The First Singtao Amateur Singing Contest took place in 1960. Among the thirty finalists was Wong Jum-sum, who had adopted the stage name ‘Wong Jim’ for fear of being embarrassed from losing.

The contest was divided into a Mandarin and a Western pop section, with, rather symptomatically, no Cantonese section. More than a thousand people joined. Their choice of songs reflected closely the musical leanings of the time.

Wong Jum-sum was ousted at the final 15, an event he regretted for life. By contrast his good friend Judy Jim comfortably got the grand prize in the Western pop section, by taking a leaf from the Patti Page songbook.

The winner of the Mandarin section was Cheung Hoi-wan. She received classical music training and sang the ever-popular Liang Le-yin composition ‘The Song about Selling Sweets’ with a tantalizing mix of inflections.

Very soon, singers from both sections would take a big stride forward, stepping into a brave new world we call the 1960s.

Come Back to Sorrento (1948)

Composer: Ernesto DeCurtis
Lyricists: Giambattista B. De Curtis, Claude Aveling
Vocalist: Gracie Fields

Vide 'o mare quante bello
Spira tantu sentimento
Comme tu a chi tiene mente
Ca scetato 'o faie sunna

See the lovely dewy garden
Breathing orange perfumed greetings
Nought can set my heart a-beating
Like the fragrance of its bloom

E tu dice: “I’ parto, addio!”
T’alluntane da stu core
Da sta terra de l’ammore
Tiene ‘o core ‘e nun turnà?

Then say not good-bye
Come back again beloved
Back to Sorrento Or I must die

Ma nun me lassà
Nun darme stu turmiento!
Torna a Surriento
famme campà!