Mr. New Pop---Wang Lee-Hom
Despite his good looking, Wang Lee-Hom simply hates to be labelled an “idol” singer, writes leslie loh pix by Bonnie Yap.
“I’m not going to sing idol songs; I’m not going to put the emphasis on packaging. Some people think that I’m good looking, which I don’t think so, and if they don’t like my music because they think good looking singers can’t sing, that’s their problem,” asserts Wang Lee-Hom, 21, the handsome all-rounder taiwanbased musician from New York.
In a recent interview, with the musician, it is obvious that despite his good looks, Lee-Hom simply hates to be labelled an idol singer. “Of course, I worry about the fact there are these terms in chinese pop music-idol singers and substance singers. An idol singer means you can’t sing and that bother me! They have this categorisation only in the Chinese market. I mean, why would you assume somebody who is not good looking is a good singer and vice versa?”
Lee-Hom is not your ordinary musician. A look at his impressive biodata will literally blow your mind away. Lee-Hom is this music prodigy who picked up several musical instruments as early as six. He started writing music at 15 and was actively involved in the school choir, participating in almost every musical organised by the school in his secondary and high school years. He received a host of High Honour Awards for his musical and academic achievements. Lee-Hom studied music at the Eastman Music School and later the Williams College, both of which are reputable music conservatoires. During his varsity days in Williams College, in which he pursued a music degree with a major in composition, he was a music director for Williams College Acapella Group, and he directed, arranged and composed several musicals there. We couldn’t possibly exhaust his list of achievements, but this is enough to illustrate our point.
When Lee-Hom entered college, he had a hard time to deciding what to major in. Although he is good in musical violin, Lee-Hom ‘s heart is firmly in music composition. “Do I want to be a professional violinist?” I asked myself. “I looked at my wall with posters of all the great violinists; I have hundreds of CDs of all the best violinists in history and I said to myself: even if I do become a great violin player, there are another great players who are so good that I could commit my life to perfecting the skills and still be one of them – those who make a living out of playing the violin, playing pieces which were composed hundreds of years ago by other composers. That’s not my idea of being a really influential musician. And, my real idols aren’t the players but the people who write the pieces. I want to be somebody who has something to leave behind,” said Lee-Hom with a lot of conviction.
“My final thesis was a musical called The Bite That Burns; the name tells you that it has something to do with vampire! It is like a Leonard Bernstein musical, a Broadway musical. I had wanted the experience of writing music for an orchestra; not just keyboard and stuff like the Andrew Lloyd Weber kind. I have always wanted to write symphonies and concertos; doing a musical like this is like middle ground for me. Not unexpectedly, Lee-Hom got a distinction for his thesis and he graduated with top-class honours.
“One of the reason I joined Sony Music is due to Sony’s vast resources worldwide. Sony is very connected; each station like Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore has its own established team of professionals. The biggest reason is that Sony gives me a lot of support with my music production. I’m able to have enough time and money to do albums that are representative of me. I don’t like to be rushed while I’m working. This is music, and to me, as a producer, arranger and a performer, music is not something that I could manufacture overnight, I need a company that understands me and is willing to support my “addiction music!” says Lee-Hom.
“Being a big star isn’t my cup of tea. I just want to be an influential musician. I want to have creative and inspiring compositions. My role as a performer is to introduce ny work to the people. Though I could develop my singing career in the States, I’m focused on the Mandarin market in Taiwan.”
In his final year at Williams, Lee-Hom was nominated as the Class Musician, an honour accorded by his peers to the most talented musician in the entire class. “There are a lot of honours to be conferred at the graduation ceremony, the Class Musician is not the highest honour,” Lee-Hom explains. ”As a class musician, I’ve to compose the graduation song. That was really cool! Williams has been having this tradition for 200 years. Most class musician do like choral work or symphonic mass for the graduation song. I did, this hard-core blues stuff, and I’ve got this best player in the school to co-write with me. We formed a really tight band to perform the song which is really rough and hard. I got up the stage in my gown, and there were thousands of people there with their parents. I was like this ( Lee-Hom gestured to mimic a rock guitar player playing widely) and the crowd was just stunned! The kids loved it! It was really unorthodox.”
Of all the musical instruments, Lee-Hom prefers the piano the most. He reasons, “I used to like the violin the most because it is closest to the human voice. It has vibrato, and it has the bow, the air; it’s very natural, very organic. I used to hate the piano; I used to think the piano is as stupid as the typewriter – you have this keyboard, you press the button and the note comes out. Now, I too find the piano useful. It has harmony and it’s a great instrument for music composition and arrangement. Like, I’m playing a chord and I can give the part to an oboe or clarinet or any other instruments.”
It is always interesting to find out what a gifted musician like Lee-Hom listens for inspirations. “I like Leonard Bernstein and Bartok a lot. As for pop musicians, it is Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Sting, George Michael and Prince for me, ”Lee-Hom says. How about Taiwanese singers? “The Taiwanese music market has changed tremendously over the last couple of years. Whereas in the past Taiwanese music is considered stale – always sounding sad and melancholic – Taiwanese music today has progressed a lot. Using western influences, it sounds a lot more vibrant and invigorating. Lee-Hom says, “I like David Tao ( Tao Gertz ); I like Shunza; we’re really good friends too. I think we really have some kind of bond with music. I really think Taiwanese music is leaping forward. People think David, Shunza and myself really work hard to do this; there are others too who help to shape the music in Taiwan. Three years ago, when I released my first album, my goal was to be able to influence someday what was considered as pop music. I remember turning on the radio and listening to all this, slow and pathetic music, which all sound similar; very KTV style of songs. All this has changed tremendously. That’s really exciting for me and for other aspiring musicians. There is more variety now; the music scene has really flourished.”
If recent sales figures are anything to go by, it is apparent now that those tagged with Heavenly King or Queen titles are no longer commanding astronomical sales as they used to. Is it because the listeners are becoming more discerning? Is it because there are more choices in Chinese pop music today? Lee-Hom echoes these sentiments, “Ya, like I said, the music is getting varied and a lot of singers are coming out with a lot of really talented stuff, not the packaged thing in the past. It is a good sign. Pop music is forever changing. You just can’t have your one act and sell it for the rest of your career. Maybe the era of Heavenly King and Queen is changing, that’s exciting.”
On the subject of girlfriends, Lee-Hom is still available but interested ladies have to wait. “I have had girlfriends, of course,” Lee-Hom admits “but it is really hard for me to have a girlfriend now because I’m always on the road. I go to Taiwan for two weeks; then to the States for another week; Singapore for another. I would never be able to spend time with her. Now is the time to concentrate on my career first, to work on the music. I would only consider having a girlfriend much later.”
With looks like his, would Lee-Hom consider having a career in the silver screen? “I would definitely consider acting. I’ve done so many plays and musicals on the stage. I’ve lots of acting experiences on the stage but I’ve never appeared in front of the camera. I wouldn’t mind if it’s a Hollywood or Taiwanwese production, as long as the director is good, the script is right and the role is good.”
As a parting shot, Lee-Hom tells us his philosophy of life. “I know that there are too many things I don’t know which I do not have the capacity to make a judgement. But I do know that I appreciate communicating with a lot of people who are in the same boat, and we all don’t know what the hell is going on. Life’s a learning process; it is about sharing, experiencing and communicating with other people.”
from Day & Night(November2-8,1998)
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