Friday 21 May 2010

indie-pendant


It is something of a tragedy that in the wide world of music, Hong Kong is best known for Canto-pop of capricious quality, when the spotlight should really shif its focus on to the independent music scene. Schtung Music has been creating original melodies for more than two decades and collaborating with stalwarts in the independent arena, yet the Hong Kong-based company remains inches away from the spotlight. P.Ramakrishnan puts the focus where it firmly belongs and gets an earful.

There is a certain cradle of cool between Central and the lower Peak Tram terminus. Concealed in a private enclave not far from Government House and an Episcopal church, behind a wrought iron gate that escalates up to a private recording studio, is the headquarters of an extraordinary recording company.

With a clutch of characters oozing urban chic through a soft haze of cigarette smoke, a cornucopia of musical instruments litters corners, beside stacks of CDs and old black vinyl records, music books and memorabilia, listening to the throb of a drum as an acoustic guitar marries the chords of a traditional sitar, it's surreal to the point of being a scene lifted from a film about the music industry.

But here, it's the real deal. This is the music industry, an independent beacon, shedding light on rarely seen but well heard musicians and artists. The hybrid sonatas spring from original creations that are freshly baked in the very studio by some severe mixing gadgetry, all under the aegis of Founder and Managing Director, Morton Wilson.

"We just find them," Wilson simply says when asked how he discovered the voice of a hauntingly beautiful chorus girl, as she reaches a crescendo on a track that is part of an independent album that Schtung made. "They come through word of mouth, recommendations, being in the right place at the right time. There's no proper talent search for these singers, we just hear them somewhere and if we like them, we track them down and ask if they would like to collaborate."

'Jam Bangle - Club 21,' a tropical club track, spins and as crystal clear notes boom through the room, it's easy to get lost in the moment, but Wilson continues, "There are times when we do work with people who are really well established in the field already, like David Bowie or Robbie Williams or Asian artists like Asha Bhonsle. Having hit the charts and made the money and the career, they don't need to work on these smaller albums but that's where the artistry comes in. When they want to try something new, they've got nothing to lose. The creative spirit takes over and we try something unique with them and sometimes they like it, and if they don't, we try something else.

As a quirky yet rhythmic duet comprised of Britpop star Williams and India's septuagenarian nightingale Bhonsle infiltrates the air, it's a strange marriage of melody that works incredibly well. Why it works is inexplicable; one chants in lyrical English, whilst the other enchants in pure Hindi.

"We've all heard the cliches about music crossing borders, but when you hear something like this, well, of course it does," says Wilson. "One half of the audience will only understand half of what's being sung, but does it really matter if it sounds good?" he asks rhetorically.
This year marks Schtung's 25th anniversary. When Andrew Hagen and Morton Wilson landed in Hong Kong back in 1982, they were composers, trying to break into the creative business. Schtung was originally a rock and roll band formed by the duo in New Zealand, and they even have a remnant of the era; a vinyl disc in a paper jacket stamped with their black and white portraits. The mop of 70s hair dates it, but the music still works, even today. Whilst they didn't exactly displace The Beatles or The Stones, the band was popular enough that commercial directors asked them to store original music for them. So the rock'n' rollers became Schtung Music.

Providing music for the film, television and advertising industries, the company has worked with the best talent Asia has to offer. As time evolved, Schtung became a creative hub that discovered and gave breaks to new talent across the region. Before the expression became tired and overwrought, the small company truly married the 'East meets West' concept of music. As its official website states: "If you need a live erhu player in Shanghai, or the sound of the Star ferry crossing Hong Kong Harbour, or Donald Sutherland's voice for your next TV spot, give us a call and we'll arrange it for you."

"The album that started it all was 'Languages' for Joyce Boutique," says Wilson pulling out a CD cover bearing a simple black and white image of a flower. "When Joyce Ma opened the new Joyce at The Galleria in 1992, Schtung developed the Joyce theme (featured on its award winning TV commercials even today), into a full-length album with an ambient East-West vibe. There was no looking back after that."

What followed were albums like Set Your Own Boundaries for Festival Walk (a limited edition CD to celebrate the opening of Festival Walk in 1998), Bar Savanh for Indochine (original Vietnamese & Souteast Asian inflected chill tracks for the Singapore based Indochine Group of clubs and restaurants, in 2002), and Omotesando Volume 1 for Giordano ladies.

With ISDN-linked networked studios in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Los Angeles, Schtung is a muti-national entity. On a visit to the Hong Kong studio, there were people working on keyboards, and computers seemingly editing and composing as elements arrived from LA, London and Beijing. The studio is veritable orgy of cross-cultural harmony.

"It's just a matter of co-ordination," says Wilson, mapping out the international co-ordinates where his artists are located. "For example, for Giordano, we also created Three Wishes - Giordano Ladies, Volume 2 and the team expanded to include contributions from Audiomatic, a production duo in LA and Shanghai-based violinist and arranger Peng Fei."

One of Schtung's off tangent successes has come from creating branded music for retailers, spas and restaurants. Quizzical it may seem, but is there really a great challenge in creating a disc of sound for someone while they're getting their back waxed?

"You'd be surprised to learn that we had to re-work an album compilation, and it came down to a note. Someone presumably getting a massage or something, complained about finding a particular note too sharp and disturbing as they were trying to relax. It's not just about whale sounds and the repetition of a few bars on the piano and violin. People forget that everything has to be composed, there's real talent behind an orchestra of sounds. It's not that easy and it can take weeks and months until we get the perfect result."


Ever on the trail of new sounds, originality and ideas, Wilson's talent hunt has him going everywhere, and he's not just looking at vocals and instrumentalists from around Asia, but also at archival music. As one of the man behind the cult smash Shanghai Lounge Divas, a re-mixed enterprise of classic Chinese songs with modern sounds, he is now working on a similar, follow-up project. Hopefully sequels to the haunting Nomad Voices (the music of the Orochen Tribe from the forested areas in Northern China, close to Siberia) are also in development. Also being cooked up are further collaboration with leading musicians, but Wilson remains tight-lipped about them for the time being. "It's all about timing you know."

According to the New York Times, the independent label sector accounts for 30 percent of the music sold worldwide, but as major labels struggle on crutches as illegal file sharing rages rampantly and is seemingly unstoppable around the globe, Wilson appears calm and collected about people downloading music companies' prized possessions.

"Of course it isn't right that people are doing this kind of thing [stealing music online], but with our music I'm not that concerned," he says. "The underground music scene and the independent circuit thrive on people sharing ideas, sounds and music. The more people hear our products, hopefully the more creative they will be, and more talent will emerge from it. At the end of the day, we just want to be heard."

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