Personal File
Name： Uwechue EmmanuelChinese Name： Hao GeNationality： LiberianOccupation： SingerTime in China： 4 yearsIn the year 2003， a young African cameto China with nothing but a dream — a lifelongdream for music. Four years have gone bysince then， and he has built up an enormous reputationas a singer in this country and made hisdream come true. How did he do it? When thiswriter sat down for an interview with this youngman， he went back through time to show thecolorful footprints he has left along his path oflife.
54 “Star Boulevard”， a talent show at the China Central TelevisionStation， is an immensely popular singing contest whose ratingsrising rapidly from the weekly preliminaries， to the monthly knockout，to the annual grand finale. Like all previous annual finales， the2006 one was once again another feast for the audience’s eyes andears. An African singer from Liberia won zealous fans among the audiencewith his unique voice during one of them monthly competitionsin 2006. At the annual finale， he took TV viewers by storm with hisincisive and vivid melodious representation of Chinese songs， winningsecond place. Many of the viewers， though， felt he deserved a betterprize， and even complained online against the unfairness to him.
The singer， Uwechue Emmanuel， has a resounding Chinese name— Hao Ge， which means “good song”。 All those who are touched byHao Ge’s singing concede that he absolutely deserves that name. Ashe enjoys ever-increasing popularity， Hao Ge also receives constantinvitations to perform on many TV programs and gala events all overthe country. To everyone’s surprise， this young African has become afocal point and an unusual sight on China’s stages， attracting big audiencesat grand art festivals. Now， if you search on the Internet for “HaoGe” （in Chinese， of course）， you’ll find tens of thousands of related results，and the number swells with each passing day. Many people haveenjoyed his songs online and the number of viewers of his video clips has been high.
Popular as he is， Hao Ge assumes no air of celebrity and is stillas coy and good-natured as he used to be. Whenever someone complimentshim on his outstanding performance， he just blushes a bit andasks for “mercy”。 He is the exact image of a good child so adored bythe Chinese.
A Five—Year—Old Boy Moved His Audience to TearsThe six-foot Hao Ge， strong and sturdy， is in such good shape thathe would be “fat if he gained one pound， skinny if lost one pound”。
Many say he looks like the 1995 World Footballer of the Year GeorgeWeah. In fact， black people often look similar to the Chinese， just asChinese all look identical in the eyes of Westerners. The TV screenhas a slight distorting effect on performers’ images， and the real HaoGe appears a little bit more elegant in person than Weah.
Hao Ge has an acknowledged rare voice， a blessing from God.
His authentic and scientific method of singing reveals that he has hadprofessional training. When I asked him about his musical education，he said “Choir in church，” with a smile. “I started singing as a choirboywhen I was only five years old. The priest taught us vocal techniquesas well as the Bible.” The then five-year-old lad， only slightlyhigher than an adult’s knee， already had the experience of performingfor the public. Maybe that’s why Hao Ge is always able to touch theemotions of his audience with his singing.
When he was still five， Hao Ge even went onstage as the leadsinger on a grand occasion. “I still remember， when my choir performedin a gym for the first time， many adults present were movedto tears.” A five-year-old little kid leading a group of children， singingsongs with an angel-sweet voice， created an extremely holy， pure andbeautiful religious atmosphere in which all present felt their souls purified，and extended with tears their heartfelt thanks to God.
When the little choirboy grew up， he got fairly good grades inschool. Although he was someone who ardently loved music， Uwechuewas not allowed to choose his own major. “My parents have56 the absolute final say in my family， and we were left with almost nochoice for our majors. Just like many other Africans from a traditionalculture， my father expected that I would work as a doctor， a lawyer， oran engineer after I was out of college.” It seems that African parents，like Chinese parents， have a fixed idea of “longing to see their sonsbecome dragons”， or hoping their kids have a bright future.
According to his father’s arrangements， Uwechue went to MoroviaUniversity’s Mathematics Department and finished school with hisM.S. degree. Even though he had no interest in mathematics， he wassmart to get his degree with a pretty decent grade. Then he worked asan airplane engineer， an occupation admirable to many， but since musicis his lifelong passion， Uwechue found the job as torture for him.
