film – FOOD, FILMS 'N' TINGS

The soundtrack of this seminal Jamaican film was produced by Leslie Kong

ESEA Contemporary is an art gallery in Manchester in the North of England that specializes in presenting and platforming artists and art practices that are informed by East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) cultural backgrounds. It is located in an award-winning building in the Northern Quarter part of the city and it is home to a diverse range of exhibitions, events, and educational programs that explore the unique perspectives and experiences of ESEA artists. ESEA Contemporary was previously known as the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, but it underwent a major rebranding in 2022 to better reflect the diverse range of cultures and identities represented by the artists it works with.

Manchester has a significant Chinese community, and it has been a hub for Chinese immigration to the UK for many years. The city’s Chinatown is one of the largest in Europe, and is home to many restaurants, shops, and cultural institutions. The Chinese community in Manchester is very diverse, with people from different regions of China and different generations, and they have made a significant contribution to the city’s culture and economy. There are also several Chinese community organizations and cultural events, such as the annual Chinese New Year celebrations, which help to promote Chinese culture and traditions in the city.

Chinatown in Manchester under the grey skies

In addition, there has been significant Chinese investment in Manchester in recent years. China has been looking to expand its investment in the UK, and Manchester has been one of the key targets for investment. One of the largest investments has been in real estate development, with Chinese firms investing in luxury apartments, office buildings, and mixed-use developments in the city. Chinese companies have also invested in infrastructure projects, such as transportation and renewable energy, in the Manchester area. There has also been investment in the education sector, with Chinese companies supporting local universities and colleges.

There had also been a significant influx of people from Hong Kong settling in Manchester in recent years. In fact, Manchester is now considered one of the top destinations for Hong Kong migrants in the UK. The UK government has also created a new visa scheme specifically for Hong Kong residents which has made it easier for them to move to the UK, including Manchester and other parts of the North West such as Liverpool, bringing their culture and art with them and enriching their adopted homeland accordingly.

Dinu Li is an artist who was born in Hong Kong and who currently lives and works in Cornwall, UK. He graduated with a degree in photography from Liverpool John Moores University in 2001. Li’s work often explores the intersection of personal and cultural histories, and he works across a range of media, including moving image, photography, installation, and performance. He is particularly interested in how history and memory are constructed and how they can be reinterpreted through art. His work has been exhibited internationally, and he has had significant artistic recognition for his work.

Li is currently exhibiting at ESEA (‘A Phantom’s Vibe’).

The exhibition’s guide pamphlet provides the following background information:-

Li’s work in the exhibition, combines autobiographical allegories with a tapestry of cultural influences. Visitors are taken from the night markets of Hong Kong to the blues parties of Hulme* and Moss Side* via Jamaican recording studios, owned by the descendants of Chinese indentured labourers**. The reggae classic ‘Always Together’ *** runs through the heart of the exhibition, where music becomes a medium for cultures to meet, mix, and become hybrid.

As a child wandering through the working – class districts of Hong Kong, Li overheard ‘ Always Together’*** by Stephen Cheng mistaking it for a Chinese folk classic. Years later, this song, unexpectedly, repaired, like a phantom at one of the inner–city blues parties**** Li frequented during his 1980s, Manchester youth, and decades after that, the song once again re-emerged on YouTube. The song soundtracks Dinu Li’s exhibition.

It wasn’t until much later that Li learned that the song was actually recorded in Jamaica in 1967, in one of the small number of Chinese recording studios*****, some of which helped shape the sounds of key artists such as Dennis Brown and Augustus Pablo. Through his work tracing the history of early reggae, Li’s exhibition,’ A Phantom’s Vibe’, serves as a means of unearthing, the underrepresented history of the Chinese in Jamaica, subverting mainstream cultural hegemony.

*Hulme and Moss Side are districts of Manchester where many members of the city‘s Afro-Caribbean community live.

** Chinese people first started coming to Jamaica around 1850 when they arrived on the island mostly as indentured labourers, brought by the British from China to work on the sugar plantations to replace the unpaid labour of the island’s black population following the end of slavery. Indentured labour is a form of debt bondage whereby the labourer ‘agrees’ to work for no pay for a number of years to pay off the cost incurred in their migration to the Caribbean.

*** ‘Always Together’ is a reggae record recorded in 1967 in Jamaica, by the Chinese singer Stephen Cheng (misspelled as ‘Chang’ when the record was released). The song is unusual because although the title is in English, the song itself is sung in Chinese with the lyrics originating from “Alishan Girl,” a Taiwanese folk song, which dates back to the 1940s. The track was put together by Stephen Cheng and the Jamaican musician and producer Byron Lee (himself of a Jamaican Chinese background) when Cheng visited the island from his home in New York.

