Kids’ band preserving Hong Kong’s Cantopop culture
Kids’ band preserving Hong Kong’s Cantopop culture
On a usual Sunday afternoon, the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade is filled with audience for a music showcase. Among the many musicians, a kids’ boy band stands out. Unlike the others who opt for foreign pop music style, the band honors the city’s very own Cantopop culture by performing a selection of Beyond classics.
The Tsim Sha Tsui showcase was not their first time performing in front of such a large crowd. When a normal kid would probably struggle on stage and suffer from much stage fright, the band members of Beyond 2000 appeared to be very steady and professional.
Despite playing in the band, the five members are still at school. The schedule is very hectic for them. As it is hard for the children to manage their music career, school work and other extracurricular activities all at the same time, support from parents becomes crucial in achieving “work life balance”. Luckily, the parents are understanding and encouraging.
One other challenge for the parents is the time arrangement. Every kid has different hobbies and schedules, for example, Cyrus has rugby and basketball practices and Jayden is an athlete while learning chess and music too. After-school activities aside, the parents need to cooperate on the exam timetable and other important school dates to come up with a feasible practice schedule.
It is hard to get all five of them together. Therefore, they only gather for practices at Kwan’s music centre at Prince Edward when there are upcoming performances.
Maggie Lor
mother of the Keyboard and Lead guitarist, Jayden and Berton
All parents are very supportive of what their kids are achieving. We always look for performance openings for the band.The Tsim Sha Tsui performance opportunity, for instance, was spotted and enrolled by a dad.
Lor expressed that being in a band helps her kids to learn discipline, such as time management, and keeping things such as scores and instruments tidy. Parents will occasionally remind them but gradually they learnt to manage themselves.
The mother of the two musicians also explained that being part of the band does not only equip them with more music knowledge and practice, but also the ability to face adversity. “Cyrus faced a lot of criticism online for his imperfect vocals, but I can see that he does not take it personal, which is a good lesson for my kids to learn from,” said Lor.
Parents sitting on the steps at the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade filming the band while singing along.
She also said that through the experience, she would discuss with the children how people express views on social media. “There are a lot of back stabbers spreading negativity online, I hope my kids would learn not to become one,”said Lor.
Her sons are being more withdrawn than the other members and felt insecure about being a star. However, Lor often encourage to break out of their comfort zones and try to create influence to others such as posting videos on Youtube to create more impacts with their music.
Beyond was a famous rock band from Hong Kong. Inspired by them, Beyond 2000 wishes to follow the footsteps of this prominent local representative to become another new force in the music scene to be reckoned with.
