[HK Magazine] 2008-6-20 照片：http://0rz.tw/f24i9 It didn’t take long for singer-songwriter Khalil Fong to make a name for himself. At the age of 20 he began writing songs professionally, and now, at 24, he’s the man behind some of Cantopop’s biggest stars, composing hits for the likes of Fiona Sit and Eason Chan. He talks to June Ng. When I was six, my family moved to Shanghai. My dad is from America, but he wanted to go back to China so that I could learn about Chinese culture and not be totally alienated from it. 1991 was a really good time to come back. China had just opened up to the rest of the world. I got to see a lot of stuff at an early age. My parents put me in local school so that I could be immersed in the culture. Chinese people are unique. They’re very hardworking and have lots of fire, but at the same time they adapt to different conditions and circumstances well. But I don’t see myself as Chinese. I’m a world citizen. Somebody told me the world is one country and that all of mankind is its citizens. That’s a good sentiment for this moment in time. I write music with my soul. I write songs that I believe in and I want people to be affected by. I want to share my emotions and what I see in life. Music to me is one of the most unique expressions we have on earth. It’s a very powerful tool that can do a lot of good. But it can do a lot of bad too. My parents are both Baha’i. But I was not born into this religion. I decided I wanted to become Baha’i when I turned 15, the legal age to make such decision. Baha’i has about a 160-year history. We believe that all religions are from one god, and come in cycles. Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad, Abraham... they are all prophets from one religion. God shows up as a prophet at different points in time. And each prophet has a purpose, to bring direction to the world. I have lived in Hong Kong for 11 years. I like it here. Hong Kong is very international, but unreal at the same time—it’s like the most unaffected place in the whole world. However, this also makes it hard to see what’s really happening outside of our world here. It’s almost like a highly evolved safe house. We have everything at the tip of our fingers, but we are very protected and enclosed. The one thing I hate is that it is getting more polluted here. When we have an environment that has given us so much, we should give back. The more you give,the more you get—that’s a universal law. It may not be immediate, but it will come. Knowing you could have done more but didn’t is a severe punishment. For me, hell is being away from someone you love. Spiritually speaking, it is when a soul is so far from God that he doesn’t recognize beauty anymore. I don’t believe Michael Jackson is a child molester. He never had a proper childhood, and that might make him misunderstood. If you can learn to be happy without relying on material things, that’s when you’re really happy. Tangible things don’t matter. It’s the things that we can’t see with our own eyes that will keep us happy in the long run. “What’s up?” is my motto. You say “what’s up?” to someone, and everyone in the world is your friend. This attitude would really help a lot of people in how they see the world. Khalil Fong’s new album comes out this September, but you can download his latest song, done in conjunction with Cartier: www.love.cartier.com . --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 203.218.56.3