**** after hours parties often playing reggae in peoples homes or basements etc.

***** several Jamaicans with Chinese roots played a key part in the development of the island’s beloved popular music, reggae and it’s older sister, rock steady. They established some of the first record shops and studios on the island, providing a platform for emerging reggae artists to record and distribute their music. Jamaicans of Chinese origin in the music industry included Vincent and Patricia Chin who created the influential VP Records, Leslie Kong of Beverley’s Records (the producer of the legendary soundtrack to ‘The Harder They Come’), Herman Chin-Loy of Aquarius records (who produced what was arguably the first dub album, ‘Aquarius Dub’ in 1974) and the Hookim brothers who owned Channel One studios where they created the radical ‘rockers’ sound which dominated the Jamaican music scene in the late 1970’s.

The Hookim brothers at Channel One produced this rockers classic in 1976

Herman Chin-Loy created arguably the first ever Dub album in 1974

The installation highlights how the music and culture of reggae have been adapted and reinterpreted in Hong Kong, and how they have provided a means for people to express their identity and resistance in the face of colonialism.

The Harcourt bar in southern Manchester is named after Harcourt Road in Hong Kong. This road is in turn named after Sir Cecil Harcourt, who was a British colonial administrator in Hong Kong in the early 20th century. The bar is inspired by Hong Kong culture and cuisine, and the menu features authentic Hong Kong street food. It has picked up justifiably rave reviews.

The bar was created and opened by a married couple from Hong Kong, Priscilla So and Brian Hung. They were inspired by their experience working in the craft beer industry, as well as their love of Hong Kong culture. The bar is designed to be a modern take on a traditional Hong Kong-style pub, with a focus on craft beer and Hong Kong-inspired food. The bar offers a variety of Hong Kong-style dishes, including bars snacks prawn toast and smashed cucumber as well as a wide selection of craft beers.

Before opening the bar, Brian took up a position as a barrel ageing manager for the independent Manchester based Cloudwater brewery. The bar wisely stocks, a range of award winning Cloudwater beers (see https://cloudwaterbrew.co).

The influence of emigres from Hong Kong on Manchester’s food scene continues apace with the likes of Popchop Curry House in the east of the city. Popchop serves up Hong Kong style curried meats and rice to a fanatical clientele. The owner came to Manchester from Hong Kong a couple of years ago, His recipes are based on his father’s renowned restaurant Sun King Yuen in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong which is which is famous for its curry dishes.

And turning to the Caribbean influence on food culture in the city we must mention Miss Jackson’s Drinks Company, a relatively new venture based in Manchester which was set up by two sisters.

Their website at https://www.missjacksonsdrinks.com comments:

‘The story starts with us, two Jackson sisters from South Manchester. Inspired by our Caribbean heritage, we sustainably source the bright flavours of Jamaica and shake them down with premium spirits’

The sisters have created and marketed two liqueurs to date, Duppy Gyal Zombie and our favourite, Blouse and Skirt Sorrel.

Duppy Gyal Zombie is a combination of different rums with limes, pomegranate juice, pineapple and bitters.

Blouse and Skirt Sorrel is a combination of different rums, ginger, lime juice, cane sugar and of course, Sorrel. In Jamaica, ‘Sorrel’ are the dried flowers used to make a type of sweet hibiscus tea commonly made from the Roselle flower which is popular throughout the Caribbean and West Africa where the ‘red tea’ made from the flowers originates.

‘Take her to Jamaica where the rum come from

The rum come from, the rum come from

Take her to Jamaica where the rum come from

And you can have some fun’

Lampião, o Rei do Cangaço

The Sertão is the name given to the vast arid hinterland of the North East of Brasil. Notable for its semi-arid conditions, poverty, cactus and scrub, the North East in general has had a vivid and important impact on Brasilian popular history and culture including of course the legend of Lampião, ‘O Rei do Cangaço’.

The Sertão was home to the ‘cangaços’, gangs of bandits who roamed the backlands of the North East in the earlier part of the last century attacking landowners and stealing from the wealthy in particular. They were known for their ferocity towards those they robbed and plundered as well as their apparent generosity towards the poor, despite widespread torture and murder of their victims. It is this role as ‘social bandits’ rather than as wild outlaws that the cangaçeiros are best remembered in modern day Brazil. The best known of the cangaceiros was Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, known to everyone as ‘Lampião’. Together with his girlfriend and fellow gang member Maria Déia aka ‘Maria Bonita’ (‘Pretty Maria’) they roamed the Brazilian backlands with the gang from the 1920’s until their deaths in 1938, four years after the deaths of their counterparts in the US, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. Just like that Texan couple, Lampião and Maria would be eulogised in film and song across the ages.

*Cangaços with Lampião and Maria Bonita in the centre*

The first (and most interesting) film about Lampião and his gang (‘Lampião, o Rei do Cangaço’ – ‘Lampião, the King of the Bandits’) was made in 1937 by Benjamin Abrahão. He had been born in Lebanon but later moved to Brasil. He met Lampião in 1926 via Cícero Romão Batista aka ‘Padre Cícero’, the spiritual leader to the people of the North East of Brazil. A legendary figure in his own right, Padre Cícero was highly trusted by the deeply religious Lampião who he persuaded to allow Abrahão to meet and photograph the gang. Although very cautious, Lampião was intrigued by the possibility of meeting Abrahão, being photographed and having the chance to more widely publicise his highly stylised gang. Lampião was already image concious by this time, handing out business cards and images of the gang to admirers.

