He was an African singer on the Walk of Fame.
His dream is to acquire Chinese nationality.
However, on the road of chasing dreams, Hao Ge has also experienced some twists and turns.
Hao Ge, a post-80s Liberian from West Africa, whose real name is Uwechue Emmanuel.
This is a child who has a strong musical talent from an early age.
Hao Ge's first contact with music was the song of the weekly church choir.
In the beginning, he was just listening offstage.
Gradually, after listening more, Hao Ge became a member of the choir.
Following his parents to church every week is the happiest thing for him.
Because he can follow the choir and learn a whole new song.
At that time, parents did not stop their sons from singing.
The child's release of his own nature is still what his father used to say at that time.
Unconsciously, Hao Ge began to go to school.
His activities in the choir continued, and he not only sang, but also at that time.
Through continuous study, he quickly mastered the playing of piano and bass.
On the road of music, he also gradually had his own ideas.
Especially in the middle school period, the nature of young people begins to bloom,
He not only sang his own songs, but also formed a student band.
However, at this time, his father was extremely impatient with his continued singing.
The father is a very traditional person, and he hopes that his son will be able to study with peace of mind, rather than making singing his main task.
After all, singing cannot be eaten as a meal, and only by learning those real skills can we gain a foothold in society in the future.
In this way, Hao Ge, who grew up, had a very bad relationship with his father.
He also wanted to try to persuade his father in his own way, or simply ignore his objections.
However, no matter what measures were taken, he felt that they had little effect.
Fathers are hard to convince, and out of absolute respect for them, he does not want to disobey him excessively.
Seeing through this mentality of the son, the father's attitude became more resolute.
And Hao Ge also talked to the media many years later,
In Liberia, the status of the father in the family is extremely revered.
And, like the Chinese family, parents' attitudes and opinions play an absolutely dominant role.
The opinions of the children themselves sometimes become irrelevant.
"Majoring in mathematics, it will be easy to find a job later."
This should be the most his father said to Hao Ge after he went to middle school.
Unfortunately, he was not interested in mathematics at all, and in the case that his opinions would not be adopted.
He eventually compromised and followed his father's plan.
Hao Ge's academic performance is good, and his father knows this.
Therefore, the life path he designed for his son was to enter the mathematics department of the University of Monrovia after graduating from high school.
Parents have the final say, hoping that their children can have a stable career in the future.
These factors superimposed on each other eventually prompted Hao Ge to realize his father's dream.
In the four years of university, Hao Ge spent his time in the mathematics department of the University of Monrovia.
Although he had good grades and was able to understand the course, he was really interested in music.
Fortunately, during the university period, I was far away from home, and in the relatively relaxed environment of the university,
Only music and singing could soothe his aching heart.
After completing his undergraduate studies, under the "coercion" of his father, Hao Ge studied for a master's degree.
Seeing that his son's diploma for several years of study had been obtained, the father's heart was naturally very happy.
Hao Ge later became an aerospace mechanic, and in his father's eyes, what a decent and stable job.
However, the musical fire in his son's heart has not been extinguished.
With the official start of the nine-to-five work, he suddenly found that his life seemed to have entered a dead end.
Although the university does not like the major, but the environment is relaxed, usually can be accompanied by music.
After work, the situation is completely different.
The daily work tasks are fixed, and no one will give you time to sing.
Watching the days go by, doing things that you don't like,
He felt as if he had become a walking corpse, soulless, at the mercy of others, a complete waste of time and life.
After some deliberation, Hao Ge is determined to stand up and "rebel" against his father.
After he went home that time, he put out his true thoughts and thoughts.
"What do you say? Say it again! "Father couldn't believe his ears.
"I'm going to quit my job and go sing." He seemed calm, clearly well prepared.
"I had a hard time getting you to college, but you didn't work, in exchange for this result?"
Father apparently did not agree with him in doing so.
But the child has grown up, no matter what decisions he makes, how can the parents interfere.
This conversation with his father not only broke up unhappily, but also marked his break with his father.
At that time, Hao Ge had already made up his mind and was ready to embrace music in a traveling way.
He did quit his job and, almost without quitting, began his journey.
However, as my father feared, there was no stable income,
Even then he didn't know how to combine his livelihood with music.
As soon as his eyes turned black, he still summoned up a lot of courage.
He first crossed the ocean and came from Africa to the Netherlands in Europe.
Hao Ge hopes to gain knowledge and inspiration for music from this ancient country.
As he walked, watched, and sang, he became a wanderer.
After leaving the Netherlands, he went to the United States again.
Compared with European classical, American music is trendy and leads the pace of the times.
There are many kinds of music here, especially the music of black people.
There are both the rhythms of African homelands and breakthroughs and innovations in the New World.
In the face of all this, Hao Ge's heart is like a sponge, greedily absorbing things related to music.
After traveling from Europe to the Americas, the homeland of the white man, he set foot in the far East.
Hao Ge's first stop in Asia was not China, but Thailand in Southeast Asia.
The reason why he went to Thailand may be that even he has forgotten what he thought at that time.
Or maybe Thailand, a typical tourist country, has a place purely in his understanding of the world.
Buddhism is prevalent here, and it is located in the East Asian cultural circle.
Therefore, different music genres have given Hao Ge a new understanding and experience.
Immediately after that, he went to Japan without stopping.
