Wong Ka-Kui: Once and Forever

——The Glorious Years of a Spiritual Fighter

Wong Ka-Kui—the soul of the Hong Kong BEYOND band, left on June 24, 1993 It has been 15 years since I left this world. In Wong Ka Kui's short 31-year life, he left behind not only classic music works that are worthy of eternal collection, but also his spirit of eternal pursuit of musical ideals.

I miss Wong Ka Kui because - what was once is also forever.

A Musical Road of No Return

In 1983, Wong Ka Kui and his friends decided to temporarily name their band Beyond, and participated in a guitar competition held by Guitar Magazine and won the "Best Band" Award", and from then on, he embarked on a road of no return in music.

In the mid-1980s, under the influence of European and American pop music, young people in Hong Kong began to form bands. It seems that just overnight, more than 20 bands with guitars appeared on the Hong Kong pop music scene, and Beyond is one of them.

In 1983, Wong Ka Kui, Yip Sai Wing and others who usually played music together temporarily took the band name Beyond and participated in the guitar competition organized by "Guitar Magazine" and won the "Best Band Award". , Huang Jiaju embarked on the road of no return in music. In 1984 and 1985, Wong Ka Kui, Beyond and others began to compose their own songs, but most of them were in English. At that time, it was very rare to perform rock music in Cantonese. In 1985, Chen Shian left and Wong Guanzhong joined. Since then, Beyond has been struggling in the Hong Kong music scene for more than ten years with Wong Ka-kui, Yip Sai Wing, Wong Ka-keung and Wong Guanzhong as members.

In 1998, Beyond once again included the song "Goodbye Ideal" in the album "Secret Police", plus "Earth", "Like You", "Walk Away" and other works, the band of albums have sold more than platinum albums. "Goodbye Ideal" is actually a song with a simple composition and straightforward lyrics. However, it has become a masterpiece in Wong Ka-kui's music career. The reason is very simple, because it is true. "Goodbye Ideal" is Huang Jiaju's spiritual confession when the band Beyond was just starting out and was struggling. It tells the loneliness and helplessness of a singer, and also expresses his determination to fight for rock music to the end. At that time, Wong Ka Kui was persistent: there was a rush of energy in his heart, and he put aside the reality without any worries, as if he had everything around him, and built a barrier with others. However, in the face of the pressure from business operations and the fan base, Wong Ka Kui made a lot of Give in and oscillate between the non-mainstream and the mainstream.

Due to their success in the music industry, Beyond was invited to participate in performances in some films and TV series. However, due to the poor acting skills of the four, they quickly focused on music. Among the films starring Beyond, "Don't Bully the Young and the Poor" has a somewhat autobiographical nature. It shows Wong Ka Kui, Wong Koon Chung, Wong Ka Keung and Yip Sai Wing's initial belief in music and the efforts and sacrifices they made for it. Wong Ka-keung plays a company employee who bravely stands up to fight against his insidious and selfish boss; Wong Koon-chung is a policeman, cautious and cowardly; Yip Sai Wing chooses to study medicine due to family pressure; Wong Ka-kui fights with his family Make money to immigrate. In the end, of course, it was an idealized comedy ending: personal dignity defeated timidity, belief defeated secular tradition, and the four bravely stood on the stage because of their musical ideals. The song "No More Hesitation" opened the door to the beginning of their struggle. prelude.

From "The Great Wall" and "Continuing the Revolution" in 1992 to "Joy and Fury" in 1993, Wong Ka-kui's musical talents have been released unprecedentedly, and their musical performance and connotation have surpassed past works. , under the popular elements of popularity, they paid more attention to people's consciousness, spirit and living conditions. "Endless Emptiness", "Peasant", "Broad Sea and Sky" are the most profound and touching songs in Huang Jiaju's music career. work. They hope to "still be free and sing my songs forever", but Huang Jiaju's death shattered Beyond's ideal.

An idealist’s musical dream

Wong Ka Kui’s life has always seemed to be fulfilling a musical dream. Wong Ka Kui's musical attainments are much higher than everyone imagines. He is an idealist and will always try his best to realize his ideals.

Wong Ka Kui’s life has always been like fulfilling a musical dream.

Huang Jiaju's musical attainments are much higher than everyone thinks. He is an idealist and will always try his best to realize his ideals. It is not difficult to discover Wong Ka Kui's originality and amazing musical talent. Once upon a time, Huang Jiaju was just an ordinary young man. He does not come from a wealthy family nor does he have an artistic atmosphere. It is his extreme love for music that makes him successful.

