Culture changer: Chet Lam
Singer-songwriter Chet Lam is working for the day when the local music scene becomes a thriving community, writes Lee Wing-sze
In his smartly decorated apartment nestled in Pok Fu Lam, Chet Lam Yat-fung is preparing dinner and experimenting with his new "toy": a pasta machine. "It's really fun - not complicated at all. I'm trying a new recipe tonight. It should taste good," Lam says as he catches pasta strips rolling out from the machine.
The homegrown musician has a head full of ideas, be they about music, travel or, now, food. "I've been jotting down all the great recipes I've tried. I'm thinking about publishing a cookbook," the 36-year-old says. He has never been satisfied with just being a singer-songwriter since he released his debut album, under his own LYFE label in 2003.
In addition to being a musician, Lam has a long list of titles to his name: theatre actor, columnist, travel writer, photographer, concert producer, music festival founder - and cookbook author is likely to be added soon. But music is what he is best known for.
With 11 full-length solo albums and some mini albums produced independently during the past decade, Lam has established himself as a city-folk musician whose guitar-based tunes incorporate reflective, insightful lyrics about life and love.
Next month, Lam will play two concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium to mark his 10th anniversary as a singer-songwriter. "I haven't changed much over the past 10 years, except that now I know more about style and how to dress. But I'm still doing music and writing songs the way I did, not intentionally for the market," he says.
His attitude hasn't changed, but the topics of his lyrics have broadened. While most of the songs written in his early days, such as and , are personal and mostly about love, on recent albums he has become more socially conscious. For instance, on his ninth album, , Lam focuses on the history of Hong Kong in the track while talks about relations between Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland.
