Ku Ka-fai
Ku Ka-fai, a famous Hong Kong music master, is one of the most important creators of Cantonese pop music (CantoPop) and is known as the godfather of the Hong Kong music scene.
Gu Jiahui was originally from Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province (now Suzhou). He was born in Guangzhou in 1931. In 1948, his family moved to Hong Kong and settled there. He initially lived with his sister Gu Mei in a wooden house area in Kowloon, living in poverty. He worked in a foreign company's laboratory during the day and attended night school at night. Gu Mei became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Due to the influence of her sister, Gu Jiahui gradually became interested in music.
In the late 1950s, Gu Jiahui worked as a pianist in the Cactus Nightclub and a nightclub in Tung Ying House in Wan Chai, and formed a small band, the name of the band was "Gu Jiahui Big Band". In 1961, after hearing Gu Jiahui's performance in a nightclub, the president of the Berklee College of Music in Boston took the initiative to apply for a scholarship for him and invited him to further his studies. This also received Shaw's strong support and Funded, Gu Jiahui went to the United States and received a two-year music training course. During his further studies in the same year, Gu Jiahui participated in the composition competition of the movie "Unbreakable Love" with his work "Dream". He stood out and became the episode of the film. This was also his first appearance in the music world. After returning from his studies in 1963, Gu Jiahui began composing, arranging, and scoring work for film companies such as Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest. In 1965, 1967, and 1977, he starred in "Wanhua Welcomes Spring", "When Will You Come Again" and "Autumn". "Xia" won the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Music three times and is still the musician with the most awards. Other outstanding film works at that time include "Song of Tomorrow", "Tomorrow's End", "Little Skylark", etc.
In 1967, Wireless TV Station started broadcasting. At the invitation of Cai Heping, Gu Jiahui joined the TV station and was responsible for composition and music planning. In 1973, Koo Ka-fai was invited by TV director Wang Tianlin to compose the theme song for the wireless TV series "Laughter". The song set off a craze for Cantonese pop music and is considered the pioneer of Cantonese pop music together with Xu Guanjie's "Ghost Horse Double Star". Since then, Gu Jiahui has created many popular TV series theme songs and interludes, among which the songs from the series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Shanghai Beach", and "Love is Always Love" are the most well-known to mainlanders. In 1981, Gu Jiahui, who was already well-known in the music scene, went to the United States again to study music for six months, studying electronic music, twelve-note series, etc., and made further progress. There are many lyricists who collaborate with him, among which Huang Zhan collaborates with him the most, and the two of them are collectively known as "Hui Huang". In 1998 and 2000, Gu Jiahui and Huang Zhan held two concerts, inviting many talented singers, and the response was unprecedented. Later, they also led many talented singers to perform on stage in Guangzhou, the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia.
Gu Jiahui has a large number of works, more than 1,100 of which have been registered in CASH (Composers and Lyricists Association of Hong Kong), and are quite diverse, including TV songs, movie songs, songs in collaboration with singers, and children's songs. There are also various advertising jingles.
Appendix 1: List of major honors received by Gu Jiahui
1965 Golden Horse Award for Best Musical for a Musical "Ten Thousand Flowers Welcome Spring"
1966 Asian Film Festival Best Film The song "Flower Song" from "Flowers"
Golden Horse Award for Best Music Award for the movie "When Will You Come Again"
1975 Hong Kong Composition Co-organized by TVB and Japan's Yamaha Foundation of Music Competition winner "Laughing Haha"
1977 Golden Horse Award for Best Non-Musical Music "Qiuxia"
1981 Radio Hong Kong and CASH jointly organized the "Highest Honor Award" for the top ten Chinese golden songs ( (Predecessor of the Golden Needle Award)
RTHK and CASH jointly organized the Best Chinese Pop Song Award "Forget My Heart"
1982 The Commonwealth Government awarded the M.B.E. Order
1985 TVB "Eighteen Years Theme Golden Song Award"
1987 Hong Kong Commercial Radio "Most Contributive Composer" Award
TVB Golden Song "Honorary Award"
1990 Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Music for "Terracotta Warriors"
1997 CASH "Music Achievement Award"
1998 "Bronze Bauhinia Medal" awarded by the Hong Kong SAR Government
2002 Golden Melody Silver Honor Award
2005 Pepsi Music Chart Lifetime Achievement Award
Appendix 2: List of major works
Laughter Karma gt; Gu Jiahui Music gt; lyrics by Ye Shaodegt; sung by Xin Duola
Iron-Blooded Heartgt; music by Gu Jiahuigt; lyrics by Deng Weixionggt; sung by Luo Wen and Zhen Ni
Thousands of rivers and mountains are always lovegt; Gu Jiahui Music gt; Lyrics by Deng Weixionggt; Sing by Wang Mingquan
Shanghai Tanggt; Music by Gu Jiahuigt; Lyrics by Huang Zhangt; Singing by Ye Liyi
Forget the Love in My Heartgt; Music by Gu Jiahuigt; Huang Zhan Lyrics gt; performed by Ye Zhentang
Liang Wangyanshuili gt; music by Gu Jiahui gt; lyrics by Huang Zhangt; sung by Guan Zhengjie and Guan Juying
Thousands of Rivers and Mountains gt; music by Gu Jiahui gt; lyrics by Huang Zhan gt; Guan Zhengjie sings
Little Li Fei Dao gt; Gu Jiahui's song gt; Lu Guozhan's lyrics gt; Luo Wen sings
Struggle gt; Gu Jiahui's song gt; Huang Zhan's lyrics gt; Zhen Ni sings
Love and Loyalty gt; music by Gu Jiahui gt; lyrics by Deng Weixionggt; sung by Zhang Delan
Chu Liuxianggt; music by Gu Jiahuigt; lyrics by Huang Zhan and Deng Weixionggt; sung by Zheng Shaoqiu
Tonight's Nightgt; Music by Gu Jiahuigt; Lyrics by Huang Zhangt; Singing by Chen Jialing
Chinghua Chunmenggt; Music by Gu Jiahuigt; Lyrics by Deng Weixionggt; Singing by Wang Mingquan
Love of the Yeargt ;Music by Gu Jiahuigt; Lyrics by Huang Zhangt; Sung by Leslie Cheung
Who Can Changegt;Music by Gu Jiahuigt; Lyrics by Zheng Guojianggt;Sung by Alan Tam
Heart Debt gt;Music by Gu Jiahuigt; Huang Zhanci gt; Anita Mui singing
Open categories:
China, pop music, Hong Kong, composer