"Time" magazine pays tribute to Anita

[Ian_Lee]

In the just released "Time" magazine (Asian edition), it paid tribute to Anita Mui:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501040112-570313,00.html

Some excerpts:

They called her the Asian Madonna because, in the ultra-staid world of Hong Kong pop music, her boldness was not just a sensation but an affront. If Madonna was the Material Girl, Anita Mui Yim-fong was the Bad Girl. That was the title of her 1985 hit song (which was briefly banned from radio for its raunchy lyrics) and best-selling album. In concert, Mui was a strutting, scowling presence, exuding sexuality like a visual and aural musk. She didn't simply command the stage; she commandeered it. She set attendance records with concert series in 1987 and 1991, and her 40-plus albums sold more than 10 million copies.

Still, the Madonna analogy limps. For one thing, Mui really could sing. Her sultry alto voice wrapped itself like a python around Canto-pop ballads, giving them a power, precision and, often, a desperation that never begged for pity. She sang of a strong woman's isolation—above, apart, alone. She was not the Madonna of Chinese music, but its Garbo.

And Madonna didn't die at 40. Mui did, last week, of cervical cancer, in an exit as poignant as any of her songs or films.

Most Hong Kong thrushes are sweet vixens. Mui was different. Her large eyes, beaky nose and small, lurid gash of a mouth gave rise to another sobriquet: the Ugly Queen of Pop. That's a harsh way of saying that Mui was a throwback to chanteuse Bai Guang and other Shanghai "sour beauties" of the pre-Mao era. The sour beauty sang of love as a burden that made the sufferer superior. Mui was that survivor: battered but proud.

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[skylee]

Yes.

And it also paid tribute to Leslie Cheung when he died in April 2003. (Both leading actors of the film 胭脂扣 died within 2003. Alas.)

One of the newspaper column writer used this poem to describe Mui. He said that her concert in November 2003 was clearly a protest against her own fate and yet also a farewell to her supporters. (Alas.) People keep talking about her turning her head to say goodbye in a wedding dress in the concert.

I remember when she won her first award at the first 新秀歌唱大賽, I was doing my homework (and watching TV obviously) in the living room. And I was happy that she won because she sang so well.