苦樂參半 Bittersweet(旅途)
人生的轉折點剛好都在暑假期間醞釀
2018 年的夏天我離開了四年的全職工作
在準備移居到東馬之前,先給自己放了個長假
首先是去英國的夏令營,然後到巴爾幹半島
再到愛丁堡藝穗節,最終搭火車越過威爾斯回到倫敦
人生的轉折點剛好都在暑假期間醞釀
2018 年的夏天我離開了四年的全職工作
在準備移居到東馬之前,先給自己放了個長假
首先是去英國的夏令營,然後到巴爾幹半島
再到愛丁堡藝穗節,最終搭火車越過威爾斯回到倫敦
旅行時我稀少創作
好讓身心靈能百分百投入於旅程當下
避免為了“需要創作”這件事情而分心
「Bittersweet」是目前唯一的例外
她是在威爾斯開始下筆的
也許是已接近假期的尾聲
也或許是威爾斯的美景和氛圍造就了她
又或者是那裡的人說話腔調有如在歌唱
啊~我去了才知道原來他們是雙語國家呢
我在威爾斯乘搭了蒸汽火車
從 Caernarfon 到 Porthmadog
那近兩百年歷史的鐵路可是世上最古老的窄軌鐵路
我最喜歡慢慢行駛的火車了
可以穿越一般道路不能通過的地方
我也喜歡火車裡的空間感
以及相似於走路的平行視線


Porthmadog 那站結束後,原本該轉搭另一列火車的
但不知什麼緣故取消了,唯有搭公車到下一站
距離下一趟(也是最後一趟)公車,需要等一兩個小時
於是我就在以上的綠色車站嘗試完成 Bittersweet 的歌詞


威爾斯是非常漂亮的地方
除了首都以外,其他小鎮還不至於太商業化
一些當地人更希望能保持這樣的狀態
甚至希望我們能將這個地方保密~呵呵
其中一位是我在 YHA 遇到的另一名獨立旅人
她已是七十幾歲的阿嬤了!生活還蠻有趣的
她丈夫近期過世以後,有另一位阿公對她有興趣
雖然對他也有點好感,終究卻拒絕了他
因為她不想為了要有個伴
而把剩餘的人生花在照顧另一個人身上
她希望能趁自己可以享用長者福利(如:免費交通和住宿)
去旅行,並追求自己的快樂於夢想
她每一年都會為自己實現這個承諾,即便是兒女不放心


離職後那段期間,對於未來的日子其實有點迷茫
她的故事更讓我思考人生、快樂與夢想這件事
我想,想要一個平衡的生活
Bittersweet(苦樂參半)是不可缺的一部份吧
2010 年我一個人到墾丁體驗春天吶喊
某天我在星巴克霸佔了一張 4-6 人座(其他位子都滿了)
後來小人國老師和他的樂團過來一起坐
聊天後才發現他們是「輕鬆玩樂團」(天啊~)
我聽過他們的歌,但主唱不在所以認不出…
於是我們就這樣認識了
之後在新加坡和台灣都有碰面
在陪我巡演的樂手當中,我認識老師最久
卻沒有一起玩過(他可是超級無敵專業的樂手啊)
自己的水平到哪裡心知肚明…(苦笑)
所以剛開始並不敢問
但後來還是覺得貝斯很重要,於是就厚著臉皮碰碰運氣問了他
他居然答應了~(撒花)
然後也很感謝 Stephen 願意提早飛到台灣
資源有限的關係,原本我們只約好台北那場
可我又知道璞石咖啡館有很棒的三角琴
如果不把握機會演奏她,會留下很大的遺憾
於是還是跪求他幫忙兼顧鋼琴和鼓的部份(當然不是同時玩兩個樂器… )
我覺得有為演出增添色彩,超強的~
其實從一開始就很信任他們倆
之前已為大馬一連串的巡演排練了好幾次
所以跟 Stephen 搭配還行
在他的家確認台灣的演出形式加以練習後
我們就把完整的排練過程錄製下來
然後連同 Demo 發給小人國老師聽,再透過簡訊溝通
我很佩服他們有能力抓到所有歌曲的感覺
在花蓮演出的前夕
Stephen 從吉隆坡飛過來,老師從基隆開車過來
我們到夜市見面逛逛
然後到了演出當天
我們憑著互相的信任、聆聽和技巧(主要是他們的…呵呵)
順利完成演出
我們更不約而同地錄製當天的演出,所以就有了三個不同的鏡頭
以上的視頻就這樣誕生了,好妙~
如果有選擇的話,最好是可以排練
但當我們不能做到這一點(巡演很常見吧)
就必須想辦法克服這些挑戰
這對我來說是非常有趣的經歷
全歸功於小人國老師和 Stephen 這麼棒的夥伴~
另外要特別感謝:
璞石咖啡館,武訓哥給我演出的機會
他們甚至提供住宿和早餐(感動)
負責音響的小瑩老師白天還在田裡工作超酷的呢
然後如果沒有現場觀眾的話,我們也只能自己玩自己爽罷了~
I first met Yan (bassist) 10 years ago at the Spring Scream Music Festival in Taiwan. I was sitting at a 4-6 seat table at Starbucks because that was the only space available. He and his bandmate joined my table a bit later. I didn’t recognise them initially as their vocalist wasn’t there, but as we talked, I found out they were from Relax-ONE, a pretty well known band which I was actually familiar with. After we parted ways, we bumped into each other again and exchanged contacts. Subsequently, we met a couple of times in Singapore and Taiwan.
