Asia News: Andy Lau, Strawberry Streaming, Katy Perry & More

It has already been reported that pop superstar Andy Lau was forced to cancel 12 Hong Kong concerts due to the coronavirus crisis. 

Now, Asiaone.com is reporting that Lau will lose some HK$10 million ($1.25 million) by cancelling the shows. 

Lau himself invested his own money in the enterprise. In fact, he had extended his original run of seven shows to 12 so as to make it up to local fans when he cancelled concerts in 2017 and 2018. 

In addition, Lau cancelled subsequent shows in Wuhan, China, slated for April 17-19. Later shows in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing are still on the books at this time. 

This is the third time Lau has cancelled shows in Hong Kong, which is essentially his home town. In 2017 he suffered a fractured pelvis while filming a movie, and in 2018 he came down with a throat infection. Lau is 58 years old.

In order to bring “an element of fun, happiness and peace of mind to those affected” by the coronavirus epidemic, Modern Sky, China’s largest music festival promoter and indie label, is streaming past editions of its Strawberry Music Festival to people who have been forced to stay at home during the Lunar New Year holiday to avoid catching and spreading the virus.

Hundreds of concerts and other events have been cancelled in China in the wake of the virus’ spread, so Modern Sky wanted to entertain shut-ins. 

Starting Feb. 4, the promoter streamed past performances from Strawberry Festivals in Beijing, Shnaghai, Wuhan (where the outbreak originated) and Changchun on China’s busiest anime, comics and games website, Bilibili. 

In addition to video of these older performances, some famous Chinese artists also live-streamed performances on the platform. In an interview with IQ magazine, Ryan Zhang, the general manager of International Business at Modern Sky, said, “This is a difficult time for many and so we’re streaming content from previous Strawberry Music Festivals, and some of our artists are broadcasting from their own homes with the message, ‘Hi, I’m at home, too’.”

The content continued for five days, six hours a day. “It is not a profit-making endeavour,” said Zhang. 

One music fan who watched the streaming content told KrAsia that she appreciated the idea, but that “most of the performances are just prerecorded videos, and I don’t see how this event is centered around the nationwide virus outbreak, except for staying at home. Even offering a way to donate would be better.”

As it stands, KrAsia estimates that Modern Sky is bound to lose more than 150 million yuan ($21.5 million) due to the epidemic. 

Katy Perry sent a message of solidarity to the people of China in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic. 

The message was sent via the director-general of the World Health Organization over Twitter. In the message, Perry wrote, “Hi everyone in China. It’s Katy Perry. I just wanted to send a message to you, to let you know that we are all with you during this time. 

“Keep fighting and stay healthy and positive as best as you can. We are thinking of you. We are sending our prayers, and we’re going to get through this.”

Perry was recently made an ambassador of the British Asian Trust, a charity that works to prevent human trafficking in Asia. 

In her capacity as ambassador, she said, “I hope I can help shine my light on the work that the British Asian Trust will be doing in South Asia, and to be a part of finding solutions to child-trafficking. Children are vulnerable and innocent and have to be protected.”

A cavernous 400-year-old underground stone quarry is Japan’s latest addition to its wide array of electronic music venues. 

Currently housing a history museum dedicated to the mining of oya granite, a prized building material, the quarry will be the setting for the first every Enso Festival for Sonic and Visual Arts, which will take place April 10-11 in Utsunomiya, a regional capital about 2 hours north of Tokyo. 

The festival promoter, Reiten, says that over the years the quarry has become a popular destination for events owing to its unique acoustics and visually stunning appearance. 

The festival will feature two stages, a Cave Listening Stage for club and dance acts, and the Underground Stage, which features experimental acts. The lineup so far includes both Japanese and international artists. 

City Limits magazine reports that Tommy Tomita, a Japanese jazz aficionado who was instrumental in building cultural bridges between Japan and New York City starting in the 1980s, died in a New York hospital on Jan. 11. He was 80 years old.

Tomita, an Olympic athlete, owned a jazz club in the Roppongi District of Tokyo which became the launching pad for many of Japan’s most celebrated jazz artists. 

In 1985, he moved to New York and started helping Japanese musicians gain performing jobs at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, while at the same time giving guided tours to Japanese visitors of Harlem, which at the time was virtually unknown in Japan.

In line with this work he established the Harlem Japanese Gospel Choir with the help of several churches in Harlem. He also became a board member of the Apollo Theater, and brought a number of American musicians and dancers to Japan in later years. 

In 1994, he became the first Asian recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Excellence Award. Tomita was also the author of several books in Japanese about Harlem and New York City.