英文内容：
20 Years Ago Today
To some, Beyond are the greatest Chinese rock band ever. To others, they are inglorious, latter-day sellouts. Indisputable, however, is Beyond's surprising longevity in Hong Kong's fickle music scene. In May the band celebrated their 20th anniversary with five capacity concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum, and they've added three more shows at the same venue for this weekend. There is good reason for the hype: the concert series represents the first time the band has performed together since they took a solo-career sabbatical in 1999.
For fans, the shows have been especially poignant. Late vocalist Wong Ka-kuikilled in an accident in 1993 at the age of 31has been resurrected in the form of a life-size video projection, alongside his former band mates. This eerie guest appearance takes place during the performance of Wong's Fighting War for 20 Years. "Ka-kui played the music on an acoustic guitar and hummed along. We added our instruments and sang the lyrics," says bassist Ka-keung, Wong's 38-year-old brother. "This then became a song that our full band performed. So we got the idea that we wanted to bring him onstage with us as well."
It's hard to overstate the importance of Beyond to Hong Kong music fans under 40. In a scene long dominated by insubstantial teen idols, Beyond have been the Beatles, the Clash and Oasis rolled into one. To this day they remain the only Hong Kong band to have made the transition from underground obscurity to mainstream stardom. From their first single?1987's Songs of Yesterday? They've achieved this by espousing an openhearted, socially aware brand of rock that compensates for its occasional ham-fistedness with endearing sincerity. Through 27 albums, their songs of protest and peace have touched on everything from human rights to China's social contradictions to the aspirations of ordinary Hong Kongers. One of their most famous songs, 1990's Days of Glory, is about Nelson Mandela: "Today there's only a battered body left to welcome the days of glory/ Holding on tight to freedom." For many of Hong Kong's apolitical youth, it was the first time they had heard of the South African leader.
Today, sitting in their landmark Kowloon studio? where the walls are covered with two decades of messages from fans? The boys from Beyond are in an affable and unapologetic mood. "It's a technique to be able to strike a balance between rock and commercial music," says Paul Wong, the band's 39-year-old guitarist. "Once you decide to produce albums, undergrounders call you rock traitors, but the public doesn't even know who you are yet. Every day you're struggling between commercialization and your dream, which we had to remember very clearly. [That dream] was to change the music industry and the situation [in Hong Kong]."
The record companies didn't make things easy, either. "It's like they kept pouring buckets of cold water over our heads," says Yip Sai-wing, 39, Beyond's drummer. "We wrote a lot of songs for them, but they'd always say the songs wouldn't work. Some wouldn't even listen to our songs. They'd just take a look at us and reject us on the spot. We had to make a lot of compromises to meet their requests. We attracted a wide public [later] ... then we were able to slowly turn back to doing what we wanted."
After this weekend's concerts, Beyond will embark on a world tour, playing to mainly Chinese audiences in Asia, Australia, Canada and the U.S. "When we feel as if we've performed to all our fans around the world, as a thank you to them, then the tour will end," says Ka-keung. But it looks as though there might be more of Beyond on the way. A new generation of devotees is emerging, with many longtime fans now bringing their children to the shows. "Our dream now is to capture the third generation?our fans' grandchildren," laughs Yip. "Then we can be the Hong Kong Rolling Stones." For now, it seems, nothing can stop Beyond?not even death.
