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John Abraham (Drums) City Inside a Broken Sky Drummer John Abraham has been involved with the Hong Kong music scene for close to twenty years. He has played with a wide range of musical groups including Danny Summer's "Visa Band", Eddie Ng's "Iron Curtain", and third-world music group "Nogabe". As resident drummer for the Jazz Club in Lan Kwai Fong from the time it opened in 1989 through 1993, John had the opportunity to play with a number of international jazz acts. Sandee Chen (Vocals) City Inside a Broken Sky Singer & songwriter from Taiwan, Sandee Chen has five albums to her name, including Washington Chopped Down Cherry Tree (94), Ride the Jet Plane Away (95), Singing at the End of Four Seasons (96), A Night When Bad Guys Were Not Yet Bad , inside a Witch's Store (97) and I was never a Humorous Girl (99). Apart from her own albums, she has a long history in collaborating with Ping Fong Acting Troupe. In recent years, Sandee has been busy producing other singers' albums. She has her debut book Still Good published in 1999. Her sixth album will be issued at the end of this year. A collaboration with Hong Kong's music group Minimal, this time will once again break the creation logic of the past and create different surprises. Chow Yiu Fai (Lyricist) City Inside a Broken Sky Born and bred in Hong Kong, Chow Yiu Fai has had a long and ongoing relationship with the written word. He first writing lyrics in 1989, collaborating with Hong Kong pop group TatMing Pair, and he has worked as a lyricist ever since. Recent songs featuring his lyrics included The fifth modernisation, Sugar in the marmalade and Colours and love. Chow currently lives in Amsterdam. Valerie C. Doran (Scenarist/Dramaturg/Lyricist) Destiny Travel Limited, Floating Bridge, and City Inside a Broken Sky Valerie C. Doran is a writer, poet and lyricist who has worked with a variety of artists in Hong Kong and Taiwan on projects ranging from performance art to music theatre. She has collaborated with composer and musician Kung Chi Shing on a number of productions, serving as librettist and scenarist for Kung's major music-theatre works Destiny Travels Limited and Floating Bridge. A graduate of Wellesley College where she majored in Chinese language and culture, Doran has been professionally involved in the Chinese visual arts world for a number of years, working in both the curatorial and arts publishing fields. In the past few years she has published a series of articles on Chinese art in Orientations Magazine, of which she is currently Contributing Editor. Robert Een (Cello, Vocals) Destiny Travel Limited, Floating Bridge, and City Inside a Broken Sky Robert Een is an acclaimed composer, singer, and cellist. He has written extensively for film, dance and theater, most recently completing the score for the feature film Mr. Jealousy, starring Eric Stoltz, Annabella Sciorra and Bridget Fonda, as well as music for choreographer Yoshiko Chuma's award-winning Unfinished Symphony. The recipient of a 1998 "Bessie Award" for music composition, Een has performed his music on stages and in unusual venues throughout the world, including the Buddhist caves of Ellora, India; a Shinto shrine in Tsurugi, Japan; a theater in Bodo, Norway above the Arctic circle; and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.. The San Francisco Chronicle said of his work, "What Hendrix did for the guitar, freeing it from its previous role and expectations, Robert Een does for the cello". Known for his use of extended vocal and cello techniques, Een has recorded six albums of his compositions: Your Life is Not Your Own (solo), Big Joe (featuring his band, Hearn Gadbois, Carter Burwell, Anne DeMarinis and Steve Elson), The Rook and Mr. Jealousy soundtracks, Music from Blue Earth (the score for Een's performance piece Blue Earth) and the soon-to-be-released Mystery Dances on the Starkland label. His other scores for film include Trouble on the Corner; Dirt; Guts ; and the documentaries Shalom Y'all and Carnival Train. Robert Een's music for dance can be heard in the repertories of Jennifer Muller, David Dorfman, Yoshiko Chuma, and Ron K. Brown, among others. He is also a long-time collaborator of composer and theatre artist Meredith monk. As a teacher Een has been a guest lecturer and an artist-in-residence at colleges, universities and professional schools around the globe. Peter Jarvis (Percussion) Destiny Travel Limited, Floating Bridge, and City Inside a Broken Sky Peter Jarvis studied percussion with Raymond DesRoches at William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey. Asco-director of the acclaimed New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, and director of the Composers Guild of New Jersey, Jarvis is active as a percussionist, conductor, administrator and educator. He has played with the Group for Contemporary Music, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble of Piccolo Spoleto, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Composers Guild of New Jersey Performance Ensemble, New Band, Cygnus Ensemble, New York Art Ensemble and many others. As