介绍:
Interactive Program of “Studio Plus”, from China Radio International (CRI)
Teresa Teng and I
00:00 (“Studio Plus” Opening Promo)
00:30 (Sweeper 1)
You are listening to a special edition of Studio Plus, “Teresa Teng and I”, a celebration of the life and work of Asia's most popular singer with contributions from those who loved her, knew her and worked with her.
00:47 (Ambience: News of her death in Taiwan, Japan and Chinese Mainland)
(TTV News /Taiwan):
When the news spread to the mid-area of Taiwan, everyone's reaction was one of shock…
(Kaohsiung News /Taiwan):
Within 24 hours, nearly everyone in the city of Kaoxiong had heard the news that Teresa Teng had passed away…
(TBS News /Japan):
Miss Teresa Teng passed away on Monday May 8th. Teresa was born in Taiwan, and came to Japan in 1974 when she was 21. She was not only well known among Japanese people, but was also a superstar on the world stage.
(CCTV News /Chinese mainland):
Teresa Teng died of a sudden asthma attack on May 8th in Thailand…
01:02 (Host 1: Manling)
Hello and welcome to Studio Plus, I'm Manling
(Host 2: Mark)
And I'm Mark Griffiths
We've just heard various news broadcasts which reported the death of Teresa Teng on May 8th, 1995. The hugely popular singer from Taiwan passed away following a severe asthma attack at Chiangmai, Thailand when she was just 42 years old.
01:25 (Song 1: Just Like Your Tenderness, by Teresa Teng)
(Manling)
20 years after her death, Teresa Teng remains a legend. She still is the best-selling Asian artist of all time with over 100 million records sold. It's been said that, "Wherever there are Chinese people, the songs of Teresa Teng can be heard." She never visited the Chinese mainland. But nevertheless, she had, and retains a huge fan base.
02:16 (Voxpop: brief with Teresa's song)
(1: Zhang Yan, Female, English)
"In my memory her songs and her image remain a symbol of freshness at that time."
02:24 (2: Zhang Xue, Female, Chinese)
"She is absolutely brilliant and deserves our appreciation. Her music even more so. It's eternally classic."
02:37 (3: Jia Lin, Male, Chinese)
"First is her morality, followed by her talent and her goodness. These three qualities constitute the whole concept of Teresa Teng's culture."
02:50 (4: Yang Jing, Female, Chinese)
"Her songs can heal. It's like eating something sweet right after something bitter and the sweetness just lingers on and can't be forgotten."
03:06 (5: Liu Junhua, Female, Chinese)
"Whenever you listen to her, you feel a healing power deep down in your mind in a place which nothing else has ever touched."
03:17 (6: Li Meiping, Female, Chinese)
"I love Teresa, not only her songs, but also every bit of her. She's an angle. She's perfect."
03:30 (Mark)
On the 20th anniversary of Teresa Teng's death, we called on our listeners to contact us and share their individual stories with us under the title "Teresa Teng and I".
In the days that followed, we received lots of messages from Teresa's fans on the Chinese mainland, in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Japan and the United States. We were contacted through voice mail, by phone, email, and social media platforms including WeChat, Sina Weibo and Lizhi FM.
04:01 (Manling)
We got in touch with some of the fans who contacted us and were able to gather together a lot more information. Today's Studio Plus features all the feedback we received from these people. We will share with you their stories, we will read you their messages and we will also play you our mixed versions of Teresa's songs, which will involve both this singing superstar and the fans.
04:27 (Song 2: Thousands of Words, by Daihan and Teresa)
05:19 (Manling)
This special cover of Teresa's song Thousands of Words, Qian-Yan-Wan-Yu in Chinese, is a mix between Teresa and singing sent to our voicemail box by Daihan Anni from Beijing, who is a 13-year-old fan of Teresa.
05:28 (Manling)
After that sweet cover version of Teresa's song, I would like to read a few comments sent in by our listeners. On our Weibo account, Huanhuan wrote:
Thank you Teresa for your songs. My boyfriend proposed to me by singing the Moon Represents My Heart, in Chinese yue-liang-dai-biao-wo-de-xin. Whenever I hear the song, I am full of happiness.
05:54 (Mark)
Di-Gua-Xia P commented on our Lizhi FM program:
I started listening to Teresa's songs when I was in my mommy's womb. I have been entertained by Teresa's music all my life.
06:06 (Song 3: Night Jasmine, by Teresa)
06:15 (Mark)
On May 8th we posted a question on WeChat asking what you would say to Teresa Teng if you could travel back in a time machine. Here are some answers from our listeners…
06:26 (Manling)
A fan named The Wizard of OZ replied:
If I could visit Teresa in a time machine, I would want to tell Teresa that she represents a generation of elegance. I would then tell her to take good care of herself and have fun!
06:42 (Mark)
Liao Ziyan replied:
I would go to her concert of course, to appreciate her beauty and singing in person.
Miss Spiritual Tram of 1948 wrote:
Mademoiselle Teng, your pleasing sound has been recorded, your lasting beauty has been documented, and your charismatic personality has been engraved… on my mind…
07:22 (Manling)
Here we have an answer from one of Teresa's more famous fans, Jay Chou. Back in 2013, this pop star from Taiwan expressed his feelings by typing a message on a giant screen at one of his concerts:
I once imagined that if I could travel back in time 30 years and sing a song along with her, it would be the greatest honor.
