Concert YY - Showcase Of Wyman Wong (4DVD) DVD Region All

The prolific lyricist responsible for seemingly every other Hong Kong song topped the music bestsellers chart in January with the Y100 compilations of his penned hits. In February, he became the first lyricist to hold a series of six sold-out concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Tickets for the concerts were in high demand because of the staggering lineup of artists: Sammi Cheng, Eason Chan, Joey Yung, Denise Ho, a pregnant Miriam Yeung, Twins, Anthony Wong, Ivana Wong, Fiona Sit, William So, Grasshoppers, Andy Hui, Ekin Cheng, Kay Tse, Edmond Leung, Endy Chow, Swing, Candy Lo, Wilfred Lau and more all performing selected works written by Wyman. Short of disaster relief shows, this type of lineup is simply unheard of these days in Hong Kong.

The concert excitingly brought back artists whom we simply don't see too often anymore. Cass Phang, Maggie Fu and Amanda Lee emerged briefly from semi-retirement at Wyman's beckoning. Justin Lo and Daniel Chan returned to Hong Kong. Shine reunited on stage, and their well-received reunion at Wyman's showcase actually paved the way for their own sold-out concerts later in the year. The only non-Hong Kong artists at the concert were Mando-pop legend Jeff Chang and Yoga Lin, whose "Dear Margaret" duet with Anthony Wong was one of the showcase's most surprising collaborations. Another must-see collaboration is Eason Chan and Denise Ho's performance of Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui's Fong Wah Chuet Doi.

Wyman himself sang a duet with Sandra Ng (yes, that Sandra Ng), joking that the only way to make people forget his previous embarrassing performance of the song is to create a new embarrassing performance to replace it. He also indulged his love for design and fashion by wearing the kind of outlandish outfits he's famous for and specially preparing different stage costumes for his guests. As a testament to how much the fashion is very much a part of the showcase, each performer's appearance is captioned with the name of the artist and their outfit's designer in the concert DVD.

Concert YY is as much a showcase of Hong Kong music as it is a showcase of Wyman Wong's works, the two being near inseparable for an entire generation of Canto-pop – a generation that has seen Hong Kong's music industry shrink year by year as the focus of Chinese pop shifted to the Mandarin market and fewer and fewer Hong Kong artists emerged to fill the big footsteps of yesterday's superstars. Is Canto-pop and Hong Kong music still relevant and viable, or even any good? Wyman does his part to answer in the positive with a concert series filled with stars and sincerity. He not only bowled over audiences with big names and karaoke hits, but also gave deserving artists like Swing, Ella Koon and Endy Chow the opportunity to perform at the Coliseum and fulfilled fan wishes to see certain artists onstage again. Concert YY may not convert new fans to Canto-pop, but it does remind those of us who love or once loved Canto-pop that there is good reason to keep listening.