Yam Kim-fai
| Yam Kim Fai | |
|---|---|
 Yam Kim Fai (left) | |
| Chinese name | 任劍輝 (traditional) |
| Chinese name | 任剑辉 (simplified) |
| Pinyin | Rén Jiànhuī (Mandarin) |
| Jyutping | Jam4 Gim3 Fai1 (Cantonese) |
| Birth name | Yam Lee Chor (任麗初) |
| Origin | Hong Kong |
| Born |
4 February 1913 Nanhai, China |
| Died |
29 November 1989 (aged 76) Hong Kong |
| Occupation | Actress, performer |
| Genre(s) | Cantonese opera |
| Yam Kim-fai | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 任劍輝 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
Yam Kim Fai (Chinese: 任劍輝, 4 February 1913 (Lunar 29 December 1912) – 29 November 1989), also known as Ren Jianhui[1] was a renowned Cantonese opera actress in China and Hong Kong.
She was most notable for her unique ability to sing in the lower register. That her opera voice was indistinguishable from a male one allowed her to play either male or female roles, though she usually performed male ones.
Early life
Born Yam Lee Chor, Yam had been performing with a Cantonese opera troupe since she was young. When Yam was 14, her aunt, another Cantonese opera actress, began Yam's formal training. Later, Yam furthered her musical studies with Wong Lui Hap, who was known for being the female version of Ma Sze Tsang.
In 1939, Yam joined an all-female opera troupe and, for ten years, was stuck in Macau when her hometown in Guangzhou fell to the Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Yam played the male lead in many Cantonese opera stage productions in those years opposite many actresses, including Tsui Yan-Sam, Tam Lan-Hing and Tang Pik-wan. Meanwhile, she moved her family, including her younger sister Yam Bing-Yee into her new home in Macau. With the financial help from Mr. Ho Yin, father of Edmund Ho, in Macau, she formed a new opera troupe called New Voice Opera Troupe with the following performers:
1.Chan Yim Nung, the Daan
2.Au Yeung Kim, the Cau
3.Lang Chi Bak, the Zing
4.Wong Chin Sui
5.Chan Kam-Tong
6.Yam Bing-Yee
Career
Yam played the male lead in many Cantonese opera stage productions in Hong Kong, post-war, opposite many actresses, including but not limited to:
1. Fong Yim Fun- many operas were adapted for the screen, a few iconic ones are listed below.
1955 ： A Pedestal of Rouge Fragrance, first version
1957 ： Goddess of the Luo River
1958 ： Butterfly Lovers
1958 ： Swallows Come Home
1958 ： A Buddhist Recluse for Fourteen Years
1958 ： The Story of Yutangchun
1959 ： The Summer Snow
1959 ： A Pedestal of Rouge Fragrance, second version
1959 ： Regret from the Spring Lantern and Feather Fan
1959 ： The Moonlight and Pipa of the Borderland
2. Yu Lai Zhen - many movies were made from stage productions.
3. Chan Yim Nung - the Dream of the Red Chamber
4. Tang Pik-wan - many movies were made from stage productions.
5. Hung Sin Nui - vocal records were made from those plays.
For movies, Yam played the male lead opposite just about every female lead, young like daughter of Leung Sing Bor included. In the 1961 movie, Fun on Polygamous Marriage, Yam is married to eight wives; Yu Lai Zhen, Tam Lan-Hing and Yam Bing-Yee are three of the actresses opposite Yam in it as the wives.
Since 1956, Yam was limited to only work on stage opposite Bak Sheut Sin, fifteen years her junior and green from debut only in 1953, as the abandoned woman, a character like Eliza in My Fair Lady, in Red Cherries and a Broken Heart.
Between 1953 and 1956, Bak played second fiddle to either Fong Yin Fun or Hung Sin Nui when Yam was the male lead opposite any one of them or Chan Yim Nung before that.
They reprised many of those roles when the operas were adapted for the screen between 1951 and 1968. The only two made into movies are Li Yi in The Legend Of The Purple Hairpin and Zhou Shixian in Tai Nui Fa.However, some of Yam's major roles include Liu Mengmei in the Cantonese opera version of The Peony Pavilion and Pei Yu in The Reincarnation of Lady Plum Blossom were never made into movies. The later is available only in vocal record. Her Liu Mengmei was never recorded for commercial purpose.
Her last public performance was in 1972, when she and Bak Sheut Sin sang the final scene from Tai Nui Fa together for the TVB telethon event that was hosted for the victims in the 18 June landslide. Yam never performed in public again since then. Instead, she kept her protégée close by for training and proper upbringing to be her successor. With her successor well established as a professional Cantonese opera performer, she moved to Canada during the early 80s. In 1989, she died at her home in Hong Kong due to pleural effusion.
See also
References
- ↑ Zhang, Yingjin (2004). Chinese national cinema. Routledge. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-415-17290-5. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
External links
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