REBEL SPIRIT.
Singer Denise Ho is setting out on an independent path to find out more about her creative self — and surprise fans in the process. Christie Lee writes.
Fans of Denise Ho, or HOCC as she is better known, are used to surprises, but nothing was quite as liberating as hearing the singer belt out tune after tune at a mini concert on Hong Kong’s last remaining vintage tram in September. A month prior, Ho hosted Reimagine Hong Kong, an ambitious concert at the Queen Elizabeth (QE) Stadium, where fellow singer-songwriter Anthony Wong and former TVB anchor Anika Fong guest-starred, and Kan ‘por por’ (meaning grandmother in Cantonese), one of the senior protestors of last year’s Umbrella Movement, was invited on stage.
And the surprises won’t stop there. Both the Hong Kong tram and QE concerts are part of Reimagine Hong Kong, a series of mini concerts set to take place at different locations around Hong Kong. The next concert will be at the end of this month at an undisclosed spot in town – “I want to keep it a secret!” the 38-year-old retorts playfully when pressed on the exact whereabouts.
“The Hong Kong tram was actually one of our later stops, but we decided to move it up,” says Ho, no doubt referring to the recent controversial proposal to ban trams in Hong Kong’s Central and Admiralty districts.
While the Hong Kong tram may seem like an unorthodox venue, it’s perhaps not so surprising if you consider that its instigator was hauled away by the Hong Kong police during the Umbrella Movement in December. Ho has been lauded for her candour during the political upheaval, but the singer is quick to remind that the fight for the freedom of expression has accompanied her career from the very beginning.
“I don’t think I’ve changed at all. I’ve been preaching the same ideas for years. Only we had all been living quite a cushy existence,” the singer shrugs. “It was only last year that people suddenly came to the realisation that, well, things do need to change.”
Ho, dressed in a Reimagine Hong Kong promotional T-shirt and faded ripped jeans, had just come out of a gruelling four-hour shoot, where she requested that makeup be kept to a bare minimum in order to let her natural features shine in front of the camera.
The singer-songwriter attributes her ‘premature awakening’ to her background. Born in Hong Kong to a family of educators – her father taught fine art at Diocesan Boys’ School, her mother mathematics at St. Stephen’s Girls’ College – Ho studied at Diocesan Girls’ Junior before immigrating with her family to Quebec, Canada, where she spent her formative years.
Like many that have been uprooted, Ho found herself in exile from the world around her when she came back to Hong Kong in 1996: “Despite having spent my teens in Canada, I’d always felt a special affinity for Hong Kong. But I was not at all prepared for the cultural shock that awaited me when I finally came back,” Ho reminisces.
“There wasn’t a lot of competition in Canadian schools. Nobody had to vie for that number one position in class because it simply did not exist,” she continues. “That mentality followed me into adulthood, and I still hate awards ceremonies to this day.”
Ironically, it was also in that unclassified boundary between the norm and the unconventional that Ho managed to – and still continues to – thrive. While her early works Thousands of Me (2001), Angel Blues (2002) and Rosemary (2003) garnered her plenty of accolades, it was Butterfly Lovers, the 2005 musical that followed a pair of star-crossed lovers as they navigated the troubled waters of death and homosexuality that cemented her status in the industry. Ho deftly handled the topic, interweaving hard-hitting messages with digestible Cantopop tunes.
Ho herself came out almost a decade later, at the 2013 Hong Kong Pride Parade. As outspoken as she is about her views on the socio-political matters of the day, Ho is known for guarding her private life with ferocity. “I’m not going to answer that,” says the star, clamming up instantly when asked whether she has a girlfriend. “I’m too busy to think about such things.”
The last time we talked to Ho in November 2013, she’d just set up Big Love Alliance, an organisation that campaigns for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights on both a community and policy level, with Anthony Wong, Gigi Chao, Cyd Ho, Brian Leung and Raymond Chan. Even back then the singer had expressed her readiness for economic and societal backlashes, yet it was her support of the Umbrella Movement that dealt the heavier blow. Submissions to perform at the Hong Kong Coliseum have since been repeatedly rejected “for no apparent reason,” and Ho is rumoured to be banned from performing in mainland China.
“As a city we’re getting more and more singular. I mean, just look around, so many independent and unique shops have closed down,” she says in a frustrated tone. “The younger generation is pigeonholed into the mentality that they must follow one path in life. Obviously, it’s a challenge to take the untrodden road, but I refuse to believe that we should always take the easy way. This is especially true for those in the creative field. After all, why do we create? Why do we paint and write songs? It’s about finding yourself.”
In a 2003 interview, Ho protested against the media for ignoring the lyrics in her song Rosemary, and focusing more on her sexual orientation instead.
Does she feel that the public understands her now? “Not really”, she laughs. “But I’m no longer as concerned about that. It’s more important to focus on myself now; who am I doing this for? What am I and those around me getting out of this? Whatever you do, as long as you’re staying true to yourself, you’ll be able to make some sort of an impact, regardless of whether there are 100 or 100,000 people in the audience.”
The mix of celebrities and politics can be a double-edged sword, especially in a social media era when anyone can express their opinion on just about any matter of the day, and “quickly”, as Ho notes, “or else one would appear to be out of touch.” While stars like Angelina Jolie and Emma Watson have leveraged their star power to shed light on important social issues, there have also been mishaps, one of the most recent being Rihanna’s retraction of her hashtag #FreePalestine on Twitter last summer.
“But that would never happen in Hong Kong. The only people you’d find here are those who are unwilling to speak up, not those who spout nonsense,” Ho laughs bitterly when I mention the possible dangers. “Naturally, I always educate myself on the issue that I’m speaking up about. The responsibility shouldn’t rest solely on celebrities either; it’s one that everyone on social media should take up. Fake news is all too easy to come by these days.”
There is no denying that Ho is gifted at the crafting of arguments. A regular Apple Daily columnist, she released That is How We Met, a compilation of essays reflecting on family, friends, social and political issues, at the 2015 Hong Kong Book Fair. Has she ever thought of leveraging her popularity to run for politics? “I’ve been asked that before,” the singer sighs. “But I honestly don’t think I’d be particularly good at politics. So instead of entering and dying a painful death…” she says with dry humour, “I’d rather just stick with what I’m good at.”
Now that she’s gone independent, does she worry about having to fund her own albums? “I don’t think it makes much of a difference. I mean, do you really think record companies are making money?” she says, twiddling her fingers. “The Hong Kong music industry is still relying on a model from the 1980s. Soon, somebody somewhere will realise that it’s not a viable model anymore. We’re past the days when we could just wave a CD in people’s faces and ask them to buy it. I haven’t figured out a new way yet. If I had, I’d be a billionaire by now!” she jokes. Does that mean that we’re doomed? “I don’t believe that’s the case. We just have to find a way.”
And for Ho, perhaps that way lies in Reimagine Hong Kong.
The post Denise Ho appeared first on BACCARAT Hong Kong.