07:50 (Mark)
Teresa's singing is not only pop music and musical entertainment, but also offers spiritual consolation for an entire generation, or maybe even two, on the Chinese mainland. As Hilano Kumiko, the author of the biography "Teresa Teng's Dream" says in the book:
“Her name has the magic power of unlocking strangers' hearts. When I asked my Chinese interviewees about the hardships experienced by old people living overseas, and the dreams of the youngsters who traveled across the vast ocean, the most useful key to getting them to talk to me was to focus on Teresa's songs.”
08:29 (Manling)
On the Chinese mainland, the songs of Teresa Teng were once forbidden tunes. There were only two ways to enjoy her songs: people either enjoyed her singing through short wave radio broadcasts, or by listening to audio cassettes.
08:44 (Song 4: Cloud River by Yuan Ming and Teresa)
09:31 (Manling)
This song is called Cloud River, or Yun-he in Chinese. It's being sung by our listener Yuan Ming who is from Tianjin and in his fifties. He called us to sing this song and share his story about how he fell in love with Teresa's songs and voice.
09:48 (Soundbite 1: Yuan Ming, Male, Chinese)
"When I was about 16 years old, that was back in the 1980s, I accidentally stumbled across a short wave radio broadcast. It was the ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Chinese service. There was a program especially for Chinese people to request songs at half past 7 every evening. Actually, at that time, almost every request was for one of Teresa's songs. I turned the volume down and put my ear close to my old-style valve radio to enjoy her singing, which was forbidden on the Chinese mainland at that time."
10:27 (Mark)
Yuan Ming said the first one of Teresa's songs he ever heard was See the Chimney Smoke Again. When he heard it for the first time, he was mesmerized by its enchanting and beautiful melody. Even now, every time he hears that song, the same thrilling feeling returns. He explains more about why people love Teresa and her songs:
10:47 (Soundbite 2: Yuan Ming, Male, Chinese)
"It's because of the melodies themselves. They merge perfectly with human nature. I feel comfortable whenever I hear her songs. No matter whether I am happy or unhappy, they are my special companion."
11:06 (Manling)
51-year-old Deng Yunyan sent us a voice message through WeChat, saying that she had the same experience of listening to Teresa Teng's songs via the short wave programs of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
11:20 (Song 5: Tian Mi Mi by Teresa)
11:24 (Soundbite 3: Deng Yunyan, Female, Chinese)
"When I first heard her songs, I didn't even know her name. Her voice was so nice. I kept listening to the program over the following days, and knew that her name was Teresa Teng. I fell in love with her voice and even began to imitate her singing style. Then I wrote a letter to the radio station to request her song: Tian-mi-mi, which means As Sweet As Honey in English. About a month later, the ABC announcer said that Ms. Deng Yunyan from Beijing had requested Teresa Teng's Tian-mi-mi'. I got up immediately and ran around the whole neighborhood , shouting: 'The radio is broadcasting the song I requested. Please listen to it. It's Tian-mi-mi by Teresa Teng!' I was so excited that I even forgot that her songs were frowned upon on the Chinese mainland. "
12:26 (Mark)
Fans in their 30s also remember vividly the very first time they heard the sweet voice of the superstar singer. 36-year-old Zhang Yan, one of our listeners in Beijing, is the marketing director of the Great Wall Forest Festival. Earlier, she made a phone call to our studio.
12:43 (Soundbite 4: Zhang Yan, Female, English)
"My first memory of her goes back to, I think, when I was in kindergarten. That was when people were still using cassette tapes. You know, I can still remember the song coming out of that old-style tape player. I was very little at that time, and I guess I didn't really know what she was singing about or what the lyrics were about or even what pop music really was. But I did remember her face on the cover of that cassette, so beautiful and sweet, and most importantly, so fresh and different. It was different from the music I usually heard around me and different from the whole general atmosphere of that period."
13:28 (Manling)
Just as Zhang Yan mentioned, the other method of enjoying Teresa Teng's songs at that time on the Chinese mainland was through audio cassettes.
Some of our listeners have shared the same sentiment.
Anne Law left a comment on Weibo:
I grew up listening to Teresa Teng songs. When I was little, there were just cassette tapes. In my mind, she was a tender, generous and smart girl. The serious way she solved problems and her good manners are all worth learning from.
14:02 (Mark)
Here is an email from VL Shiyue:
I still remember that when I was a little girl we listened to Teresa Teng's songs on one of those old cassette recorders. I was pretty sure that she had a soft and emotional heart and a tough, go-getting brain. So many years have passed since then, but I've never tired of listening to her singing. She is still affecting the current generation, even now.
14:25 (Manling)
Liu Junhua had a unique memory associated with a cassette player. She told us in a voice message that when she was young, her father was good at fixing electronic equipment, like radios, tape recorders and cassette players. Whenever her father was asked to repair a tape recorder or cassette player, he would play Teresa Teng's songs to test the equipment afterwards. Although the tapes were fourth or fifth generation copies and the sound quality was really bad, they were the sweetest tunes ever to her young ears.
15:00 (Soundbite 5: Liu Junhua, Female, Chinese)
"In fact, songs are carriers of emotions. During her tour – A Billion Fans Applaud, when being asked why people, regardless of age, all love her songs, Teresa answered that it was because her emotions are integrated with and conveyed through her songs. Actually that's the most essential factor. Without real emotions, songs are meaningless."
15:34 (Song 6: the Beauty of the Night, by Teresa and Yun Jie)
16:59 (Manling)
This song entitled the Beauty of the Night, or Ye-se in Chinese was a special mix we made featuring Teresa and Yun Jie. Yun Jie was born in the
