Monthly Archives: January 2005

“Gung Haggis Fat Choy” – the CBC TV special will be re-broadcast on Feb 9th – Chinese New Year Day

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Great News today!
"Gung Haggis Fat Choy" will be re-broad cast at 7pm on Feb 9th, 2005.  This is the special
that recieved 2 Leo Award nominations - for best musical / variety show, and for best direction musical / variety show.

This is a great show that features The Paper Boys, Silk Road Music, George Sapounidis, Joe McDonald &
Brave Waves. Neil Grey also performed "Address to a Haggis" and my friend LaLa sang "Auld Lang Syne" with Brave Waves.

Myself, my parents, my grandmother, my girlfriend and my friends were all featured in a segment for Chinese New Year dinner.
Very Cool!  Check out my reviews and impressions of the first broadcasts the filmings

The official CBC press release from 2004 went something like:

CBC TELEVISION
GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY 
A QUIRKY CULTURAL CELEBRATION

Explore the curious fusion of two cultural traditions, Chinese New Year and
Robbie Burns Day, in Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a half-hour performance special
featuring fusion performances from West coast artists. The special captures the
essence of Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year
Dinner, a celebration started by Vancouver's Todd Wong to salute his
Scottish/Chinese heritage. 

Performances include Celtic fusion band The Paperboys with special guest Jian
Ming Pan, award-winning ensemble Silk Road Music, Ottawa-born Chinese singing
sensation George Sapounidis with the Vancouver Academy of Dance, and world beat
"fusicians" Brave Waves.
http://vancouver.cbc.ca



Todd appears on CBC Radio's “North by Northwest”: Chan Legacy Project

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I visited radio host Sheryl MacKay in her North By Northwest
studio early on Sunday morning.  Upon my arrival, Sheryl greeted
me, and I was amazed to see that she was the only person on the
floor.  No production assistants.  Nobody.  Sheryl does
it all.  She is an amazing woman.

“You brought Show-and-tell!” she exclaimed when
she saw the large package I was carrying.  I had brought archival
pictures of my family history, as I was being interviewed out my
upcoming presentation for the January 22 A Taste of History Fair,
organized by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC.  This event will be held from 10am to 4:30pm and will be at the Vancouver Museum on Chestnut Street.

 

My Great Great Grandfather
Rev. Chan Yu Tan and Mrs. Chan Yu Tan (seated), second from the right
is my Great Grandmother Kate Chan Lee(standing). On the far right
is her husband Ernest Lee, my Great Grandfather.

I opened up the package and spread the poster cards out
along the floors and walls of the CBC radio studio, explaining which
one was my  Great great grandfather, the Rev. Chan Yu
Tan. His elder brother Rev. Chan Sing Kai had arrived in 1888 at
the request of the Methodist Church of Canada to help found the Chinese
Methodist Church in Vancouver.  My great great
grandfather had followed his brother from Hong Kong to Canada in
1896, their two missionary sisters Phoebe and Naomi came later.

Here was a picture of Grand uncle Luke
who became an actor in Hollywood.  Here was my mother's cousin
Rhonda Larrabee who became First Nations Chief of the Qayqayt (New
Westminster) Band with her grand children who are now only 1/8
Chinese.  Here is my grandmother's cousin Carol who married the
cousin of just former Washington State Governor Gary Locke.  Here
is my grandmother's eldest brother who married the aunt of Canada's
Governor General Adrienne Clarkson.  Not all descendents of Rev.
Chan Yu Tan – but related through marriages to the family.

We had a great chat – it was warm, just like
Sheryl's voice – warm, velvety and reassuring.  Perfect for Sunday
morning radio.  The time passed quickly, and before the show
ended, Sheryl asked me to put on my other hat and tell the radio
audience about Gung Haggis Fat Choy events – the poetry reading with
Fred Wah, and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner on January 30th.  I
shall try to make a transcription of the show in the days to come.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night at Vancouver Public Library – tomorrow!

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World Poetry and Gung Haggis Fat Choy come together for one night –
January 17th,
 7:30pm at the Vancouver Public Library – Central
Branch – Alice McKay Room.  350 Georgia St. Vancouver.

Check out our fabulous GHFC World Poetry Poster

At 7:30pm bagpiper Joe McDonals will
“pipe” the performers into the Alice MacKay room at the Vancouver
Public Library, Central Branch.  The evening of poetry and music
will include singalongs, some poetry by Robert Burns and references to
Chinese New Year.  We blend together Canadian contemporary poets
born in Scotland, China, or of Chinese or Scottish ancestry.  Gung
Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night addresses what came before, what is
in-between and what is beyond.

Fred Wah is our featured poet –
retired University of Calgary English Professor and winner of the
Governor General's Award for Poetry for his prose poem collection
“Waiting for Sasketchewan.  Fred says his father was
Scottish/Irish/Chinese – Canadian and his mother was Swedish-Canadian.

