Asian New Year's Eve - film music and special playlists
The films from the program of Asian New Year's Eve are an opportunity to immerse yourself for a couple of hours in the nostalgic, deep sounds of Hong Kong jazz, daring rhythms of Japanese rock or energetic and entertaining notes of Malaysian indie-pop. Playlists prepared especially for this occasion by Radio Asia will be the perfect addition to the New Year's weekend!
Programme of Asian New Year's Eve
Musical worlds of Asian cinema
Movie soundtrack often stays with us after the screening, allowing viewers to remain a little bit longer in the fictional world: among the titles presented as part of Asian New Year's Eve few use the power of a good song exceptionally consciously.
Filled with thick cigarette smoke nightclubs of Hong Kong are the setting of “Throw Down”, a nostalgic and extremely beautifully shot gangster story. One of the main characters is Mona, who came to the city of neon lights from Taiwan, dreaming of a musical career. The film's jazzy, atmospheric soundtrack takes us into a world of hard rules and emotions hidden under the surface and among songs that will hit you straight in the heart there’s the voice of Paula Tsui, the legendary diwa of the Cantonese scene.
Music is always an extremely important element of Sion Sono films. The director himself is also a member of the band and it is not difficult to see the punk rock spirit in his film work. “Love & Peace", a story about an unnoticeable clerk dreaming of a career on stage, features tunes recorded by his own band, as well as songs by the cult Japanese rock band RC Succession (famous for its extravagant stage costumes and makeup) and very popular in the 1980s. We guarantee that after the screening you will be humming "Love and Peace, omae wa, wasurenai" for months on end.
One of the most extraordinary and craziest propositions for the New Year's long weekend is Malaysian "Sell Out", openly using the form of the musical - but also stand up humour. Protagonists with poker faces sing songs about the injustice of capitalism or the fate of a media corporation worker. A polite form of conventional movie with songs is ripped apart with the ironic claw of an independent auteur's gaze, giving the effect of a remarkable freshness - and the film soundtrack is really catchy!
New Year's Eve playlists
In the time between the films, we recommend playlists prepared by the Radio Asia Festival - a music event, which from 2013 presents the achievements of independent artists from South, East and South-East Asia. Thanks to Radio Asia, the several Warsaw venues were filled with the songs of Buddhist monks and the ecstatic sounds of Korean rockers, wild chants of Chinese grasslands and moans of a burning cello, masterpieces of minimalism and jazz equilibristics, synth-pop tracks and rebellious Thai soul. The next edition of the event is scheduled for December 2021.
Four Radio Asia music compilations provide unique energetic party rhythms for a New Year's Eve and soothing sounds for first January mornings! On the airwaves of Radio Asia's Spotify you can listen to danceable retro music bringing the mood of the 60s and 70s Indonesia or Japan, alternative hip-hop tracks from India, Korea and Vietnam, sweet and catchy guitar songs, as well as psychedelic and hypnotic compositions, which will take you on a journey to very distant corners of Asia.Each playlist consists of over four hours of carefully selected tracks, striking fusions of genres and surprising motifs that make you aware of how much interesting music is still to be discovered!
Radio Asia Retro Sounds are songs from the 60s and 70s from Japan, Korea, Cambodia or Vietnam. Dance rhythms with elements of psychedelic rock, old, sweet melodies and their slightly surprising contemporary interpretations.
Radio Asia Hip-Hop Beats presents selected artists from the alternative and mainstream hip-hop scene from India, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and Malaysia. Intriguing and unconventional combinations of hip-hop rhythms with jazz, funky and local sound.
Radio Asia Soothing Sounds is an excellent choice for a quiet evening or a lazy morning. Relaxing sounds and melodic songs performed by the most interesting artists from the alternative scene of India, Malaysia, Japan, Korea and Nepal.
Radio Asia Deep Trip is a proposal for lovers of minimalism, long sounds, looped motifs and experimental tunes. Among selected artists you can hear artists who have already appeared in the program of Radio Asia Festival: Midori Takada, Hiromichi Sakamoto, Asuna, Masayoshi Fujita or Senyawa.
Podcast: Asian interpretations of popular film genres
Movie genres are a convenient key to navigate the maze of cinema proposals: audiences around the world know what they can expect from a musical, gangster film or horror. However, it's not a secret that Asian cinematography is famous for brilliantly switching between them, combining styles and surprising with original collages of forms as well as creating its own, extremely characteristic genres. The Asian New Year's Eve program includes titles that boldly reinterpret the old patterns and shed new light on comedy, western or zombie-thriller. The latest episode of the Five Flavours podcast is a chance to have a look at the genre concepts chosen by the filmmakers and to learn a few interesting facts about the history of transferring genre cinema on Asian soil.