At that time, Hao Ge was in his early twenties, obsessed with music,
Even he almost forgot that he still needed to survive.
However, after some travels, what he saw and heard was too complex.
He needs to calm down and absorb what he has acquired.
However, Hao Ge did not want to return to China, or to face his father, who was still in a cold war with him.
Fortunately, he already knew a Chinese friend by then.
In this way, the 21-year-old Hao Ge came to China.
His first stop in China was Zhengzhou.
For the next full year, he sang at the International Hotel in Zhengzhou.
I don't know, Hao Ge, the name with Chinese style, was not from that time.
At that time, he mainly sang Songs in English.
In addition to the Chinese requires hard study, Zhengzhou relative to other parts of the country,
In fact, it was a desert of music, and in this desert, he could not actually find a person who could really carry himself.
But when he first arrived in China, he obviously didn't feel this.
After a few months, he slowly discovered that
Rather than pursuing music, he is just a wandering singer who relies on singing.
When he saw this clearly, the loneliness in his heart reappeared.
After all, no one around really appreciates themselves.
However, at that time, Hao Ge could hardly speak a word of Chinese.
To really fit into the circle of Chinese music, he didn't even know where to start.
Fortunately, the opportunity soon came.
At that time, in addition to singing in international restaurants, he often went to bars to sing.
To make some money is secondary, the main thing is to be able to meet some people who also come here to sing.
It's just that to Hao Ge's dismay, almost no one here speaks English.
In addition to singing every day, he is also trying to learn Chinese.
One day, a friend suddenly told him that he was going to give him a friend from Beijing.
That night at the bar, when the friend appeared, Hao Ge found that the other party was actually Liu Huan.
Mixed in the music circle, he had more or less received information about Liu Huan before.
Therefore, with an excited mood, he hurried forward to greet Liu Huan.
Although there are only a few words in Chinese in his stomach, he is still trying to express them.
Fortunately, as soon as he said a word, Liu Huan responded to him with a fluent and pure English.
Liu Huan told him that if he really wanted to make a difference in the field of music, he should go to Beijing.
So that night became an important turning point in Hao Ge's life course.
The next year, Hao Ge finally came to Beijing.
He was surprised to find that the original Chinese music was here.
Whether it is the music itself or the things around the music, Hao Ge has found too many fellow travelers in Beijing.
He met Liu Huan again and became a signed singer under his umbrella.
While studying hard to Chinese, his musical dreams have made great progress compared to the past.
In the second year of coming to Beijing, Hao Ge had an idea: he would later become a Chinese citizen.
In Hao Ge's view, he has traveled to so many places before, and he can really provide himself with a sense of security.
Or the city of Beijing.
He once said that in other countries, he did not dare to go out alone in the middle of the night.
But in Beijing, no matter how late you are at night, you can enjoy walking and walking on the streets.
In addition to the feeling of finding a home in Beijing, his career will usher in another leap forward.
It was three years after he came to Beijing, and by chance, he signed up for the Walk of Fame.
This is a grassroots show, as long as you have talent, anyone of any age can participate.
What Hao Ge did not expect was that his singing voice and identity as a foreigner won the recognition of a large number of audiences.
So, from the weekly champion to the monthly champion, his ranking has been moving forward.
In the end, he reached the annual finals of that year.
The good results of the runner-up made Hao Ge's career usher in a big explosion.
And standing on the stage at that time, he sang the classic songs of Liu Huan.
He is already fluent in Chinese, although there are still many Chinese characters that cannot be written.
But Hao Ge was not worried at all, he studied hard,
After that, he even visited Qiu Yun, the daughter of Peking Opera artist Qiu Shengrong, to learn Peking Opera.
With the success of "Avenue of Stars", he has since appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala.
Knowing that his son developed well on the road of music, his father, who had a great opinion of him at the beginning,
Since then, he has gradually changed his attitude.
At that time, Hao Ge's father also came to Beijing to visit his son.
When I first arrived in Beijing, I lived in a bungalow in a hutong, and I couldn't take a bath or have no heating.
Let him eat noodles every day, life is really unaccustomed.
With his popularity, not only did he stay in Beijing, but he also brought his wife and children to Beijing.
He fell in love with scrambled eggs with Chinese tomatoes.
At that time, his biggest wish was to buy a courtyard in Beijing.
However, he himself said that this dream is somewhat out of reach, after all, the price is too expensive.
As his career went smoother, Hao Ge later brought his brother to China.
He also gave his brother an easy-to-understand Chinese name, Good Brother.
Hao Ge said that in order to distinguish between the two brothers, he deliberately used "good" instead of "Hao".
Like him, my brother also has a good musical talent.
Not only does he sing well, but he also dances.
Compared to his brother, the good brother is a standard otaku.
When there is nothing to do, he likes to stay at home and watch American dramas and variety shows.
And he, like his brother, is also very fond of all aspects of China.
Even later, he found a girlfriend in Yinchuan.
He had been to his girlfriend's house, and the two of them had plans to get married.
In the blink of an eye, Hao Ge had come to China for twenty years.
Compared with the past, his Chinese should be more slippery.
Mastering a brand new Chinese song, he only needs more than an hour.
After all, he could already use his skilled Chinese to play poor and talk with his brothers in China.
Today, Hao Ge's musical dream continues.
For a person with ideals and pursuits, dreams can be realized anywhere.
Text | twenty-two
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