments) were commonly used. They were the yuet qin, the qing hu, the hau goon, the three
string and the er hu. When permanent theaters were established and Cantonese opera flourished,
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