conductor, Jarvis has appeared with Saint Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Cygnus Festival Orchestra, Composers Guild of New Jersey Performance Ensemble, Ensemble 21 and others. Jarvis has toured in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Asia, Russia and Europe. He can be heard on Nonesuch, CRI, Koch International, Composers Guild of New Jersey, Naxos, October Music, Capstone and Gram recording labels. In addition to performing, Jarvis is active as a teacher, having taught percussion at Fairleigh Dickinson University and currently at William Paterson University. Jun (Vocals, Drums) City Inside a Broken Sky Jun first exhibited signs of being a gifted musician at the age of 7, when he started jamming on a homemade drum set.Jun credits his uncle with encouraging him on his early musical path — not only did his uncle sing along when Jun played drums as a kid, he also lent Jun his garage as a practice space throughout his college years. Largely self-taught, Jun gradually expanded his musical repertoire to include voice, guitar, bass and keyboards. By the age of 17, he had started his career as a professional musician, playing with different bands, appearing on recordings by local artists and performing in off-Broadway productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar in San Francisco. During his university years in New York, Jun expanded his musical horizons: he became a member of the Drummers' Collaborative, and experimented with a number of styles, composing his own music, working in recording studios, and performing with a wide variety of musicians. During this period he was particularly inspired by jazz. Although offered an opportunity to become a contract artist for a record label before the age of 20, Jun felt he was too young and turned the offer down. In 1997, at the age of 21, Jun returned to Hong Kong to pursue a career as a session drummer, only to find himself pursued by a number of record companies eager to engage him as a contract artist. Finally deciding to sign on with Universal Records, he released his debut EP Here and Now in June 1999. Here and Now was not only a critical success — his songs topped all major radio top-10 playlists — it was a remarkable debut on the Hong Kong music scene because all three songs on the EP were composed, arranged and performed by Jun himself. Here and Now established Jun as a singer-songwriter/musician/producer/arranger. In the past two years he has received a number of industry awards, including the "We Select Award" from 104 FM Select (July 1999), Commercial Radio's 1999 "Ultimate Song Chart Annual Award", and the "Best New Artist Award - Gold" from the '99 Commercial Radio Annual Awards held in January 2000. Jun has also been in demand as a producer and arranger for major Hong Kong recording artists such as Andy Hui, Eason Chan, Anita Mui, William So, Sammy Cheng, Paul Wong and Eddie Ng. Always interested in new creative challenges, Jun recently took on an acting role in a major motion picture by award-winning Hong Kong director Tsui Hark. But his greatest love is still performing music. In November 1999 Jun appeared at the Singapore Music Festival in a concert with pop stars from all over Asia. In March 2000 he and his band brought the house down as the closing act of Rock On 2000 at Ko Shan Theatre. Jun's appearance in avant-garde composer and musician Kung Chi Shing's new music-theatre work, City Inside A Broken Sky, brings another dimension to his versatile and dynamic performing career. Michael Lam (Lyricist) City Inside a Broken Sky Michael Lam is a freelance writer based in Paris. Regular topics in his articles include dance, arts, entertainment and sexual politics. 'Sex Text', the latest collection of his essays, will be published by Oxford University Press in July. Jamsen Law (Video Art) City Inside a Broken Sky Jamsen Law is a graduate of the Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is studying his Master of Arts in Cultural Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Jamsen has been exploring experimental art forms since his college years, expanding the possibilities of artistic creation by combining different art forms and media. Since 1993, he has been one of the core members of the multi-media artists' collaborative "20 Beans + A Box". In the past five years, 20 Beans + A Box has focussed on investigating the relationship between performing and visual arts, producing works such as Every Single Other Territory (My Own Idiosyncrasy Garden) for the Hong Kong Arts Festival (1998), Loco/motion 21 for Taipei's Fangfeng Festival (1999), and a major installation/exhibition at Hong Kong's Para/site Artspace. Jamsen also is an independent video artist, producing both video and video installations. His video Getting Used to Run received the Gold Award (MTV) in the Hong Kong Independent Video and Short Film Awards '97 and the Award of Excellence from Image Forum 1999 in Japan. In collaboration with Hong Kong's Videotage group, he has been involved in local productions such as V-Text, Microwave Festival and LCSD Artist-in-Residence Scheme 1999-2000. Since 1999, he has been