Gu Jiahui

Gu Jiahui

Wu Jiahui, a famous composer, was born in Guangzhou in 1931.

In 1961, he took part in the composition competition of Shaw's film "no love" with the song "dream" and was selected. In 1967, he joined TVB as music director. In 1973, the theme song of the same name composed for the wireless TV series "misty rain" became the first TV series theme song dominated by Cantonese lyrics.

In 1981, Gu Jiahui won the top ten Chinese Golden Melody Awards of RTHK. In 1982, he was awarded the MBE by the commonwealth government. In 1998, he was awarded the bronze Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong SAR government. In 2005, he won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of Pepsi music. In April 2011, he won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the award ceremony of Hong Kong Art Development Award. In 2014, he was awarded the honorary doctor of social sciences degree of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Early experience

Gu Jiahui, native to Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province, was born in Guangzhou in 1933. In 1948, the whole family moved to Hong Kong and settled down. They lived in a squatter area in Kowloon with their elder sister Gu Mei and lived in poverty. During the period, Gu Jiahui worked in the laboratory of the foreign firm during the day and studied at night. Because Gu Mei often practices singing, she gradually becomes interested in music. In the late 1950s, Gu Jiahui worked as a zither player in Xianzhang nightclub in Wanchai and a nightclub in dongyinglou, and formed the "Gu Jiahui big band". In 1961, the president of Berkeley Conservatory of music in Boston, USA, saw Gu Jiahui's performance in the nightclub and offered him a scholarship and invited him to go to the United States for further study, which was also strongly supported and funded by Sir Run Shaw. Gu Jiahui seized the opportunity to go to the United States for a two-year music training course. During his study, Gu Jiahui took part in the composition competition of Shao's film "no love" with his work "dream", and won the second place among many works. He became the interlude of the film and began his musical career.

Acting experience

From 1963 to 1970s, he composed music for films in Shaw film company and Jiahe film company. In 1967, when TVB started broadcasting, Gu Jiahui, at the invitation of Yang Chengwei, joined TVB as music director in charge of composition and music planning. In 1971, Gu Jiahui created an original album for Kung Fu star Bruce Lee's martial arts film "big brother Tangshan". In 1972, he composed the theme song "love you become harm you" for the Cantonese musical stage play (the first Chinese musical) Bai Niang, and Huang Zhan wrote lyrics for the first work of "Hui Huang" (Mandarin). In 1974, at the invitation of Wang Tianlin, he composed a theme song for the wireless TV series "the cause of crying and laughing", which, together with Xu Guanjie's "ghost horse double stars", is known as the beginning of Hong Kong Cantonese pop music. In 1977, he cooperated with Huang Zhan for the first time to create a theme song of the same name for the TV series family change. In 1980, Gu Jiahui and Huang Zhan collaborated to create a song of the same name for the TV series "Shanghai beach", which attracted wide attention. This is also Gu Jiahui's first popular Chinese minor song. During this period, Gu Jiahui's unique style, together with Huang Zhan's lyrics in Cantonese but full of traditional Chinese color, made the "Hui Huang" combination. In 1982, Gu Jiahui was awarded the MBE by the queen of England. In 1998, he was awarded the bronze Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong SAR government. During the period, he also won the music achievement award of Hong Kong Composers and composers Association, the highest honor award of Radio Hong Kong's top ten Chinese Golden Melody (predecessor of golden needle Award), the best music / song of Asian Film Festival, Hong Kong Film Golden image award, Taiwan Golden Horse Award and many other awards. In 1986, Gu Jiahui composed music for the theme song "love of those years" of the film "the true colors of heroes", which was sung by Zhang Guorong. In 1990, Gu Jiahui composed music for the theme song "burning the heart with fire" of the movie "ancient and modern war on the Qin terracotta warriors". In the same year, he won the annual Top Ten Golden Songs "Best Composition Award", "best arrangement Award" and "Golden Song Award". In 1998, Gu Jiahui and Huang Zhan held two "Huihuang concerts" at Guangzhou Tianhe gymnasium. At the end of 2004, Huang Zhan died of illness, and Gu Jiahui returned to Hong Kong to pay homage to his memory and mourning. As a result, his scheduled farewell concert was canceled. Instead, he held a concert to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his career in Hongguan from December 11 to 16, 2005, and finally died of illness. In 2007, Gu Jiahui was invited by TVB to create a theme song of the same name for the TV series "the wind and cloud of years", which was produced to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the handover of sovereignty of Hong Kong. The lyrics were written by Zhang Meixian and sung by Li Keqin and Zhou Chuanxiong. from January 3 to January 5, 2008, at the invitation of Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, he was the conductor of the special concert "selected works of Gu Jiahui". In 2009, he was invited by the Hong Kong Composers and composers association to be the judge of the cash pop music competition. On April 27, 2011, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council hosted the "2010 Hong Kong Arts Development Award" award presentation ceremony at the Hong Kong City Hall. Gu Jiahui won the "Lifetime Achievement Award". From November 30 to December 5, 2012, artists such as Huang Yaoming and Lin Zixiang performed at the "classic concert of Gu Jiahui" held in Hong Kong's Hung Hom stadium for six consecutive sessions. Gu Jiahui also conducted the orchestra. From May 8 to 19, 2015, Gu Jiahui held a series of 12 concerts in Hong Kong's Hung Hom stadium. He announced that he would not hold similar concerts and work as a conductor, devoted himself to painting, occasionally wrote one or two songs, and enjoyed his retirement life.

Personal life

Gu Jiahui was born in a scholarly family. His father was a painter and he was good at antique identification. Gu Jiahui's original name was Gu Jiahui. His book started from "Huo" and wrote "Hui" because of handwriting errors. My sister Gu Mei, formerly known as Gu Jiami, was a singer and actor in the 1950s and 1960s in Hong Kong. Gu Jiahui once wanted to hold his granddaughter Pamela as a singer, but he had no intention of becoming a singer. In the 1990s, Gu Jiahui immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, but still maintained close ties with the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

Main works

Music works

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Create for others

Concert record

social activities

On the evening of December 3, 2012, Gu Jiahui raised a total of 2.31 million yuan for expanding the physical and mental counseling services for cancer patients and their families, as well as giving medicine to doctors.

Award winning record

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Character evaluation

Gu Jiahui has a great talent in composing and arranging music. He has created more than 1000 songs. His works combine the styles of East and West music. He is deeply influenced by Guangdong Cantonese opera. The melody is beautiful and fluent, the mode is atmospheric, simple, meaningful, and the charm is unique. He has brought great and far-reaching influence to the development of Hong Kong music circle, and is known as the godfather of Hong Kong music circle. His works have made a number of Hong Kong pop singers popular, from Luo Wen, Zhang Guorong to Anita Mui. They have driven out the white shadow of English songs and opened up the Cantonese pop music world (Liang wendaoping).

Chinese PinYin : Gu Jia Hui