When Huang Jiaju was a child, he did not have a rich material life, but he had the most common and free life gadgets of ordinary children, flying kites, jumping out of airplanes, catching grasshoppers... After finishing elementary school and middle school, he said that he was reading His grades were very poor, especially in mathematics, and he was often absent from school. After finishing high school, I started working and worked as an office boy, engineering, hardware, TV set decorator, and insurance agent, but each job was short-term.

Ordinary life sparkled because he fell in love with music, and even more because of his perseverance. When he was 12 or 3 years old, influenced by his close friends, Wong Ka Kui began to pay attention to music trends. When Wong Ka Kui recalled his music career, he once said this:

"The first time I saw my favorite idol singer was on a TV program. He was dressed in a unique and unique way. Singing the psychedelic music of the 1970s, my emotions were instantly attracted by his charm. He was David Bowie. David Bowie's "1984" and "Diamond Dog" were shocking, and I thought: He must not be from this earth. . Since then, I have been following him fiercely and searching for his records and posters. Every time I find a precious poster, I feel as if I have found a treasure.

There is no doubt that David Bowie is a magnet. The sound indeed drove thousands of fans crazy at that time. I admit that I was definitely one of those who followed it. It was during the boom period of disco music, and I often stood close to the TV with a small cassette player. Next to the speaker, I record my idol’s new songs or concerts, and even spend money to buy the magazines he covers, and read about the musicians/musicians he collaborates with. For me, I know his background better than the textbook.”

Daivd Bowie-style avant-garde rock influenced Wong Ka-kui’s future musical intentions. Daivd Bowie's unique outfit and magnetic voice shocked Wong Ka Kui's soul and made him have an indissoluble bond with music.

Throughout Wong Ka Kui's works and life, a kind of vigorous power runs throughout, which is different from the "violent" of Grasshopper and the "astringent" of Daming, which should be called broad. Although he also has many delicate love songs and avant-garde works, trying to express various meanings of life through the language of music seems to have become his lifelong responsibility.

The symbol of life for a lonely dreamer

"Boundless Sea and Sky" expresses a state of selflessness and loneliness, reaching the pinnacle of Huang Jiaju's creative life. This song It is not only a reflection of his heart, but also a symbol of life for a lonely dreamer.

Wong Ka-kui once said: "Music creation comes from life. We prefer to pay attention to the trends of the world and bring impact to creation."

The creation in the early 1990s was of great significance to Wong Ka-kui. It is also an important turning point. The Beyond member's trip to Africa allowed him to see the people and things in this famine land, war and peace, oppression and resistance, helplessness and tears. “When I look at the third world, I don’t just look at poverty, but at the changes in the third world and the future of the third world. I take human conscience as the starting point and reflect on people’s actions with sensibility.” “Africa has always given people a gift. The feeling of poverty and backwardness, the material things that we think are insignificant, may become very meaningful materials there. As the world continues to move forward, it is a pity to see their lives stagnating, as long as we are willing to pay a little attention, they can also follow us. Moving towards tomorrow." After his return to Hong Kong, he sang "Amani", which not only spoke about the children who were ravaged by war, but also pointed out the dignity and value of life; and "Glory Days" was specially composed for the black leader Nelson Mandela. While praising Man's family, it also reflects the trend of human unity and the ignorance of war.

Wong Ka-kui's last Beyond album "Happiness and Fury" reached the pinnacle of his creative life. The title song "Boundless Sea and Sky" expresses a state of complete forgetfulness and loneliness, years of pursuit, so much thoughts and dreams, so much love and innocence, traveling in this world of mortals. This song is both a reflection of his inner self and a symbol of life for a lonely dreamer.

Wong Ka-Kui is the musical soul of Beyond

When Hong Kong pop music was on the rise, Wong Ka-Kui used his singing as a spiritual guide for contemporary young people, singing about the injustice of the world and Peace and love... He is the musical soul of BEYOND, there is no doubt about it.

Wong Ka Kui’s music breeds brilliance and contains peace and love. Compared with the nonsense and pretentiousness of the pop music scene at that time, it was indeed a profound revolution.

“The Bible says that the end of the world will come in the year 2000. I think it would be quite exciting if I could see it forever; but when I think about it again, there will be a moment when there will be nothing left on the earth. I thought this was a very boring thing. Looking at the trend of the end of the world in recent years, everyone is just "drunk now", which is undeniably a headache. It’s so rich that it’s really irresistible.