Naamyam Workshop – 2025.07.05

On July 5, the “Au Kuan Cheong Cantonese Opera and Variety Show Society” will hold a Naamyam workshop at Rui Cunha Foundation, to pass on Naamyam. This workshop covers the history, mode, lyrics and other aspects of Nanyin, aiming to popularize the past and present of Naamyam for the public.
Mr. Au Kuan Cheong was born in Macau in 1944. He was born with congenital visual impairment, but based on his love for music, he followed outstanding blind teachers such as Lau Chao (劉就）to learn Cantonese opera gong and drum skills at the age of seven or eight. Afterwards, he worked in the Hong Kong opera troupe singing scene for many years, cooperated with many famous Cantonese opera groups, and participated in many music clubs and quyi activities. In the late 1970s, he began to serve as a Taoist ritual musician, accompanying religious ceremonies. So far, Au Kuan Cheong has integrated half a century of experience in the opera troupe music scene into Nanyin singing, recorded many classic albums such as “Autumn Regret on the Journey” and “The Palace of Eternal Life”, and adapted and created tracks such as “Lonely Boat Evening Chant”.
Naamyam rap originated during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. It is an art form performed by blind people (blind teachers/teacher’s wives). Its content covers loyalty, filial piety, chastity and righteousness, and highlights the theme of hazy free love, retaining a strong regional music color. In Macau, listening to blind people singing Naamyam was once an important form of entertainment for citizens. It could be heard in teahouses, bars, streets and alleys until the middle of the last century, when social changes gradually made it silent. In 2011, Naamyam rap was selected into the national intangible cultural heritage list. Au Kuan Cheong founded the “Au Kuan Cheong Cantonese Opera and Variety Art Society” in 1990. Teacher Ou Junxiang is the designated inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage “Naamyam rap” and now teaches Naamyam rap.
In addition, the Variety Art Society regularly holds three performances every year, “Naamyam Celebrates the Lantern Festival”, “Wenyi Naamyam Celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival” and “Wenyi Naamyam Meets Connoisseurs”, and actively goes to universities in Hong Kong and Macau to hold lectures, participates in international stages such as the Macau International Music Festival, and even adapts Macanese novels into Naamyam to promote cross-cultural exchanges. We hope that more people will pay attention to this intangible cultural heritage and let Naamyam rap shine with new vitality in the new era.

區均祥粤劇曲藝社
Associação de Ópera Chinesa Au Kuan Cheong

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Free admission.
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