By CARMEN LEE / HONG KONG
Monday, Jun. 16, 2003
原文:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,458836,00.html
中文翻译：
20年前的今天
对于有些人来说，BEYOND无可厚非是中国最好的摇滚乐队，但对于另一部分人来说，他们却是不出名的（这句我不知道怎么翻译才对。latter-day sellouts是出卖现实的意思。可能因为他们的确是深度欠佳也过于流行，音乐也旧了一些）。但不容置疑的是，BEYOND无疑是香港这片追求多元素的音乐市场中最长寿的乐队。在今年的（2003）五月，为了庆祝BEYOND成立20周年，他们在香港红堪体育馆一连举行了五场演唱会。而在本周他们又在红堪继续加开了三场。对于媒体大肆的宣传这里有一个重要的原因：连续的多场演唱会代表着BEYOND自从1999年单飞之后第一次以组合的身份重新回到歌迷的身边。
对于歌迷来说，这次的演唱会是带着特殊伤感的，也有特殊的意义。1993年因为意外事故去世的年仅31岁的BEYOND主唱黄家驹被主办方利用镭射技术手段将他的影像重现舞台，再一次站在了他的队友身边，实现4人共唱效果。当时他们一同“演唱”了《抗战二十年》。“家驹会边弹吉他边哼唱。我们会加入我们的乐器和我们的和音。”贝斯手——黄家驹38岁的弟弟黄家强如是说。“我们又在一起唱歌了，所以我们一直有这样的想法，想把他重新带上我们的舞台，就像我们曾经在一起唱歌那样。”
对于香港40岁以下的歌迷来说，BEYOND 的重要性是毋容置疑的。在很长一段时间内被当今“虚渺”偶像支配的歌迷来说，Beyond就像 Beatles（英国的甲克虫乐队）, the Clash 还有Oasis rolled 一样代表着一种精神（这一句不知道怎么翻译）。直到今天，BEYOND也是香港唯一一支从地下一越成为乐坛主流的乐队。从1987年的单曲《旧日的足迹》开始，他们才被大众所熟知。他们也因为真诚与执着成为了香港的著名乐队，深深打动了乐迷的心。通过27张唱片集，他们充满抗议和和平的的音乐涉及到了在中国的社会现状中关于人权的各个方面，以及一个普通香港人的志向。其中他们最著名的一首歌，创作于1990年的《光辉岁月》是写给伟大的南非黑人领袖曼德拉的：“今天只有残留的驱壳，迎接光辉岁月，风雨中抱紧自由”对于那些并不关心政治的青少年来说，这是他们第一次听到南非领袖的故事。
今天，坐在他们的九龙演播室（我觉得是2楼后座吧？）？身后的墙上粘贴着来自于歌迷留下来的200多条留言。这些BEYOND成员都怀着友善和矛盾的心情。BEYOND乐队的吉他手黄贯中说：“在摇滚和商业音乐中找到平衡是一种技术。一旦你决定说要出专辑，地下的乐手便称你为“摇滚叛徒”，但是大众甚至不知道你是谁，你每天都会在商业化和你的梦想之间挣扎。[那个梦想]就是要改变[香港]的音乐产业和现状。
唱片公司也有时把他们陷入到困难之中。“他们的做法就像是从我们头顶上泼了一盆冷水下来。”39岁的BEYOND乐队的鼓手叶世荣说到。“我们写了很多的歌，但是公司总是说我们的音乐无法发表。歌迷是不会听这些东西的。他们仅仅是粗略的看了一下就当场拒绝我们。为了迎合他们的要求我们做了很多次的妥协，我们（用另一种音乐）决定吸引更多的观众群、、、但是请相信我们，我们不久后就会回来的，然后继续做我们想要的音乐。”
周末的演唱会结束之后，BEYOND就要开始他们的世界巡回演出之旅了。这场音乐的旅行将遍及中国大陆，澳大利亚，加拿大还有美国。“我们会去我们感觉到的所有全世界歌迷的面前，向他们表达我们心中的感激。然后演唱会就会结束了。”黄家强这样说到。但这似乎有更多的“BEYOND”走向这条路，新一代为音乐努力的爱好者将会涌现，有很多听了BEYOND好多年的歌迷带着他们的孩子奔赴演唱会的现场。“我们的音乐（梦想）要影响（吸引）到第三代了么？我们歌迷的孙子们？”叶世荣笑了起来， “我们已经成为了香港摇滚乐的基石。”
现在还有什么能阻止BEYOND么？我想BEYOND打不死的精神会长存于世。
作者：Carmen Lee/香港
星期一，2003年6月16日
翻译：昨日虫现/LBBEYOND/BEYOND帝国
