Lunasy

Ricky Yap

Sept 8: Love. Peace. Tolerance. These are the themes David Tao, Asian King of Rhythm and Blues, hopes to impart to his fans. RICKY YAP writes.


IMPARTING positive messages through his songs is how Taiwanese singer-composer-producer David Tao describes his musical mission.

He likens himself to a preacher giving a sermon. "If the message gets across to just one person, then it's good enough as that individual may spread it to his/her friends," said Tao at a recent Press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Using that analogy, he said the messages in his compositions — espousing love, peace and tolerance — may not reach out to all.

"My music is a reflection of the signs of the times and also about current issues in the world. I hope to send out positive messages to my listeners," said Tao who, unlike his peers, does not conform to the tried-and-tested formula of writing and rendering saccharine-sweet love ballads.

A good attestation of this philosophy is Dear God, a track in his third Mandarin album Black Tangerine, released last year.

The song was written by Tao, 33, after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and it contained a message of love and hope despite its rather sombre introduction.

He slammed recording companies for indirectly contributing to music piracy.

"These firms must not get their popular singers to release many albums a year as fans will resort to purchasing pirated versions to save money,' " said Tao, billed as the Asian King of Rhythm and Blues.

"Not only is quality compromised with the albums coming off one after another but the artistes also face tremendous pressure to deliver.' Though he himself subscribes to the belief of coming out with one album every two years, he has broken tradition by releasing one — albeit a compilation effort — this year.

The 15-track Ultrasound, released in Malaysia on Aug 15 by Music Street, includes four new songs and best cuts from his first three albums: Taoism (first released in 1997), I'm OK (1999) and Black Tangerine (2002).

Tao had a good reason to come out with Ultrasound this year, which was to coincide with his concert tour that kicked off in Hong Kong in mid-August with three shows.

His next stop is at Stadium Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. On the trend of Chinese artistes singing hip-hop in dialects, such as Machi's Hokkien cover of Missy Elliot's Work It (also featuring the original singer on the track), Tao has ambivalent feelings.

"It's great to be doing that kind of music in Hokkien. However, Chinese artistes must not simply do music that resembles hip-hop but instead, try to create their own version, retaining the essence of their origins and culture," said Tao, adding that conveying positive messages is also important with regards to this aspect.

He was born in Hong Kong but moved to Los Angeles, in the United States, in his early years.

At the age of 11, he followed his family to Taipeh, Taiwan and returned to the US a few years later to complete his high school education. He earned a degree in psychology from the University of California in 1991.

A chance meeting with a Taiwanese album producer in Los Angeles led to his recording debut in 1997.


Thanks to rsyg of DavidTao.org for posting this article.
Article from News Strait Time, M'sia