“IN THE MOOD FOR
LOVE” TRIVIA
Rebecca Pan
In the film “In The
Mood For Love” Rebecca Pan plays the landlady, Mrs Suen.
She has been a friend of the Director, Wong Kar Wai, for many years and
has appeared in a number of his films, starting with “Days of Being Wild”
(1991).
Before becoming an
actress, Rebecca Pan recorded a popular Indonesian song, “Bengawan Solo”,
with English lyrics, at age eighteen. (At
this time Wong Kar Wai was only four years old and living in Shanghai.
He moved to Hong Kong with his parents in 1963.)
“Bengawan Solo” became popular with Chinese record buyers in Hong
Kong in the early 1960s, at a time when the music scene was dominated by
Mandarin songs and Latin songs played by Filipino bands or, as in the soundtrack
of “In The Mood For Love”, recorded by singers such as Nat King Cole.
(Popular songs with Cantonese lyrics – “Cantopop” – did not
emerge until later.)
During the making of
the film, when Wong Kar Wai was choosing records from the 1960s for the
soundtrack, Rebecca Pan let him listen to the record of “Bengawan Solo” that
she had recorded when she was eighteen. Wong
Kar Wai immediately liked it and decided to include it in the film.
It was used to introduce the last-but-one act, which takes place in
Singapore – a perfect position for the song, which enjoyed some popularity in
Singapore as well as Hong Kong. The
original Malay version of the song is also well known in Singapore.
Bengawan Solo
Bengawan Solo is the
name of a river in the Java region of Indonesia and the title of the most
popular Kroncong song of all time. (Kroncong
is a style of music dating from the 15th century).
Rebecca Pan’s English lyrics for “Bengawan Solo” were a welcome
improvement over those of Gesang’s, which sound rather like a geography
lesson.
|
Original version of
Bengawan Solo by Gesang |
English translation
of original Malay lyrics |
English lyrics of
Rebecca Pan’s version of Bengawan Solo |
|
Bengawan Solo Riwayat mu ini Sedari dulu jadi Perhatian dewi Sari Musim kemarau Tak berapa airmu Di musim hujan air Meluap sampai jauh Chorus: Mata airmu dari Solo Terkurung gunung seribu Air mengalir sampai jauh Akhirnya kelaut Itu perahu Riwayatnya dulu Kaum pedagang selalu Naik itu perahu Chorus: Mata airmu dari Solo Terkurung gunung seribu Air mengalir sampai jauh Akhirnya kelaut Itu perahu Riwayatnya dulu Kaum pedagang selalu Naik itu perahu |
Bengawan Solo Your legend is this From ages past You captivated the goddess Sari In seasons dry Your water ebbs low In the rainy season Your water overflows to the horizon Chorus: The spring of Solo Surrounded by many mountains Its water flows reaching far To end in the sea That boat Legend of the past The traders always Go by that boat Chorus: The spring of Solo Surrounded by many mountains Its water flows reaching far To end in the sea That boat Legend of the past The traders always Go by that boat |
Bengawan Solo River of love, behold Where the palms are swaying low And lovers get so enthralled Bengawan Solo River of love we know Where my heart was set aglow When we loved not long ago Chorus: Nightingales softly singing The guitar is gently playing Moon and stars brightly shining Shining for you and I In that moment divine You whispered you were mine And you vowed we’d never part Down by the river of love Chorus: Nightingales softly singing The guitar is gently playing Moon and stars brightly shining Shining for you and I In that moment divine You whispered you were mine And you vowed we’d never part Down by the river of love |
“Shining for you and
I” [last line of the chorus]?
Well, yes, it should be
“for you and me”. But no doubt
the English teachers in Hong Kong were just as guilty as those in England and
America of ranting on about “You and I” (as the subject of a sentence), year
after year, until they made their students terrified of ever saying “you and
me” – even where this is grammatically required.
Kroncong Music
Kroncong (sometimes
spelt keroncong) originated in the Java region of Indonesia in the 15th
century. It
rapidly spread
across the rest of Indonesia and into Malaysia.
In its original form it consisted of songs sung with the accompaniment of
the Indian sitar, the rebab (bowed chordaphone), the suling (bamboo flute), the
gendang, kenong and saron of the gamelan ensemble, and a gong.
Today these instruments are often replaced by the guitar (for the sitar),
violin (for the rebab), modern flute (for the bamboo flute), cello (which takes
on the role of the gamelan instruments), and the bass (which substitutes the
gong). Modern kroncong groups
sometimes also include the accordion and the vibraphone to add extra color.
The vocals, however, still remain traditional, based mainly on the
Javanese pelog or slendro scales.
Below are links to MIDI
versions of “Bengawan Solo” and another tune, “Tanah Air”, which is a
good example of the rhythms and melodic structure of Kroncong.
Cakes
There is a cake shop in
Singapore called “Begawan Solo” (http://www.bengawansolo.com.sg).
