SOLER – “Blending” of the Music Journey

The Hong Kong music industry, once flourished, or perhaps is still flourishing, has nurtured numerous music talents – singer-songwriters, composers,…

Soler – 醞釀在音樂旅程中

image: Alvin Luk         Venue:  The 8th Estate Winery
 

The Hong Kong music industry, once flourished, or perhaps is still flourishing, has nurtured numerous music talents – singer-songwriters, composers, lyrists, bands and groups. How many of whom are still prominent after years of glamour? Or how many of whom brought down the curtain on their career without any reason? Can the evolving music industry guarantee life-long fame to these dreamers?

多年來香港樂壇經歷幾許風雨,孕育出許多能唱能演的全能歌手、作曲家、作詞人、樂隊組合,當中有些經歷時代巨輪仍然屹立不倒,有些曇花一現卻沉寂多年,亦有些仍在路上跌跌踫踫,還在尋尋覓覓之中。但誰說一夜成名可擔保擁有暢通無阻的星途?

 

A Rock-pop Journey

What about the local rock band Soler – a rock duo formed by Eurasian twin brothers Julio Acconci and Dino Acconci. Born in Macau with an Italian father and a Myanmar mother, the twins are proficient at Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, and Dino can even speak French. Having the appeal of pop idols and vigorous style of rock music, the Cantonese, Mandarin, and English songs they produce brought them success in their first debut in Hong Kong. The brothers have their songs full-band recorded in their own studio K-Town Studio so that the live-performance effect can be presented to the audience.

 

搖滾音樂路上

說起搖滾樂隊,來自澳門的Soler由一對歐亞混血雙生兒組成,哥哥Julio Acconci和弟弟Dino Acconci,爸爸是意大利人、媽媽是緬甸人,兄弟兩人通曉廣東話、普通話、英語、意大利語、西班牙語和葡萄牙語,Dino更通曉法語。創作的歌曲以廣東話、普通話和英語為主。擁有如偶像派歌手必備的俊朗外型,加上狂放不羈的搖滾曲風,Soler自出道已備受矚目;每次的歌曲錄音均在自家錄音室(K-Town Studio)中Full-Band錄製,堅持讓聽眾感受完全像現場演出般的效果。

 

As early as in 1998, the rock-pop duo released their first album “Tears In Your Hands” in Italy. The younger brother Dino played guitar in the rock band HANN of Paul Wong, Beyond’s well-known guitarist, and composed songs during the period 2000-2001. It was not until 2005 when Soler released their debut album “Double Surround Sound”. Songs such as “Soul Lost” and “Tsunami” became top radio hits and soon a year later, they held a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum – the dream place for lots of Hong Kong singers to hold their concerts. Talking about their career development in the future, the music talent Dino says, “To me, there are a lot of possibilities in the future, we do not want to limit ourselves to a single way, we want Soler to have a much larger room for creation.” Just like the TV programme series “English Made Easy”, in which they presented in a lively and airy way, has won wide acceptance among the public.

 

主打流行搖滾(Rock-pop)曲風的Soler原來早在1998年已在意大利發表首張專輯《Tears In Your Hands》,而弟弟Dino於2000至2001年間透過作曲踏入香港樂壇,同時為Beyond成員王貫中的另一支樂隊「汗」擔任結他手。Soler於2005年發行的第一張專輯《雙聲道》中派台作品包括《失魂》、《海嘯》,聲線狂野豪邁,2006年更於紅磡體育館舉行演唱會。實力自信兼備的Soler談到將來的歌曲發展路向,Dino說到:「我覺得未來其實有很多可能性,沒有定下一個路線去發展是希望Soler能有更多發揮空間,不想用框框限制自己。」像香港電台製作的《反斗英語》中,Soler生動妙趣的演譯便令觀眾驚喜非常。

Music and Wine

The brothers picked up wine glasses and hummed a song as they were listening to the jazz music. Sipping red wine, Julio says, “Music and wine come hand in hand, a bit of alcohol allows me to relax myself so that I can be more engrossed in music.” The twins, young, vivacious and easygoing, love drinking Chianti wine from Italy. Julio thinks that Chianti wine happens to fit in with their music style – solid and having refined characters. Different styles of wine, nevertheless, pair well with corresponding music styles, doesn’t it give you higher spirits when you enjoy rock music with a bottle of ice beer? Apart from Chianti, wine and spirits lover Soler also likes other reds, whites, spirits like whisky and even Chinese white wine etc. Earlier when they were working in Mainland China, they tried the famous Chinese liquor Moutai, highly alcoholic but rich in aroma – and they describe Chinese liquors as Italian Grappa.

