June 20, 2003
Dear Friends:
I'm writing to you all from New York right now,
where I am busy recording parts of the new Chinese,
Japanese, and English albums. It's good to be back
home with my family. The important thing is that Lee-kai is graduating from high school next week and will
be attending MIT in the fall. I can't believe my little
brother has grown up so fast!
To be honest, my diary these days might read somethinglike this: Today I came up with a cool guitar part for
one song and recorded it, and then threw away the lyrics to another song and decided to write a whole new set
AGAIN...blah, blah, blah, but you haven't heard these
songs yet, so it would be premature to start talking
about them now. Instead, I'll talk about something that
happened recently in my life that traordinary. It is a
song called, "Hand in Hand".
On May 12, my good friend David Tao and I were
approached by AZIO TV to write and produce a song to
help alleviate the SARS situation in Asia. We sat down
and decided that what the people really needed, and what we could provide to combat this virus was not charity
money, but rather education and awareness of how to stop the spread of SARS. At the time, we felt in particular
that people were not being responsible to the community
because they were afraid. People disobeyed government
quarantines, escaping from hospitals and cordoned off
sections of the streets. We felt that this "battle",
in order to be won as quickly as possible, needed
everyone working together as a team. Therefore, those
are the messages of 'Hand in Hand': teamwork and the
reassurance to not be afraid.
David and I wrote the song the next day, and gave
the demo to AZIO, who then distributed the song to
every Chinese singer who was interested in being part
of this project. It turned out to be a whopping 85 of
the most popular talents of today and legendary singers
of past generations. It was so humbling and aweinspiring to know that this song would bring so many great artists together to do something for our community.
From writing, to arranging, to recording, to turning
in the final mixed song, we took all of 7 days. I've
never worked so fast and slept so little in a week! All
I can remember is going home and crying in my apartment
while listening to the finished product in my computer.
It was just an overwhelming feeling of 1,000 emotions
all at once.
Sometimes we get used to reducing music to sonic
furniture, something in your room, placed there to make
a fashion statement, or because it just feels comfortable. The danger of this is that it makes us forget to strivefor something more than just furniture because the
audience is liking it. So seldom do we get a chance
like this one, to really make a difference with our
music.
The whole experience of "Hand in Hand" reminded me
of the power of music. The power to communicate, and
Dear Friends:
I'm writing to you all from New York right now,
where I am busy recording parts of the new Chinese,
Japanese, and English albums. It's good to be back
home with my family. The important thing is that Lee-kai is graduating from high school next week and will
be attending MIT in the fall. I can't believe my little
brother has grown up so fast!
To be honest, my diary these days might read somethinglike this: Today I came up with a cool guitar part for
one song and recorded it, and then threw away the lyrics to another song and decided to write a whole new set
AGAIN...blah, blah, blah, but you haven't heard these
songs yet, so it would be premature to start talking
about them now. Instead, I'll talk about something that
happened recently in my life that traordinary. It is a
song called, "Hand in Hand".
On May 12, my good friend David Tao and I were
approached by AZIO TV to write and produce a song to
help alleviate the SARS situation in Asia. We sat down
and decided that what the people really needed, and what we could provide to combat this virus was not charity
money, but rather education and awareness of how to stop the spread of SARS. At the time, we felt in particular
that people were not being responsible to the community
because they were afraid. People disobeyed government
quarantines, escaping from hospitals and cordoned off
sections of the streets. We felt that this "battle",
in order to be won as quickly as possible, needed
everyone working together as a team. Therefore, those
are the messages of 'Hand in Hand': teamwork and the
reassurance to not be afraid.
David and I wrote the song the next day, and gave
the demo to AZIO, who then distributed the song to
every Chinese singer who was interested in being part
of this project. It turned out to be a whopping 85 of
the most popular talents of today and legendary singers
of past generations. It was so humbling and aweinspiring to know that this song would bring so many great artists together to do something for our community.
From writing, to arranging, to recording, to turning
in the final mixed song, we took all of 7 days. I've
never worked so fast and slept so little in a week! All
I can remember is going home and crying in my apartment
while listening to the finished product in my computer.
It was just an overwhelming feeling of 1,000 emotions
all at once.
Sometimes we get used to reducing music to sonic
furniture, something in your room, placed there to make
a fashion statement, or because it just feels comfortable. The danger of this is that it makes us forget to strivefor something more than just furniture because the
audience is liking it. So seldom do we get a chance
like this one, to really make a difference with our
music.
The whole experience of "Hand in Hand" reminded me
of the power of music. The power to communicate, and
