Lin Jianhua and Karen Mok. "Suddenly", which has been released for more than 20 years, is still a popularity.
"My Happy Times" and "Always with Me" created for Eason Chan, Lin Jianhua said that it was very happy to hear the post-00s singing.
Curry No. 25
Many people have heard of Karen Mok's "Suddenly", Eason Chan's "Always With Me", "My Happy Times", Du Dewei's "Lover", Gu Juji's "Must Kill", of which "Suddenly" has been released for more than 20 years, and it can continue to turn popular. These familiar melodies are all from one person, Lin Jianhua.
Many people do not know that this hong Kong veteran musician who has composed and produced more than 350 songs, produced more than 50 albums, and cooperated with more than 100 groups of superstars so far has been rooted in Guangzhou for nearly 10 years, and in recent years has been committed to discovering and promoting talented young musicians and promoting the integration of music culture in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Recently, Lin Jianhua was interviewed by Nandu, who said that rooted in Guangzhou, based on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the effective integration of Cantonese songs has made him more confident when he returns to the music scene.
A is with Guangzhou
There are countless people who have heard the songs written by Lin Jianhua, but there are not many people who know that he first debuted as the Blackbox band, from 1995 to the present, Lin Jianhua has been in the Chinese music scene for many years, but more as a behind-the-scenes creator and producer. Even fewer know he has lived in Guangzhou since 2013.
Nandu: Why did you choose to settle in Guangzhou?
Lin Jianhua: I have been working as a music and artist development consultant for The Greater China region since 2010, and I have been in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai a lot since then, and I have been in contact with the mainland market since then. At that time, seeing that the development space of popular music in Hong Kong and Taiwan was getting smaller and smaller, and the return was getting lower and lower, as a musician, of course, I hoped that the music I created could be heard by more fans, so I began to slowly realize that I wanted to develop to the mainland, and I ran on both sides of the mainland and Hong Kong in those years, and by chance, I finally decided to settle in Guangzhou in 2013.
Nandu: Did you still have your own company in Hong Kong?
Lin Jianhua: Yes, my music label was J10 Music, and since 2003, I have built Zhou Guoxian and Zhang Jicong, helped them to carry out the road of singer-songwriter, and also discovered xiaoke, Liang Baijian, Zhang Jiacheng and other creators, until 2013, when I suspended the music and acting business of the Hong Kong company and moved to Guangzhou.
Nandu: Then why do you suddenly want to stop making music?
Lin Jianhua: I had been making music for more than ten years, composing and producing hundreds of songs, often turning day and night upside down, sleeping three or four hours a day, and also taking care of the singer's agent work at the same time. Around 2012, when I had the opportunity to spare, I decided to try to change my lifestyle.
Nandu: So what are your new attempts in Guangzhou?
Lin Jianhua: I tried other industries, I opened restaurants and bars in Guangzhou, and expanded my social circle here. In 2016, I slowly returned to the music performing arts sector and represented a World Performing Arts Championship in China; in 2020, I opened J10 Music Entertainment in Pearl River Pipa, a single-family unit of more than 700 square meters, doing what I was good at music production and content creation, and I also became a music and creative culture consultant of Pipa Dai, officially returning to the music track.
Nandu: Many Hong Kong and Taiwan musicians will choose to go to Beijing or Shanghai, but you are rooted in Guangzhou, how do you think of your decision?
Lin Jianhua: My boss who was in the gold medal and gale also wanted me to stay in Beijing, but my personal physique was more sensitive and I was not very adaptable to the Beijing climate. After all, Guangzhou is the birthplace of Cantonese culture, the language and food are closer, there was no concept of the Greater Bay Area, I felt that Guangzhou should be the center of Cantonese culture in South China. Half of my song works are Cantonese, half are Chinese, I can live comfortably in Guangzhou, and strive to do a good job in Cantonese songs at the same time facing the whole country in the mainland, radiating to other provinces and cities step by step, I think this positioning is very appropriate.
Nandu: Some Hong Kong musicians have also worked as studios in Guangzhou, you should be the one with the longest time in Guangzhou, right?
Lin Jianhua: It is estimated that my state is different, I chose to take root and live here, and I am determined to face the mainland music performance market, and to be a cultural industry, we must live well, understand the local culture, and after time precipitation, slowly integrate the different cultural genes of the north and south of the river, in order to fully play and create good song works.
Nandu: What attracted you to living in Guangzhou?
Lin Jianhua: The mainland is a big place, the living space is large, I once lived in a duplex unit of more than 400 square meters, living will not become a very heavy burden like Hong Kong; and food in Guangzhou, is the reason why I love here, the choice of food is frugal, you can eat five-star hotels, you can also go to Shunde to eat farmhouse dishes, I drive everywhere to find food, a lot of taste in Hong Kong is not found.
