John Lee Yiu-shing
Above an abandoned factory in Kwai Fong - all cracked plaster and devil's teeth grilles - a musician is hard at work. But he doesn't insist on quiet. Quite the opposite.
Percussionist John Lee spends up to four hours a day practising in the bare rehearsal room. A bewildering variety of frame drums, including Irish bodhrans, Egyptian roiqs and Moroccan tar drums, are strewn across the floor. It's just the kind of space you would picture a reclusive musician inhabiting. Still, doesn't he feel a little isolated?
'I don't feel too much interest in this world,' says the 39-year-old teacher and performer. 'This world is crazy; always bad. I know it sounds stupid, but I like to just hide and practise and go deeper into the sound.'
It's hard to imagine how much deeper he could go. An accomplished pianist, dancer and accompanist, Lee began to teach himself the instrument 13 years ago after seeing someone playing a frame drum on TV.
'Before that, I would never have used the word 'elegant' to describe drumming, I would have said it was exciting, full of impact, loud or fast,' he says. 'But even though it's just one instrument, the frame drum has many sounds. It turns something very complicated into something very simple, but for other drums it goes the other way and turns something simple into something complicated.'
Such is the inner connection Lee feels with his instrument that he has devoted himself solely to drumming during the past five years. As he demonstrates his '99 per cent self-taught skills', it's easy to see why. With his fingers flying - sometimes sliding across the skin of the drum, sometimes scratching it like vinyl - he sounds as if he has an entire drum kit at his disposal.
There's something almost monk-like about the quasi-religious deference with which Lee talks about his music.
'I just don't believe human beings can ever communicate - I mean really communicate,' he says. 'But music is bigger than us, higher than us. If you believe in what you do then good things will come. Of course, drumming won't take you to heaven, but indirectly your life will be more harmonised.'
John Lee Frame Drum Ensemble Concert, Jul 29, 30, 8pm, Hong Kong City Hall Theatre, $120. Inquiries: 2734 9009