active in arts education and has led courses at the On and On Workshop, Zuni Icosahedron and Fringe Club. He is also enthusiastic about cultural exchange and has been artist-in-residence at Artspace Sydney and a guest artist at the Castle of Imagination, Poland. Lee Man Seng (Props/Objects) City Inside a Broken Sky Lee Man Seng was born in 1962 in a small Hakka village in the New Territories of Hong Kong. At the age of 14 he moved to England, where he worked in his family's restaurant and studied modern art. In 1992, Lee returned to Hong Kong and opened an art studio in a 300-year-old schoolhouse in his native village. He works primarily as a sculptor, using wood and other natural materials to create both formalist and functional art, including musical instruments of his own invention. Many of his recent sculptural works incorporate concepts derived from traditional Chinese culture, such as the logographic form of Chinese characters. Lee's works have been shown in galleries and exhibitions in Europe, Japan and Hong Kong, and are in the collection of the Regional Council Museum as well in private collections in Asia, Europe and Australia. Lee is also active as a performance artist and improvisational musician, collaborating with Hong Kong artists working in various media to create performance events: these have included Raw Earth (1996), a collaboration with four other ethnic Hakka artists -- a ceramacist, dancer, vocalist and musician -- which was performed on-site at Wai Hong Village; the creation of new "ethnic ritual" music and dance performed in Hong Kong in 1997; and the improvisational band FUBAR, with which Lee performed at the "Festival du Geister" (Spirit and Ghost Festival) in Berlin in 1999. Nancy Loo (Piano) City Inside a Broken Sky Hong Kong-born Nancy Loo was awarded a scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York, where she studied with Adele Marcus and graduated with a Master's Degree. Besides taking first place at the Rina Sala GAllo International Competition in Monza in 1976, Loo has won prizes at the Marguerite Long International Competition in Paris and the Vioti, Pozzoli and Senigallia international competitions in Italy. She performs with orchestras worldwide as well as locally with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Since 1985, she has taught at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist Univeristy and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She recorded two concertos with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1988, as well as works by local composers for the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH). She has also released a recording of transcriptions for hymns. She is a presenter for the music programmes of RTHK Radio 4, as well as a contributor to magazines and newspapers. Makoto Matsushima (Choreography/Performance) City Inside a Broken Sky Makoto studied art at the College of Art, Nihon University. He began his stage career with the Pappa Tarahumara Theatre Company while still a student, and since that time has received high acclaim as an actor/dancer on both stage and television. He has choreographed and performed his own dance pieces since 1995. In 1997, he joined Zuni Icosahedron of Hong Kong in their production of The Invisible City. With Pappa Tarahumura Theatre he has performed throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. In 1998 he performed in Hong Kong in Pappa Tarahumura's Spring Day, and the following year was a choreographer/performer in Edward Lam Dance Company's Rave commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival. In the past year Makoto has been based in Hong Kong as an artist-in-residence with Zuni Icosahedron and has collaborated with a number of local artists as well as performing his own solo works. He also does animation, painting, stage design and music/sound design. Julia Mok (Keyboard/Vocals) Floating Bridge and City Inside a Broken Sky Julia graduated years ago from the Modern Dance department of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. In 1995 she was awarded scholarships from the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Sir Robert Black Trust Fund to further her studies in dance at EDDC in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Julia choregraphs mostly for drama and musical productions. Recently, she moved into new ground and started acting with Prospects Theatre Company in two major dramas. As a musician, Julia has performed as a singer and keyboard player in most of Kung Chi Shing's past music productions, including the 1999 concert Box Side 11 - Captain Kink's Cabinet. She also appears on Kung's CD recordings BOX GO HOME. Julia's own composition was first heard in the Hong Kong theatre group Actors' Family's production of Happy Journey. Hahn Rowe (Electric Guitar) City Inside a Broken Sky Hahn Rowe has been involved in many different aspects of the New York music scene since his arrival in the early 80's.Initially working as a recording engineer and producer, he worked on projects with artists such as John Zorn, BillLaswell, and Lamonte Young, among many others. Most notably, however, he