Band B Dreams
Lin Jianhua once formed a band Blackbox with Zhang Jiatian and Chen Weigang, released the first album "This Leisurely Place" in 1995, and then launched two records of "Three Wishes" and "Looking for a Black Box", which won the Newcomer Award in the Hong Kong music scene, and went to Taipei in 1997 to join Rolling Stone Records as a music producer.
Nandu: You played a band to enter the music world, and in recent years, the band culture in the mainland has been surging up, have you evoked any memories?
Lin Jianhua: In the "Summer of bands" program, I recognized the bands in the mainland, and I always thought of myself; I played music since I was a child, I liked Duran Duran in the 1980s, I liked Tears For Fears, I liked George Michael as a personal singer, I wanted to form a handsome band at that time, there was no concept of an independent band at that time, and after the formation of Blackbox, I also helped many commercial radio programs to accompany and make musicians for many singers. Then he was appreciated by Thomas Chung, the owner of an independent record label at the time, and launched Blackbox's first album, "This Laid Place".
Nandu: The band also went to Taiwan to develop at one point, right, signed a contract with Rolling Stone Records?
Lin Jianhua: Blackbox signed to the Rolling Stones in Taiwan the following year and was assigned to go to Taiwan to release Chinese album. I went to Taipei in 1997 and worked as an inhouse producer for the Rolling Stones, trying to help many singers write and produce songs, and more importantly, silently producing Blackbox Chinese albums, but for many reasons, Chinese albums were not released. The moment of making music in Taiwan is definitely the happiest time of my life, and I am particularly grateful to meet Jia Minshu for his affirmation and support for my music, and I remember that he invited me to make a cameo appearance in the MV of Junko's "Homecoming" with his own Gibson 335 electric guitar shooting, thinking back to the time when I was able to enter the Rolling Stones hall music label to make music, it was a very lucky day.
Nandu: Walking in front of the stage, or do you feel that behind the scenes is more suitable for you?
Lin Jianhua: At that time, I was very introverted, not very accustomed to being paid attention to, did not want to make a splash, did not want to show off myself; nor did I enjoy talking like today, when I did interviews, I only knew how to answer Yes Or No, as soon as the show opened, I short-circuited, thinking that I was not the material of the artist in front of the curtain.
Nandu: When the band signed to the Rolling Stones, it was also a good opportunity, why didn't the album come out?
Lin Jianhua: At that time, there were still some stories, do you know that the people who played the band were quite personality and persistence, but because we had different opinions about the positioning and tone of the Chinese album at that time, and the company, so the release of the album was unconsciously shelved and suspended, and we made several new songs in Hong Kong and handed them to the company.
Nandu: Do you have regrets when you look back now?
Lin Jianhua: It's still a pity; in fact, Blackbox's works allow me to create and play more musical styles and creativity, and do something different; fortunately, in 2010, thanks to Mr. Chen Huihong for inviting us to blackbox to join the gold medal gale, and also supported us to do a Blackbox "My Wrold" concert at the Ninth Exhibition, which is a complete summary of the band.
Nandu: Wouldn't it have been harder to be an independent band in Hong Kong back then?
Lin Jianhua: Frankly speaking, the Hong Kong market is relatively narrow, the space for doing pop music is not very wide, of course, it is not easy to do a band, and generally people who play bands are for the ideal of feelings, if you really want to make a living, it should be quite difficult. At that time, I also worked during the day, made music at night, did publicity and visits during the holidays, and insisted on my musical dreams day and night. It wasn't until one day that my income from making music surpassed that of my daytime job, proving that music could support me, that I finally threw myself into the music business and ran to Taipei to live.
C Melody is the face value
Whether it is "Suddenly" or "Lover", "Must Kill" or "Eyes Can't Be Without Tears", the melody lines of Lin Jianhua's works are more affectionate, especially the chorus part is more beautiful and smooth, can withstand the test of time, and has a large number of spreads on the short video platform.
Nandu: You can write so many classic and moving pop songs, what creative ideas can you share?
Lin Jianhua: In fact, I think that the moving and beautiful melody is worth passing on forever, and it is also the dream of every musician. Just like Beatles' "Yesterday", the classic has no age limit, and these good melodies are moving in any era. The melody is like the appearance of people, the good-looking silhouette is like the beauty of Audrey Hepburn, always so enduring and good-looking; the lyrics are like the connotation of people, the connotation is whether you have a story, whether the speech is decent and qualified, etc., a person's connotation can also touch the very important magic of infecting people. My habit of composing songs is to write and compose in parallel, and each song has my own story and feelings at the time. I insist that my songs have a soul, a face value, and a connotation, so that I can achieve a good song for me.
Nandu: Have you ever found that your songs have been covered and red?
