【VIDEO】Arche | Les Miserables Community Choir Member: The Voice of Passion and Guilt
Arche is a 28-year-old store manager who sings in a community choir that performs Les Miserables. Without any musical background and training, Arche hopes to use his imperfect voice to bring HongKongers love and hope.
“A sentence is probably too short, but a song gives enough time and room to bring a lot of memories to people and that brings people together.”
When I sing, it's passion, but there is also a hint of guilt.
I feel a little bit ashamed and guilty. Had we done more five years ago during the Umbrella Movement, perhaps these youngsters nowadays wouldn’t have needed to suffer so much.
I've zero musical experience or training. I just like singing. My friend was part of the Les Miserables music group, and he told me about the second round of applications, so I applied to join the choir.
The choir performs songs from the musical Les Miserables, which tells the story of how the French fought for freedom and democracy. This battle has many similarities with Hong Kong’s anti-extradition movement. We organise community concerts in different neighbourhoods. One time we performed at the Velodrome in Tseung Kwan O*, the location of some of the major turning points during the anti-extradition protests.
It’s not the only time our choir called off the shows as we also pulled the plug because one of our performances clashed with a planned rally. We don’t want to distract people from the bigger movement with our concerts so we would rather put aside our shows and focus on the movement.
When I perform, I hope my singing hits home with the audience, and brings them warmth and hope.
I think our music is a soft ray of light. The protests have lasted for over half a year. It’s normal for people to feel a bit deflated, lost, or even exhausted, but the movement won’t stop just because you’re tired. There needs to be some positive energy to give people some support, and this is a great opportunity.
Sometimes that kind of energy brings me to tears myself.
I’ve actually cried so many times, but whenever I finish crying, I feel relieved as if I’ve unloaded some heavy feelings that I can’t describe with words. I can then feel like I can move on and go forward.
I think the lyrics are like patches of colour that eventually form a painting, a vivid one that tells a story. Music plays a big role in not only Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, but in any other movement. I believe music is a way to document what has happened, and what goes down in history. Music can be easily passed down for generations. It also connects people easily in a movement. A sentence is probably too short, but a song gives enough time and room to bring a lot of memories to people and that brings people together.
Glory to Hong Kong is a great example.
Many people dub that protest song as the city's "anthem."
My message to all HongKongers is: “Persist, HongKongers. Really, persist.”
“I am Arche, I am a HKer.”
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*Alex Chow, a university student, died after falling from a carpark in Tseung Kwan O in November. A planned concert was cancelled after his death. Chow’s passing sparked a wave of fresh protests in the city and saw an escalation in violence and anger against the Hong Kong police.