'Reunification strengthened my national identity'
By Teddy Ng (HK Edition)

Internationally acclaimed Hong Kong musician Kam Pui-tat feels a stronger national identity after the SAR reunited with the motherland in 1997. The musician, who composed the 10th anniversary theme song, Just Because You Are Here, said he was proud of being Chinese.

"My identity as a Chinese has strengthened. In gatherings, we usually don't ask other musicians where they come from. It doesn't matter where we are from. Musicians from Hong Kong, the mainland and Taiwan are doing the same thing. We are all Chinese," he said.

Music has removed all the boundaries between the mainlanders, the Hongkongers and even the Taiwanese, Kam said.

Kam was the first Chinese to be presented a Silver Berlin Bear trophy at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival for his work in the movie Isabella.

"I was excited and felt proud of being a Chinese when the announcer read out 'Isabella, Hong Kong, China', and my name," he said.

"I could have stayed in the US and become an Asian American. But I would rather play music about the Chinese and our culture," he added.

Talking about the 10th anniversary theme song, Kam said Hong Kong people had shown a great sense of solidarity and he was deeply moved by their unshakeable faith in the days of crises, especially in the wake of the SARS outbreak.

"I would like to convey this spirit of Hong Kong people through the anniversary theme songs," he said.

Apart from showing a great sense of unity in times of adversity, Hong Kong people also made closer contacts with the mainland over the last 10 years, he said.

The exchanges with mainland musicians gave Kam a "surprising" impression of the nation.

Kam Pui-tat

Born in Hong Kong, Kam moved to the United States when he was 14. He, however, came back to Hong Kong in the 1990s.

In the beginning, he thought that there was nothing special about the mainland musicians. And there was a common notion that the mainlanders are conservative and old-fashioned.

However, his perception had changed after 1997 as more and more musicians from the mainland began performing in Hong Kong and the local movie industry started expanding to the mainland.

"Mainland people are quite open-minded. The mainland musicians will listen to more types of music than I do. I have met some young mainland musicians who are interested in hip hop and English songs, and even put their hip hop demos to the web," he said.

Kam also paid special attention to Beijing Olympics.

He had recently produced a song with other musicians on Olympics, and hoped that the organizing committee would use it.

(HK Edition 06/30/2007 page6)