has been known for a uniquely personal approach to the violin and guitar as a member of a wide array of groups. During the mid-80's, Rowe was featured on violin and guitar with composer Glenn Branca's ensemble, touring throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It was during this time that Rowe became an integral member of the group "Hugo Largo" with whom he worked until the early 90's. Hugo Largo released two critically acclaimed records on Brian Eno's Opal label - Drum and Mettle. Rowe can also be heard on a diverse assortment of recordings by artists such as Moby, David Byrne, Michael Stipe and KRS-1, and Michael Brook among many others. As a producer, Rowe worked with singer Mimi on her debut record Soak as well as producing and performing on the recording Feelings by David Byrne . He has also been involved in the creation of music scores for films such as Lodge Kerrigen's Clean Shaven, the Emmy Award winning P.O.V. documentary The Transformation by Susanna Aikin and Carlos Aparicio, Jo Andres' Black Kites, and Tom Gilroy's Spring Foward. Rowe has recently been active in the world of electronic dance music, producing and DJ'ing Drum and Bass under the moniker Somatic. His album The New Body was released on the Caipirinha label. John von Seggern (Bass guitar) City Inside a Broken Sky John von Seggern studied Western classical music at Carleton College in Minnesota, during which time he also managed to find a few months to learn about North Indian music from teachers in the city of Gaya and at Banaras Hindu University. After graduating, he spent a year studying jazz at the New School in New York City, where his teachers included Gary Peacock and studio drumming legend Bernard Purdie. After finishing his year in New York, John traveled to Tokyo in 1991 to see what was happening there, and ended up staying for four years. While in Japan, he performed frequently with both Japanese and foreign artists, playing straightahead and acid jazz, pop, Brazilian, and French music, among other things. In 1995, John was hired to go to Hong Kong and play for Jacky Cheung. John played 100 concerts with Jacky in Hong Kong and as part of his 95/96 World Tour. Since 1995, John has remained in Hong Kong and continues to record and perform with local pop artists and visiting international artists. He has done recordings for many artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as television and movie soundtrack work. More recently, he has gotten involved with Hong Kong's developing electronic music scene, performing in dance clubs as a "digital DJ" and bassist with his band Digital Cutup Lounge. Masato Tanaka (Kinetic Sculptures) City Inside a Broken Sky Masato Tanaka was born in 1961 in Yokohama, Japan. He obtained his master's degree in Design from Tokyo University of Arts. Combining art with technological knowledge, Tanaka has focusses on the creation of a series of "kinetic sculptures" that demonstrate that technology not only brings the acceleration of modern life but also contains sense of hidden natural beauty. Although electricity, motors, magnets and solenoids are important components in Tanaka's works, what creates the major kinetic energy for free movement is nature itself, such as the forces of wind or gravity. The beauty of the balancing motions of the works is simultaneously an expression of balancing the stresses of daily. Tanaka seeks to promote a concept he calls "Playground of One's Eyes", using inorganic materials and forms to search for peaceful expression on which the eyes can rest idly for a while, glancing out from the corners of daily life. Since 1994, Tanaka has worked with the theatre artist Hiroshi Koike as a producer of stage devices and object designs. Wong Chi Fai (Video Art) City Inside a Broken Sky Wong Chi Fai graduated from the Fine Arts Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He works mainly in media art, video, installation and theatre design. He is now chairman of Videotage, a Hong Kong-based media art group. Since 1990, Wong has created stage designs for plays and performances by Hong Kong's Sand & Bricks Theatre, as well as for theatre groups in Taiwan. He also is active in creating video art for theatre. Recent productions in which his work has appeared include The Atlas; DanceArt's Memory Disorder and 2000.1.1 Unknown; Moment of Light Theatre's Deviant/Resonant#2"; Cheung Tat Ming's Solo; and Bird, Birds by Makoto Matsushima. Eve Yip (Costumes) City Inside a Broken Sky Eve Yip graduated from the Dance Department of the Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts in 1990, majoring in modern dance. In 1989 she became a core member of Sand and Bricks theatre group, and has been an active presence in Hong Kong's dance and theatre worlds. In the mid-90s Eve took up the study of both costuming and shoemaking. She is now engaged in the performing arts both onstage and behind the scenes. Hsia Yu (Lyricist) City Inside a Broken Sky Hsia Yu is the author of four volumes of poetry: Memoranda (1983), Ventriloquy (1991); Rub Ineffable (1995); and Salsa (1999). She makes her living as a song lyricist and lives in Paris and Taipei. |