Joe McDonald is our featured musician – bagpiper and leader of the ethno-fusion band Brave Waves. Joe
and Brave Waves were featured last year in the CBC TV special “Gung
Haggis Fat Choy.”  Joe is also a fascinating contemporary
singer/songwriter.

Dugald Christie is an activist
lawyer and champion of human writes.  He was born in Scotland and
writes poetry in Canada.  In February he will be given a life-time
achievement award by the World Poetry Society.

Shirley Sue-A-Quan is a writer, and
poet, born in China – she also writes for local Chinese language
newspapers.  She brings an insightful global vision to her work.  She
is married to writer Trev Sue-A-Quan, born in Guyana, who was featured
at last year's inaugural Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night, as
well as the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.

And… there will be a poems and words from co-hosts Toddish McWong, Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea.  A specially composed original group poem will also be presented for the evening…

…and maybe a surprise!

Gung Haggis Fat Choy™ 2005 preview of performers

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Preview of Performers for Gung Haggis Fat Choy™ 2005

The musical performers are planning their presentations and creating some
great surprises.  Here's a sneak peak at who's coming.


Shelagh Rogers and Tom Chin will co-host with me.  Shelagh is known to millions of people across Canada as the voice of CBC Radio's “Sounds Like Canada.” 
Shelagh first interviewed me about Gung Haggis Fat Choy in 2003, and
she has wanted to come ever since.  Tom Chin is known as the voice
of that funny Chinese Canadian comic in crazy costumes and a regular
host of Asian Comedy Night for Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre.


Fred Wah
is our poet for the evening, that would make Robbie Burns proud. 
Fred is a winner of the Governor General's Award for Poetry, and writer
of over 17 published books. Fred says that his father was
Scottish-Irish-Chinese-Canadian and his mother was Swedish.


Joe McDonald & Brave Waves,
perennial Gung Haggis Fat Choy performers.  Q: What do you get
when you cross bagpipes with Indian tabla drums + other musical
instruments? A: Braves Waves!  Joe has also appeared with me on
CBC Radio's “The Round Up,” and “Sounds Like Canada” and was featured in the CBC TV special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy.


Opera Soprano Heather
Pawsey,
says of her participation at 2004 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner –
“It was a hoot!”  as she sang songs in old Gaelic and Mandarin
Chinese.  She also changed costumes from a very smart long dress
tartan and vest outfit to a very sexy red Chinese cheong-sam. 
While spending Christmas in Sasketchewan, her mother bought her a new
outfit to wear for Gung Haggis Fat Choy!  For 2005, she will again
sing in Mandarin + sing an opera song set in Scotland.

Dr. Jan Walls
is by day a university professor and director of the David See Lai Lam
Centre for International Communications.  Other times he is a
masterful storyteller of clappertales – a kind of Chinese “rapping”
from the village markets.  Last year he had to give up Gung Haggis
Fat Choy for an invitation by Yo-Yo Ma to perform for his Silk Roads Project at the Peabody Essex Museum in Boston.  We are happy to have Jan this year and that we don't have to compete with Yo-Yo Ma.


Karen Wong & Zhongxi Wu with friends Alex Chisolm & Carmen Rosen. Karen and Zhongxi are the core of Dragon River Shadow Puppet Theatre
and became Gung Haggis-ified when they performed with Todd for First Night
Vancouver on Dec. 31, 2004 for 2 packed and enthusiastic shows. 
Karen was born in Montreal and raised in North Vancouver, she plays the
sheng
– a unique 2000 year old 13 reed wind blown organ made of bamboo
pipes.  Zhongxi aka “Jonesey”, born in Harbin, China, plays the
suona – a loud reed flute, and two years ago, he took up
BAGPIPES!  Now add to the mix their celtic musician friends
Alex Chisolm and Carmen Rosen and anything can happen!

LaLa
is a contemporary East-West hip hop artist.  She has a wonderful
soulful voice and has just released an album called Night Angles as a
duo called Jell.  LaLa was seen in the CBC TV special “Gung Haggis
Fat Choy” singing Auld Lang Syne with Brave Waves.

Veera devi
Khare is a classically trained Soprano and recently created her show titled A Touch of Opera, A Touch of India.
She also writes and performs her own hip hop music, and performs
Broadway songs in addition to classical music.  Recently CBC Radio
featured Veera in a music show called “A Fine Cabaret” to celebrate the
radio dramatization of Rohinton Mistry's novel “A Fine Balance”.  Veera
stole the show!


Vincent and Cameron Collins,
are the incredible high-stepping Highland Dancing brothers that have
won awards everywhere they go.  Cameron this year alone, won the
US Western Open, Canadian Western Open, and BC Closed
Championships.  And he placed in the top 15 in Open at the World
Championships in Scotland this year – his first as an adult.  Last
year, he placed 3rd runner up in Junior Divison.