Pancy Lau (Lau Fung Ping, 劉鳳屏 or 刘鳳屏, also referred to as Liu Feng Ping) was born sometimes in the late 40s / early 50s in a family of musicians; her father Lau Bak Lok (劉伯樂) - also known as Tin Ngai (天涯) - was a well-known Cantonese Opera Star. He was her very first music teacher, and guided her through the entertainment world.
Her career started when she was around 8 or 9 years old singing Cantonese Opera. As a teenager she transitioned to singing songs she enjoyed: Pop music. During the early 60s she participated two times in the Sing Tao Daily Singing Competition in Hong Kong with no significant results.
In 1965 at last she won the Mandarin section of the 6th edition of the contest with the song "三年" (Three Years). Upon winning the competition, she became a resident singer at the prestigious Golden Crown Night Club (金冠).
Television Broadcasts Limited (電視廣播有限公司), commonly known as TVB, commenced broadcasting in Hong Kong on 19 November 1967. Pancy Lau was one of the first musical artists who participated in the popular show "歡樂今宵" (Enjoy Yourself Tonight), which was the longest running variety show in Hong Kong's television history.
In 1968 Fung Hang Records Co. (風行) released her debut album entitled "My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳". The album was the first in a long series of recordings that continued for more than fifteen years, and is the subject of this post.
For a more detailed biography of Pancy Lau, please have a look at this other post of mine: "The Very Best of Pancy Lau Volume 1 [1968-70]".
Pancy Lau, circa 1968
"My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳" contains the following tracks:
01. 我的心蹦蹦跳 (2:09)
02. 紅睡蓮 (2:22)
03. 你不妨等一等 (2:22)
04. 阿里郎 (1:45)
05. 採檳榔 (2:58)
06. 月光小夜曲 (3:22)
07. 多拉茜 (2:45)
08. 負心的人 (3:48)
09. 隨風飛去 (3:11)
10. 天涯歌女 (3:16)
11. 月圓花好 (2:52)
12. 永遠的微笑 (3:12)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in January 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.
Since in a few years she released so many records - and none of them included a release date - it's not easy to come up with an exact chronology of Pancy Lau's early output. "My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳" is her debut album and was probably released sometimes in late 1968 by Fung Hang Records Co. (風行) with catalogue number FHLP 1001.
Mono versions of four songs included on this LP (tracks 4, 7, 8 and 11) were also released as a 7" EP that I have already covered some time ago. Moreover, four songs (tracks 2, 4, 7 and 8) were also later included on Pancy Lau's third album, "劉鳳屏之歌" (Pancy Lau's Songs), an awesome record released by New Wave Record Co. (新風) which will be the subject of a future post.
Here's what I discovered searching information about the songs included on this album, translation of the song titles is approximate in most cases, but anyway...:
The title track of the album, 01. "我的心蹦蹦跳" (My Heart Is Beating), was also performed by 江鷺 (Kong Lo) and 鍾玲玲 (Betty Chung), I'm not sure about who was the original performer...
02. "紅睡蓮" (Red Water Lilies) was originally a Japanese song recorded by 李香蘭 (Shirley Yamaguchi) in 1940 (available here). Mandarin versions were later recorded by 美黛 (Mei Dai), 張露 (Chang Loo) and many others.
Unfortunately I could not find anything about 03. "你不妨等一等" (You Might As Well Wait)...
04. "阿里郎" (Arirang) is one of the most famous Korean traditional folk songs. In its original form it has been sung for more than 600 years: who would even think about it listening to the swinging version presented here? There's plenty of versions available on YouTube.
05. "採檳榔" (Picking Betel Nuts) is a popular Taiwan song; it was performed by many female singers, including 周璇 (Zhou Xuan, one of China's seven great singing stars, available here) and 鄧麗君 (Teresa Teng, an '80s live version is available here) who remembered that this was the very first song her mother taught her to sing as a child.
06. The sweet "月光小夜曲" (Moonlight Serenade) derives from a Japanese song originally recorded by 渡辺はま子 (Hamako Watanabe) in 1941. The Mandarin version was popularized in the early '60s by 紫薇 (Zu Wei, available here); it was also performed by 陳芬蘭 (Chen Fen Lan) and many others.
I wasn't able to find any relevant information about 07. "多拉茜" (Duo La Xi), except that it was also performed by 凌霄 (Ling Seow), but a visitor of this blog was kind enough to leave a comment writing that it "is a Mandarin adaptation of Doraji, a Korean folk song. No similarities other than the original's chorus used as the main melody in this case."
08. "負心的人" (Heartless Person) is the theme song from the movie of the same name. The original version was performed by 汤兰花 (Tang Lan Hua, available here); other versions were later performed by 姚蘇蓉 (Yao Su Rong, here) and 崔萍 (Tsui Ping, here).
Once again, I've nothing to report about 09. "隨風飛去" (Fly Away With the Wind), maybe someone out there can offer some help?
10. "天涯歌女" (The Wandering Songstress) is probably one of the most well-known songs on this album and Wikipedia has a very informative page about it. The original version was performed in 1937 by 周璇 (Zhou Xuan, available here) in the movie "馬路天使" (Street Angel).
11. "花好月园" (Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon) is a classic Chinese song from the late '40s that was originally performed - once again - by 周璇 (Zhou Xuan); you can listen to the original version here. The song has been covered by many divas of the Chinese classic and pop music industry with each imparting their distinct flavour to the song. A lot of versions are available on YouTube.
With the closing number, 12. "永遠的微笑" (Forever Smile), the album almost turns into a tribute to 周璇 (Zhou Xuan). Here'a a link to her original version.
The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album, enjoy "我的心蹦蹦跳" (My Heart Is Beating), "紅睡蓮" (Red Water Lilies), "阿里郎" (Arirang), "採檳榔" (Picking Betel Nuts), "月光小夜曲" (Moonlight Serenade), "多拉茜" (Duo La Xi), "負心的人" (Heartless Person) and "永遠的微笑" (Forever Smile)!
More information about Pancy Lau is available here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Hong_Kong
http://home.ied.edu.hk/~hkpop/music/hkpophistory.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dk_gilbert/sets/72157608139056712/
http://baike.baidu.com/view/5637119.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-uAR5gOXNg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtPVPIy6v6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIeOiDudhg&feature=related
http://robokon.orgfree.com/5080/5080_LauFungPing.htm
http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/%E5%8A%89%E9%B3%B3%E5%B1%8F
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/entertainment/art/20130325/18206169
http://hd.stheadline.com/ent/ent_content.asp?contid=223625&srctype=n
http://ent.qq.com/a/20070424/000092.htm
http://sleepless.chiba78.com/articles-1640.html
I'm currently trying to compile a Pancy Lau exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.
All my posts dedicated to Pancy Lau are available here.
As a last note, I'm still struggling to find somebody who can help me with translations:
if you can translate from Chinese to English please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you so much!
