Music

Rock Hard, the first original a cappella theatre production created by Yat Po Singers in 2008, received both popular and critical acclaim in New Vision Arts Festival. In 2009, the work received Golden Sail Music Award in the Best Serious Music Composition category from the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH). It was staged at the Shanghai Grand Theatre to raise the curtain on a spectacular performing and visual arts programme for Expo 2010 Shanghai China by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and further captured global attention at PAMS 2015.
A group of boy scouts on a hiking trip through Hong Kong’s best greenery. Along the way, they sing songs and tell folklore and ghost stories. The trek gets rough after dark. The scouts seem to lose their way. They pass a solitary woman, and suddenly the evening mist disperses to reveal a wedding ceremony in progress, bustling with boisterous duets. Guests leave after the wedding feast, leaving the woman alone. Like the Amah Rock, she holds a baby in her arms and waits in hope for the return of her lover. The scouts continue their journey upwards, walking into the clouds. They sing and tell stories of mountain and sea. Rock Hard views the history of Hong Kong from a refreshing perspective. Through innovative play on both traditional and urban legends, it presents an allegory for the city that wanders through multiple times and spaces. It is a journey that not only looks back with nostalgia and looks forward with hope, but also fixes its gaze firmly upon the present.