"Ng Duck La"

Are we just a linguistic species? Can we all sing too? Instead of responding "Ng Duck La" (Cantonese - meaning "not OK") when asked to sing, I hear "Ng Duck La" as lyrics and music of a 3-4 note melodic piece.

I speculate that our ancient ancestors "talk-sing" to each other when communicating information or expressing emotion. But the human condition has become such that language and music have developed via practice and culture as different streams. We see and hear 'talk-sing" only in musicals.

When the unseen music is played, it could move humans to do many things, from involuntary shaking to organized marching. Music is part of the human culture and the feeling of togetherness via it makes life on earth wonderful. I am pleasantly surprised that Mainland China has recently made music one of its strategic economic development goals!

Unlike "Ng Duck La", creating conventional music and lyrics requires intensive intellectual effort. I would simply follow my heart, breaking through with tri-lingual lyrics (in Cantonese, Mandarin and English). My performing objective is to inspire the audience to participate in the performance art, to be creative and to re-integrate ourselves with nature!

#NgDuckLa