Haji Maji is the web blog of
Mr. David Murray. He shared his collection of obscure records including
Chinese Music.
The Chinese records included Chinese music, Cantonese Opera,
Amoy (Hokkien) Opera, Peking Opera and Teochew Opera.
Amongst the Teochew Opera, some were performed by the troupes
I hardly heard of. Such as 老玉春香, 老赛宝丰班, 中正顺香班.
Those troupes might be disbanded, or amalgamated and reformed with a new name.
I have been making some efforts to introduce the Chinese opera to
non-Chinese, especially on Teochew Opera.
I have written a few articles on Chinese Opera and published in my
English website. There were Teochew Opera of "Reunion at the Capital" and
"Departing at the Old Country Road", Peking Opera "Diao Jin Gui",
Nan Yin Opera "The Tailor" and Nan Yin arias "Curtain of Bead".
I recently introduced our Singapore artists Lin Jia(林嘉) and Eric Tan(陈国来).
Peking Opera artist Phan Wait Hong showed me and my then nine-year-old son
Solomon the Peking Opera make-up in 2004.
Solomon was quite amused to see the then 92-year-old grandma turned into
the Emperor of Tang Ming Huang.
The demonstration of Peking Opera make-up and singing brought to
Solomon's interest in Chinese Opera when he was young.
I have recently took a series of pictures
on Teochew Opera make-up
with the help of Sim Choon Siang(沈俊祥) and Jaime Tan(陈碧君)
I made the first attempt in introducing Teochew Opera make-up last year.
I asked my son to take the related pictures. He had done a good job.
But we failed in time of success. I was very sad that he has then
not showing any interest in Teochew Opera anymore.
I did the second attempt last December.
I discussed with Choon Siang and he agreed to let me take pictures
while he was doing the make-up.
On the very day, Jaime did it for him and she was willingly for me to
take pictures. With their assistant and cooperation, I finally made
it to present the Teochew Opera make-up to the world, especially
to the non-Chinese.
When I knew that Mr. David Murray was seeking help in his research of
Teochew Opera project, I was rather happy and excited. A non-Chinese
is keen in studying and introducing Chinese music.
While looking at those 78 rpm records, I was surprised to see a
record of Wai Jiang Opera(外江戏) performed by Singapore Er Woo Amateur
Musical and Dramatic Association(新加坡余娱儒乐社).
I used to visit the flea markets in Chinatown and Sungei Road.
Whenever I found the phonograph records(黑胶唱片),
all sorts of feelings welled up in my mind.
Some of the rubbish threw away by people and they became the
treasure of others.
Mr. David Murray is a musician, filmmaker and record collector living
in San Francisco California.
He plays fiddle in the Squirrelly Stringband and bouzouki in the
Disciples of Markos.
He collects Greek, Chinese and some other weird 78 rpm records.
David Murray's website:
Spectacular Opticals