Lin Jianhua: Yes, many TV variety shows often hear different versions of "Suddenly", and I also see Du Dewei singing "Lover" at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala; I have often flipped through short videos recently, and I have seen some post-00s children singing songs such as "My Happy Times", "Must Kill", "And I Am Always There", etc., which can continue to impress new music fans, which is really happy; recently I also went to Shaanxi, Northeast, Guangdong and other university campuses to serve as a judge for singing events, and was also invited to sing "Improvised oratorio" on stage. Suddenly, it was shocking that all the post-00s college students sang with me. The song was released in 1999, when they weren't even born, which was a special pleasure for me and what it meant to keep making music.
Nandu: You have experienced the era of records, the internet era, and now it is the popularity of short videos, will the change of carriers have an impact on your creation?
Lin Jianhua: This is a very inclusive era, but also an era without talent, now everyone can independently upload their works to the platform to share, it can be said that everyone can enter the music circle without threshold. But fast-food songwriting, and even some song production that may not even have guitar strings tuned, suddenly became very popular, a phenomenon that seems unreasonable to me, but it is really growing in a barbaric way.
Nandu: What do you think is the difference between the traditional recording industry in the past and the song distribution in the new media era in the mainland now?
Lin Jianhua: In the traditional record industry, the release of a song is through many hurdles, and it will meet the aesthetics and standards of key people in different departments before it will enter the ears of listeners and fans. But in the current era, the popularity of your songs is determined by the public taste, so traffic songs, traffic singers are the most real data kings who get public support and likes and sharing in the new media platform, traffic songs are not necessarily singers with professional singing ability, nor are they necessarily well-made songs, anyway, can impress the public to get traffic is the market winner, the release process and rules are very different.
D Use music to fuse
Having experienced the glory and loss of the Hong Kong music scene, witnessed the rapid development and slowdown of Taiwan's music scene, and witnessed the impact and penetration of digital music platforms and short video platforms on popular music in Guangzhou, Lin Jianhua still returned to music to promote the integration of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao into the cultural work of the Greater Bay Area, and promote the integration of popular music professional capabilities.
Nandu: Back in the music world, seeing that you have done "Cantonese Tide Dryness" and "Bay Area Night Cantonese Tide Good Life", will you do more Cantonese songs-related activities?
Lin Jianhua: I began to return to the music part last year, and I found that the charm of Cantonese songs is still very strong, after all, the Guangdong region is influenced by Hong Kong TVB TV series and also influenced by Hong Kong popular songs, so I make Cantonese songs here in the Bay Area, which is particularly resonant, and everyone's music, film and television entertainment culture is actually in the same vein. Last year, he also composed a song "Cantonese Tide Good Life" as the theme song of the event, and specially invited Liang Hanwen, Zhu Zhongai, Zhan Ruiwen and J10 singers to sing together. In addition, when it comes to "Bay Area Night: Cantonese Tide Good Life", it is in the Haizhu Wetland Music Festival that I arranged for the company singers to reinterpret many classic Cantonese songs, and there are also their own song skewers, etc., and the atmosphere is very good. We will continue to hold more than a few such Cantonese song-themed events or music festivals this year.
Nandu: In your opinion, how to carry out Cantonese songs?
Lin Jianhua: I think there are several aspects of promotion, one is that it is estimated that more Hong Kong singers and musicians will continue to develop in the Greater Bay Area like me, and create and sing more good new works together. Second, we continue to cover songs, inherit the classic songs of Hong Kong in the past, and continue to ignite cantonese songs; the third is that more people should practice like me, settle music companies in the Bay Area, and with some policy support from the government, make every effort to cultivate a new generation of musicians and singers, create a new era of Cantonese songs, and carry out a new future of pop music in the Bay Area.
Nandu: How else do you want to promote exchanges and linkages between musicians in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area?
Lin Jianhua: I already have dozens of friends from Hong Kong's performing arts, music industry and other front-to-back friends, since last year's epidemic, we have successively come to the Bay Area to develop, and often get together to discuss project cooperation. Recently, with the support and guidance of the government, we have established a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Youth Performing Arts Creative Alliance, which includes workers from all walks of life in the performing arts industry, including music, film and television, talent education, advertising business, etc. We hope to help more friends who are developing in the Bay Area to integrate more effectively. In mid-May, there will also be a launch of the latest performing arts projects, including some film plans and song MV shooting plans. I think the present is a rare opportunity, the Bay Area market is just the beginning, there is still a lot of room for development, but also by the government to fully promote, we should seize this golden moment, with their own professionalism and talent, here as the beginning of a new chapter, I hope that more Hong Kong and Macao youth can come to the Bay Area to understand, together to create a better future.
Written by: Nandu reporter Ding Huifeng intern Yang Xiaoxin