lok sui tien (satb)

Program Notes

This traditional Hakka folksong was popular in the Guangdong Province in soutern China. Hakka is also one of the major dialects spoken among Chinese immgrants to Southeast Asia. The simple melody, using only scale degrees 1, 2, 3, and 6, communicates deep emotion with its rise and fall. It sings of the pitiful situation of children during rainy days – how even the rain encroaches their personal space, drenches them, and leaves no place for shelter.

Toh Ban Sheng