Ballad Beyond Edge 岸上漁歌

Year of production: 2012-2016
Stage of Production: Post-production
Estimated Duration: 120 mins
Technical aspect: Full HD video, Dolby Surround 5.1
Language: Cantonese, Tanka

Synopsis:
In the past, Tanka(蜑家) fishermen, living on the fishing junk, were named “Sea Gipsy”, in the eye of British anthropologist. The fishermen songs is one of the most significant culture, reflecting the dialect, species of the fish, ritual, and moral value. However, the songs are fading in the modern society and going to extinction when the old fishermen passed away. The film portraits three elderly fishermen, tracing their stories from the sea to the shore, and their faith towards the death, so as to the end of fishermen culture.

Fishermen Songs Tanka Fishermen Song (another name Salty water song 鹹水歌) is a unique local narrative singing tradition in Tanka Fishermen dialect/language, very much like Cantonese Naamyam (南音). However, Tanka fishermen song is mainly solo vocal without instrument. The song narrates the different aspects of life, eg. voyage song（航海歌） remarking the old sailing route; the farewell song（嘆歌）telling the hardship and honour of life in wedding and funeral respectively: fish-name song(魚名歌) drawing the fish characteristics and its habit. The brilliant singer can even improvise to create lyrics expressing the instant feeling and story in the tone of fishermen songs. The poetic one even play on Chinese wording in relation to the historical heroes and folk tales.