Interview with Kin Tsang Yu
Kin Tsang Yu, 2025.
(The following was translated by Chi-Leung Lee)
We were founded in 1977. Our sifu at the time was Master Cheng Chap Hei 鄭集希. He used to perform traditional guhong (鼓腔) Cantonese opera music in Hong Kong. His music was broadcast on radio in both Hong Kong and Macau. He knew so much, and he taught us what he knew. He was very dedicated to teaching us. Even though he was working full-time, he would still make time to help us. He really liked our music association and liked all of us very much.
He also had many friends, well-known musicians, who came to our music association to play together with us.
In the early days, we staged many performances. Most of our early full productions were performed at the Jewish theatre. When we mounted a full opera, we had to rehearse for a long time. At first, Wong Chin-shui and his group from Toronto came to help us. After they finished helping us, around 1972–73, we began producing shows ourselves.
Back then, I didn’t really know how to perform, so I just followed along. In 1973, we organized everything ourselves, gathering our local group of musicians and singers. That was the first time a fully local troupe in Montréal performed a complete opera, Chan Hau ju《陳後主》(possibly referring to the Cantonese opera Li Houzhu《李後主》).
In the beginning, playing music was actually secondary. The most important thing was that friends gathered together. If someone played music, we would play and sing along. If no one played, we would just chat and talk freely. That’s how it was in the early days.
At that time, there were thirteen of us when we first formed the group. Everyone was very happy.