 

音樂與酒

一邊做訪問,Soler兄弟兩人聽著房內播放的爵士音樂,拿著酒杯不由自主地哼起歌來,對於酒與音樂,Julio喝了一口紅酒,說:「音樂和酒是分不開的,適量的酒精能讓我們於享受音樂時放鬆自己,更加全心投入到音樂世界當中。」活潑生鬼的哥哥Julio和率性隨意的弟弟Dino最愛意大利Chianti紅酒,Julio更認為Chianti紅酒與Soler的歌曲創作風格不謀而合,坦率直接,絕不轉彎末角。對Julio來說,不同酒類與不同音樂風格是相配合的,聽重型搖滾樂時手拿一支啤酒直接喝便更爽快。除特別喜愛Chianti外,其他紅白葡萄酒、烈酒如威士忌,甚至中國白酒等,Soler都無一不愛、無一不試。Soler先前於內地工作時,便試喝了著名中國國酒茅台,更形容中國烈酒就像意大利Grappa般,酒精度數雖高,但香氣豐富滿溢。

Soler also makes appearances on silver screen. In the first Taiwanese action movie “Black & White Episode 1: The Dawn of Assault” that premiered in Taipei on 12 January, they are cast as villains who hold firearms and grenade. Taking jobs in Taiwan frequently in recent years, Soler told us that they chill out at bars when they are free and something fun happened to them one time. “Once we went to a bar in Taiwan, the bartender came up, instead of asking us what kind of drinks we wanted, he asked each of us a strange question. Then he made a glass of special cocktail for everyone, guess what? He served it with a fresh hollow apple, how creative he was!” Speaking of creativity, Soler’s “Wind of the Season” stages a cover of Paula Tsui’s work, but we can tell from their re-interpretation of the song that they are full of creative and fresh ideas.
 

除了內地,Soler有份參演的首部台灣動作電影《痞子英雄首部曲:全面開戰》首映會已於1月12日於台北舉行,戲內飾演大反派的Soler將會暫時放下結他,拿起機關槍手榴彈扮演殺手。近年常到台灣工作的Soler工餘時亦會到酒吧消遣,Julio便與我們分享了一則趣事:「有一次我們到了台灣一間酒吧,調酒師來到我們面前,沒有詢問我們想喝什麼,但卻問了我們每人一個無關痛癢的問題,然後為各人調製一杯獨有的雞尾酒。他更即席把一顆蘋果挖空,用以盛載酒液,創意無限。」說起創意,Soler的《風的季節》雖屬翻唱徐小鳳的作品,但他們以其獨特搖滾曲風重新演譯,亦創意新鮮感十足。

Music is the Wine that fills the glass of life The twin brothers, easygoing and amicable, have a wide range of interests especially on food. Same as their music career, they are now developing in both the music and movie fields while producing more different types of music. With rhythms running in their blood, Soler extemporized anytime – photo shooting,interview, make-up (and of course when drinking wines) – they even sang to the barrels like pregnant women singing to their babies! I believe people can do a thing well only if they love it and keep practising even though they are gifted. Like grape-growing and winemaking, favourable terroir, suitable soil, good climate and sun exposure are the basic needs; other than these natural conditions, we need to harvest at the right season, then go through the process of fermentation, fining and blending – it definitely takes time to brew from grape juice into wine. In the world of wine and the world of music, talented people always win, yet all of them went through the process of striving, growing, maturing, as if they were aged in barrels; absorbing the flavors and knowledge, then turn to be part of themselves and walking towards success – like producing a bottle of big, fine wine.
 

音樂,填滿生活的佳釀 Soler兄弟平易近人,談及美食更是雀躍非常,喜愛更是十分廣泛。音樂事業路上亦然,香港台灣兩邊走的Soler現階段同時於電影、音樂界發展,更會嘗試更多不同類型的音樂創作。兄弟兩人身體血液都充滿著天生的節奏感,無論是拍照、訪問、化妝時都會即興jam起歌來(當然還有喝葡萄酒時),他們甚至唱歌給拍照埸地的木桶聽,就像懷孕母親對著BB唱歌一樣 !我相信,人若要把一件事做好,前題是他們必需要充滿熱誠,全心投入,反覆練習,再加上天賦的才藝。就像種植葡萄和釀造葡萄酒,擁有良好的風土、適當的土壤,天氣和日照都是基本的天然條件。在適合的季節收成,然後通過一連串的發酵、沈澱、調配 。從葡萄汁液到葡萄酒,總需要花上一段時間。在葡萄酒、音樂世界中,有才華的人都總是會成功的,但他們都經過奮鬥和努力,成長,成熟,如在橡木桶中陳釀,吸收著外來的味道、知識,轉化融合成自身的一份子,一路向前邁向成功的道路,就如釀成一支偉大的葡萄酒。

(From the February 2012 Issue of Cru Magazine. 刊於《釀.生活》2o12年2月號)

9 Aug, 2012

Local wine magazine founded Hong Kong. It covers not only news about beverage like wine, whisky, sake...etc, it also features lifestyle trends about dining, cocktails, travel, gadgets, and luxury parts composing the metropolitan lifestyle in Hong Kong.

0 Comments