Abrahão initially took photographs of a suspicious Lampião and his wary band and then when trust had been established, filmed them out in the Sertão. The resulting silent film ‘O Rei do Cangaço’ was originally two hours long but only less than 15 minutes of film stock remains.

The film was a great success upon its release. in Brasil but it was soon seized under the directions of the then President Getúlio Vargas and it more or less disappeared from view until 1955 when its remaining stock was restored and released nationwide, the film being only ten minutes long. Then in 2007, Cinemateca Brasileira (the national organisation responsible for the restoration and distribution of important audio visual material) restored and re-edited the available film stock and organised the release of some 14 minutes of film. It is this version, O Rei do Cangaço by Benjamin Abrahão, which can be seen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqd-ijH2cQ.

At a makeshift camp in the harsh Sertão the cangaçeiros are seen resting, using a sewing machine, praying at a makeshift altar, skinning and eating a cow and undertaking a mock skirmish etc. Lampião is clearly visible as is another key member of the gang, the cruel Corisco. Maria Bonita is filmed combing Lampião’s hair in one scene.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is r.b3058b472cb7124871eec66dbcc3e2a1.jpeg — *Corisco*

At least two women are seen with the gang in the film including Maria Bonita, Lampãio’s girlfriend as well as Dadá, the lover of Corisco. The film maker Benjamin Abrahão is also clearly visible in some scenes, eating and drinking with the gang.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is r.77e20bb60fb74e9092d96f019f4599cf.jpeg — Corisco and Dadá

The Cangaceiros are also seen dancing in the film. The dance most closely associated with the gang is the Xaxado, a popular North Eastern style which is still performed today.

Abrahão’s photographs and film helped fix the stylised image of Lampião and the cangaceiros in Brasilian popular culture.

Each member is wearing leather outfits of a hat, jacket and jodhpurs/shirts tough enough to protect them from the thorns of the caatinga (dry shrubs and brushwood typical of the dry hinterland of the Sertão). Studded ammunition belts criss cross eash chest. The hats are half moon shaped and decorated with metals stars, fleur de lis, maltese crosses and other designs. The rifle slings are studded with silver coins and highly decorated cloth bags are draped from each shoulder. Long neckerchiefs tied with a silver rings are draped around each neck. Dark glasses are sometimes worn. The effect is startling and original and whilst the alleged ‘Robin Hood’ nature of the gang will no doubt have assisted in creating the Lampião myth, one cannot help but feel that its overall strong visual aesthetic contributed as great an impact to its ultimate longevity and influence in the popular imagination. We can see this in the culture of Zoot suits in Los Angeles in the 1940’s, the startling images of the Sex Pistols in 1970’s London (in clothes by the ground breaking Seditionaries) and the elevated dress sense of the Sapeurs of the Congo.

The strongest influences on popular culture, whether in Brasil or elsewhere, do not come from the elite. As the English writer V.S. Pritchett once commentated noted, ”the past of a place survives in its poor.” Although this comment was made by following his travels in Spain it applies elsewhere, no more so than Brasil with its reverance of the legend of Lampião.

Visit the North East of Brasil and referances to Lampião and his gang are ubiquitos. Whether in popular songs and films, the names of restaurants and bars to the classic woodcut prints of the Borges family, the cangaço and his gang are everywhere.

As a postscript to the film (which views like an epitaph), both Lampião and Maria Bonita were cornered shortly thereafter by bounty hunters and killed with nine other members of the gang. They were then decapitated, their heads were put on public display in the city of Piranhas in the North East state of Alagoas (the city had been attacked several times by Lampião and his gang) before ending up at the State Forensic Institute in Salvador, Bahia where they remained until burial in 1969. A graphic photograph of the severed heads surround by decorated hats, weapons, bags and bandoliers, framed by two sewing machines is readily visible on the internet but it is not exhibited here.

Two other members of the gang, Corisco and his girlfriend Dadá, were amongst those who escaped but were cornered by the authorities not long thereafter. Corisco was killed in the attack and Dadá lost a leg from her wounds. She survived until her death in 1994, the last member of the gang to die.

With the deaths of Lampião and Corisco the phenomenon of cangaço, died out.

Filmmaker Glauber Rocha who spearheaded Brazil’s Cinema Novo in the early 1960’s was inspired by the story of Corisco and Dadá and featured representations of them in his ground breaking 1964 film Deus e o Diablo na Terra do Sol (known as ‘Black God, White Devil’ in English – you can see an old print of this film here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyTnX_yl1bw). Just like the much romanticised Lampião and Maria Bonita, Corisco and Dadá became Bonnie and Clyde type figures in the Brazilian popular imagination and culture.

The filmmaker Benjamin Abrahão was brutally murdered shortly after the films initial release. His assailant was never found. The film was seized by the authorities who did not approve of the fact that the film did not condemn the gang and its activities. Lampião and his gang were public enemies No. 1 for Vargas and his presidency.

Category: film

Manchester, Hong Kong and Jamaica

THE BANDIT KING

Share this:

Share this: