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2014年10月9日 星期四

Voices, nothing but voices--The Tallis Scholars at the City Hall

Man is a strange creature. He is born with the body of a beast but is blessed (some say, "cursed") with what many think of as a "soul". In pursuit of the craving of that soul for going beyond itself, towards something thought to be higher, even the highest, he created the Hymn. From the most ancient of times, men have sung to that ideal, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God and quite early in its history, the Church has developed a rich repertoire of sacred music. It has never since died. An important part of such music in the Middle Ages was polyphonic choral singing. Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), one of the most important English composers, was even given a patent for that. In 1973, a group of English singers gathered around Peter Phillips. The group devoted themselves to Renaissance sacred music and called themselves the Tallis Scholars. At their 40th anniversary, they decided on a world tour. They sang in 16 countries around the world. Last night, they came to the City Hall and offered us a goodly sample of their golden hits. 

Their opening song was a 6-part Hosanna to the Son of David by Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623), first contemplative and then joyous.




2014年10月2日 星期四

From "Occupy Central" to Occupy Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Mongkok & Tsimshatsui (由 "佔中" 到 "佔鐘", 佔銅鑼灣, 佔旺角, 佔尖沙咀)

Tear gas and pepper sprays turned what originally was a movement led by 3 leaders to occupy Central into a spontaneous and self-organizing movement which spread, as postmodernist French philosopher Gilles Deleuze predicted back in the 1970s, rhizome-like, in the age of the internet, without any specific leaders, which occupied not only Central, but also Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Mongkok and Tsimshatsui. The voice of the majority of people is loud and clear. The question is whether it will be heard and if so whether it will be positively or negatively responded to by our leaders in Admiralty, Western and Beijing.

 

Des Vouex Road, Central is barricaded.


with metal fences, traffic cones