Cantonese Song Remix - DMA1401L01 Spoken Cantonese
By: Yukna on ( Updated: )
This article uses Jyut-ping to transcribe Cantonese!
For the assignment, we are supposed to remix a cantonese song with what we like. There are soo many classics to choose from, and I decided on this:
“Glorious days” (literally: Shining glorious years and months) is a popular song in Hong Kong, over the decades, for its tune, message, and declaration of sovereign identity for Hongkongers. The song reflects on freedom fighter Nelson Mendela, and his struggle as a human descriminated by his skin. Struggling for years, one hopes to one day welcome the glorious years where racism is no longer the norm.
For my remix, I decided to dedicate this to my mother, who I can argue has been the freedom fighter for the glorious years that her kids will welcome. She faced her fair share of descrimination growing up in an Asian society that once was not as kind to darker skin, as well as valued and dichotomously evaluated one’s worth based on the results of rote education. A woman of many talents, she leveraged the support systems of the maturing Singaporean landscape to provide us kids with safe shelter and excellent education. While she garnered the envy of many around her, only she knew the lonely journey growing up, repeatly tripping, and slowly learning the ropes of life.
The song process first started with breaking the original song into its different stanza. I noted the tones of each syllable to follow the pitch changes. It almost exposes itself to be a pentatonic scale, with tones 1,3,6 being the first, third and fifth note from high to low. Tones 2, 4 and 5 glide between them, often touching the second and forth notes. Checked tones (ending with -k/-p/-t) are also important for the prosody.
Next up was finding meaningful phrases. I decided to keep the main line in the chorus (
After that, the scary part comes - singing it. I’m no singer, except maybe at karaoke. I have to admit, I waited for a day when I had a free schedule at home while no one else did. This hambaanglaang site was amazing for generating”musical bars” for each syllable, while this hongkongvision site gave the Jyutping needed to sing them. I also used narakeet to generate a cantonese text-to-speech so that I can listen to how it should or might sound. I also ran through ChatGPT, who was able to scan through the lyrics and summarise the meaning, giving me extra assurance that the remix made sense. ChatGPT was also very reassuring to me, almost fatherly vibes.
After some dry runs, I recorded my voice, over this backing track from YouTube. I then extracted the lyrics file from the video, and swapped it with my lyrics to ensure synchronised timing.
Finally, I could upload it!
I was so shy about it, I got my friend to share it to my mom. 🤭 (
She loved it. She was proud that I could understand her. She played it on repeat, even though I cringed at the sound of my voice. But she was happy, and that makes me happy.
Video
Here’s the lyrics:
Ask:“isn’t it tough to continue like this?” She says,
“Nothings tough under the skies
for those who set their mind”
Childhood to adulthood, folks never supported
So no matter what she’ll support.
Mother sows saplings to let her kids,
Welcome the glorious days,
Fight for a future where one has shade to rest under.
How can one catch cubs without entering the tiger den?
Although the horse died and the remaining journey on foot is long,
She will never give up.
Many force her to give up yet she refused,
She’s self reliant on her two feet,
Like the resurrecting saltfish.
When I get anxious of my life, she says,
Heaven helps whose who helps themselves,
Human or not, only one life,
Childhood to adulthoof, folks never supported
So no matter what she’ll support.
Mother sows saplings to let her kids,
Welcome the glorious days,
Fight for a future where one has shade to rest under.
How can one catch cubs without entering the tiger den?
Although the horse died and the remaining journey on foot is long,
She will never give up.
Mother sows saplings to let her kids,
Welcome the glorious days,
Fight for a future where one has shade to rest under.
How can one catch cubs without entering the tiger den?
Although the horse died and the remaining journey on foot is long,
She will never give up.
Mother sows saplings to let her kids,
Welcome the glorious days,
Fight for a future where one has shade to rest under.
How can one catch cubs without entering the tiger den?
Although the horse died and the remaining journey on foot is long,
She will never give up.