Among the musicians who accompanied me during this tour, I’ve known Yan the longest, but we’d never spoke about playing together before this. He’s a full time professional musician on a whole different level. He plays for huge events, does recording for established artists and stuff. I was aware of my own (ahem) standards, but I really wanted to have the bass to complement the performance, so I invited him to join us even though it was nerve-wracking. To my surprise, he agreed, and I’m so glad I asked!
I’m really grateful for Stephen as well. At first, due to budget constraints, the plan was to only perform together for the show in Taipei, but he decided to make an earlier trip to Taiwan, and that’s how we got to meet up in Hualien (where the performance in the video occurred). I knew that Cafe Jade had an awesome grand piano, so I begged him to play both the piano and the drums (not both together, haha, one at a time). He did well, the piano enhanced the performance.
Somehow I knew I could trust both of them. With Stephen, we had experience working together, and we managed to rehearse for this particular setup while we were in Malaysia. We practiced and recorded our full rehearsal and sent them to Yan a month before, then communicated with him through text messages. I was impressed by their ability to capture the mood of my songs.
The day before the performance, Stephen flew in from KL and Yan drove over from Keelung. We hung out at the night market. Finally the time came and we performed together. During the performance, the trust, skillsets (mainly theirs, lol), and active listening between the three of us combined, resulting in the video above.
If there’s a choice, we MUST rehearse. But when we can’t, which is pretty common on the road, we need to get creative to overcome these challenges. This was an extremely fun experience for me, thanks to Yan and Stephen for being such good partners in crime.
Special thanks to the venue for giving me the opportunity to perform, and they even provided accommodation and breakfast (touched cry). Fun fact, the sound engineer is a farmer during the day! Last but not least, we truly appreciate the audience who came and listened to us. Without them we syok sendiri only. Hah.
2013年英國的夏天,我終於鼓起勇氣到歐洲背包旅行
“Summer’s Day” 記錄的是這一段啟程
於是很自然地,它成了專輯裡的第一首歌
當時剛畢業,還有剩餘的時間和儲蓄
收集資料後,就戰戰兢兢地徵求老爸的同意
很意外地他居然鼓勵我能去多遠就去多遠
不過為了不讓家人操心,我沒告訴他我一個人去…
認真地想想
要去到一個只剩下你一個人的地方,應該很難吧?
