I am frequently staggered by the amount of talent in the human race. A few lucky talented individuals become rich & famous – so many others end up singing in bars for a few beers (or the equivalent). Nowadays, those talented people often end up simply posting their performances to the Internet, and don’t even get a beer.
A case in point is this young Chinese lady (a music teacher in her day job, apparently) who essayed an attempt to merge traditional Chinese opera style with modern music. It may not be to everyone’s taste – but I find it amazing.
The song reflects an incident during Japan’s brutal occupation of China from the 1930s to the end of WWII – an era which is still an unforgotten staple of Chinese movies and TV shows. A Japanese army unit came to the theater where famous actor cum opera singer, Pei Yan Zhi, was based and demanded that he put on a performance for them – or else! During the performance, Pei Yan Zhi suddenly called out “Light the Fire”. The Japanese soldiers found that the exits were blocked. While the theater burned to the ground around actor & audience, Pei Yan Zhi kept on singing – because the show must go on, even to the bitter end.
