words yvonne teh

It started with a song called Dream for the legendary composer of Under the Lion Rock and much, much more...

You might not think it of someone who has been credited with composing over 1,000 – and, according to at least one source, over 2,000 – songs but the legendary Joseph Koo only started composing music when he was in his late 20s. The year was 1960 and, as the now septuagenarian maestro tells bc, “I was a band leader and also a pianist for a nightclub at the time.” However he wanted to do more with music, so when the opportunity came to explore composition in the form of a competition, he – who, early on, lost count of his total output! – came up with his very first song, a number wistfully entitled Dream.

Not long afterwards, Lawrence Berk, the founder and then president of the Berklee College of Music – or, as it was called back then, the Berklee School of Music – paid a visit to Hong Kong. One evening, the American music educator went over to the Cactus Room, the nightclub in the Luk Kwok Hotel where Koo was working, to listen to his piano-playing. “He offered me a scholarship to study in Berklee college for two years,” recalls the composer/arranger.

Although the offer was tempting, Koo initially felt unable to accept it because, as he bluntly explains, “I got not much savings at the time.” But thanks to an influential woman by the name of Mona Fong who “appreciated my talent and told Sir Run Run Shaw about my case”, he was given financial assistance by the entertainment mogul. Sir Run Run paid for Koo’s travel expenses and also unconditionally for the living expenses of Koo’s wife in Hong Kong.

If Sir Run Run ever looked back at that decision in later years, he would have doubtless considered it money well spent. For Koo, who credits his music studies at Berklee with having an influence “mainly on the theory and inspiration” of his musical arrangements, went on to make such a major impact on the local popular music scene that he was bestowed the title ‘The Godfather of Cantopop’. Also, not only did Koo write the score for Bruce Lee movies like The Big Boss and Fist of Fury but he also wrote an amazing number of popular TV theme songs – including, in 1974, the first ever Cantopop theme tune – for Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), Sir Run Run’s TV service, as well as served for several years as its director of music. Or as the super prolific composer rather modestly puts it, “TVB gave me a lot of chances and I wrote a lot of songs for them.”

As can be imagined, numerous TVB hit songs feature in the programme of All-Time Favourites by Joseph Koo, the HK Chinese Orchestra (HKCO) concerts early in January in which Joseph Koo himself will be special guest conductor. New arrangements have been made for many of the old favourites; some, like the theme from Legend of Master So and The Understudy, by the maestro himself.

This series of concerts also will see the world premiere of a new work by Koo which he modestly claims does not have anything noteworthy in the way of new melodies even while having an unusual harmony “to make it special and more playful”. He will also be conducting his Song of the General: Rhapsody at these concerts, all of which should put to rest rumours fuelled by reports published back in July 2004 that he had announced his retirement.

Joseph Koo may spend more time these days in Vancouver, Canada, than in Hong Kong. He may have lost his long-time collaborator, lyricist James Wong, to lung cancer in November 2004. But he himself is still going strong. In his own words: “I never said I want to retire, it’s just a misunderstanding.” It seems, then, that we can continue to expect quite a bit from Cantopop’s Godfather for some time to come!

The HK Chinese Orchestra’s All-Time Favourites by Joseph Koo concerts will take place from January 3 to 5 at the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall. Showtime is 8pm and tickets are $1,000 to $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.