其實那段時間也經歷了一些事(以後有機會再說)
而比較要好的朋友們剛好都回鄉了
心想與其在宿舍裡悶悶不樂,不如去看看這世界
旅程就是這樣開始的
先在這裡分享一些有關 “Summer’s Day” 的趣事吧~
一、七大洋
記得小時候常被中文的“七大洲五大洋”
和英文的 Seven Seas 兩個說法給弄糊塗
究竟是有多少個大洋啊…
我目前已跨越了五個
其餘兩個希望有朝一日能在探訪南美和北極後完成~
二、夕陽(上圖)
在德國呆了一個月,熟悉了背包旅行的步調後
就趁搭火車到下一站:鄰國捷克的首都布拉格
那裡是我去過最漂亮和具藝術氣氛的城市之一
歌詞裡的夕陽指的並不是海邊,而是伏爾塔瓦河河邊
我當時坐在凳子上,望著著名的查理大橋
以及城堡背後的夕陽,心裏特別平靜和滿足
我想紀錄的正是那段短暫又美好的場景
三、海風琴
歌曲中 2:15 的音效並不是一般的海浪聲
它是來自克羅地亞扎達爾的海風琴的聲音片段
海風琴的演奏者是大自然本身
當海水拍打岸邊的水泥石階時
石階下的風琴管道在空氣受到擠壓之下
透過岸上的孔洞發出聲響
管道的音律特別調成了該國傳統音樂 – 克拉帕的兩個主要和弦
建築物與大自然經過人類精心設計和創意
共同譜出了如此巧妙的傑作~
四、中世紀風笛
“Summer’s Day” MV 裏有一支樂隊演奏著中世紀的風笛
地點就在布拉格廣場
樂隊的名稱是 Bohemian Bards(波希米亞吟遊詩人)
五、第五個版本
這首歌包含我在內已經歷了四個人五種不同的編曲!
看看你是否能在歌曲/MV中到找到以上的趣事
It was pretty obvious that “Summer’s Day” had to be the first song in the album, simply because I started backpacking around Europe during Summer 2013. I had finished my studies in the UK, the graduation ceremony was a few months away, so I thought why not make full use of my time and savings before my student visa expires.
After doing some research, I asked for my dad’s permission. To my surprise, he approved and encouraged me to “go as far as I can”. Well, I may have left out the details about travelling alone… But to be fair, if you think about it, one is never really alone in this world, right?
What really pushed me out of my comfort zone was when all my close friends in the UK had returned to their hometowns/countries that summer. I was also going through a tough-ish time, which may have involved a heartbreak, I’ll save the story for my later posts. For now, I thought I’d share some fun facts about the song!
#1 Seven seas
I’d “only” flown across five oceans – Arctic, North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Hope to visit South America and Antartica in the future to complete the list! Did you know that “seven seas” was an ancient term used by sailors? It’s now known as “seven oceanic bodies of water”.
#2 Sunset (top photo)
After spending a month in Germany, and getting used to the rhythm of backpacking, I proceeded to my next stop – Prague in Czech Republic. It was one of the most picturesque and artistic cities I’ve ever been to. I was so content at one point, that moment lingered in my head for a long time. The sunset in the song was actually referring to that moment. It was not by the beach, but rather by the Vtlava river (longest river in Czech Republic) near the historic Charles Bridge, while admiring the Prague Castle.
#3 Sea Organ (Morske Orgulje by Nikola Basic)
You might have heard the subtle waves in the middle of the song at 2:15. It was not just another random sound effect. In fact, it was the actual sound footage of the Sea Organ in Zadar, Croatia. The Sea Organ is a musical instrument performed by nature itself. The movement of waves pushes air through the organ pipes located underneath the marble steps, and make them whistle. The pipes are tuned to two major key chords to evoke the harmonies of Dalmatian klapa music. What a masterpiece when architecture and nature combine!
#4 Medieval Bagpipes
You may come across a band performing with medieval bagpipes in an old town in “Summer’s Day”’s music video. It was in Prague, and the band is called Bohemian Bards.
#5 Versions
This song has gone through five different versions of arrangement with four different people, me included!
See if you can spot the things I’ve mentioned above in the lyrics/sound/footage!
