Former Kakilang Artistic Director An-Ting 安婷 and writer/performer Daniel York Loh have released the soundtrack to their award-winning multimedia work, every dollar is a soldier/with money you’re a dragon.
Juxtaposing the harsh experiences of the impoverished first Chinese settlers in London with the opulent world of privileged, but nevertheless bitter, émigré William Waldorf Astor, An-Ting 安婷 and Daniel York Loh create a powerful lament on the immigrant experience with spoken word and electronic music, taking in myriad reflections on the need for money and status and the right to call ‘home’ a land that can either reject or embrace you.
An-Ting’s score is a soaring combination of unique ‘Asia beats’, a lonesome tack piano, a jaunty waltz, and elegiac erhu and pipa melody which transports us effortlessly across entire continents, oceans, and winter prairies, into the dark holds of ships, the haunting magnificence of Astor’s very own Xanadu of Two Temple Place, smoke-drenched Victoriana London, even smokier opium dens and the burgeoning concrete mountain range of Manhattan across centuries and all the way to the present while acclaimed classical actor Daniel York Loh narrates his own epic text described by The Upcoming as ‘striking… his delivery of words portraying an array of emotions that perfectly complement the swell from the music…’
Originally commissioned as a live performance at Two Temple Place (the gothic London mansion William Waldorf Astor designed and had built for himself), but moved online as necessitated by the pandemic, every dollar is a soldier/with money you’re a dragon won the 2021 Arts Council Digital Culture Award (Storytelling) and was selected for the prestigious Horizon Showcase at Edinburgh Festival. It was performed live for the first time in Two Temple Place at the 2023 Kakilang Festival.
“As a concert pianist with a heritage rooted in East culture, the prospect of creating a project that harmoniously integrates traditions from both East and West is incredibly exciting. I embedded the distinctive sounds of Chinese instruments into a contemporary style, conveying a different musical expression” – An-Ting
“I wanted to write about migrant journeys. About loss and loneliness, about what we take with us and what we leave behind, and the legacy we want to impart to the next generation. And what we’ll do to ‘belong’” Daniel York Loh
Originally commissioned by Two Temple Place and Kakilang, every dollar is a soldier/with money you’re a dragon, is part gig-theatre, part spoken word rap, performed by writer and actor Daniel York Loh, set against a thrilling combination of electronic music composed by An-Ting 安婷 accompanied by classical Chinese instrumentation –
‘We jumped ship at the dock in this city sickly with gaslight
‘We huddled there in the eastern enclave where we made our world
‘And our own kind of street life… ‘
‘… haunting history… York Loh contrasts this exceptional immigrant story with those of Chinese migrants through history, always “othered” as one homogenous mass, “exploited cockle picker, DVD seller, bat-eater, disease carrier” … The haunted, disjointed mood is underscored by An-Tings music: the delicate flickering strings of Cheng Yu’s pipa and the lonely voice of the bowed erhu played by Wang Xiao…York Loh gives texture to historical biography and migrant fates; opportunities, advantages, and prejudices shifting over the years…” (The Guardian)
every dollar is a soldier/with money you’re a dragon
Track 1 mansion 宅第
Track 2 flight 遷徙
Track 3 astor 亞斯德
Track 4 voyage 迷航
Track 5 dynasty 王朝
Track 6 showtime 登台
Track 7 culture 文化
Track 8 names 無名氏
Track 9 belonging 歸屬
Track 10 community 社群
Track 11 waltz 華爾滋
Album credit
Words written and performed by Daniel York Loh
Music composed and performed by An-Ting 安婷
With Cheng Yu (pipa) and Wang Xiao (erhu)
Photos by Howard Cheng
Audio mixed, mastered, and produced by An-Ting 安婷
Originally commissioned by Kakilang and Two Temple Place
Research source materials: The Chinese in Britain 1800 – Present by Gregor Benton and Edmund Terence Gomez, The Astors by Virgina Cowles
Video credit
Designer: Christine Ting – Huan 挺歡 Urquhart
Creative Technologist: Ian Gallagher
Dance and choreographer: Si Rawlinson
Artist: Chloe Wing
Biographies
An-Ting 安婷 is a versatile artist who thrives in piano, electronic compositions, and various other forms of artistic expression. Drawing from her life experiences, she weaves diverse encounters into her creations, blending music with other art forms to delve into the depths of the human experience.
She has led and co-created productions including HOME X (nominated for UK Theatre Awards, first presented in Barbican), CAN X Two Temple Place: Digital Exhibition and Immersive Performance (Arts Council England’s Digital Culture Award – Storytelling), Augmented Chinatown 2.0 (an app for AR, music and drama), Lao Can Impression (Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room) and Bats and Beats (Soundstate Festival, Shanghai tour).
Between 2018 and 2023, she led the National Portfolio Organisation Kakilang, placing emphasis on establishing an artist-led structure, generating new narratives by Southeast and East Asian artists, and encouraging cross-artform collaborations. Her background presents a unique fusion of science and art, holding a degree in Chemistry from National Taiwan University, alongside an MMus and PhD in performance from the Royal Academy of Music.
An-Ting 安婷 has performed at venues such as Barbican, Southbank Centre, King’s Place, LSO St Luke’s, Newbury Spring Festival, Deal Festival, the Akademie der Künste Berlin (Academy of Arts) and National Theater Taiwan.
In 2012, An-Ting 安婷 founded Concert Theatre which pioneered a new hybrid genre mixing music and theatre. Productions such as Kiss of the Earth (UK tour, 2015) and The Tenant (National Portrait Gallery, 2017) were warmly received.
She has released her albums Songs from My Room, Water Image, Carnival of the Animals and and is working on the next electronic album featuring natural field recordings of bird songs which will be released in February 2024.
Daniel York Loh is a writer, actor, musician, and filmmaker. He is currently Associate Artistic Director of Kakilang, an award-winning Arts Council-funded combined arts company.
As a writer, theatre includes: The Fu Manchu Complex (Ovalhouse/Moongate); Forgotten 遗忘 (Moongate/New Earth/Arcola/Plymouth Theatre Royal), Invisible Harmony 无形的和谐 (Papergang/Chinese Arts Now/South Bank Centre), contributing writer to Freedom Hi 自由閪 (Papergang/Vault Festival), Edition 1 – Living Newspaper Edition 1 (Royal Court), No Time For Tears – part of We R Not Virus – also co-curator (Moongate/Omnibus Theatre), Silent Disco in the Sky (Northern Stage ‘Scroll’ season) every dollar is a soldier/with money you’re a dragon (Kakilang/Two Temple Place/Edinburgh Fringe Horizon Showcase – winner Arts Council England Digital Culture Award/Storytelling), Asian Exclusion Act (also directed – for East 15 Acting School), Beat Poetry (ALRA/Rose Bruford at Omnibus Theatre). Currently under commission for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Graduate of Royal Court Studio writers group and advanced writers group as well as the Orange Tree Writer’s Collective. A former writer on attachment at the NT Studio. Composer Craig Adams was the winner of the 2014 Perfect Pitch/Theatre Royal Stratford East award to create an original stage musical which was then developed at Theatre Royal Stratford East. Dramaturg on Home X for Kakilang, IGNITE audio podcast project for Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Co-curating (with Jennifer Lim) Moongate Mix Salon Sessions including We R Not Virus 2 commissioning five writers funded by Arts Council England for Moongate Productions. He has just completed a short film script commissioned by the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Daniel is featured in the best-selling essay collection The Good Immigrant. His short films include Mercutio’s Dreaming: The Killing of a Chinese Actor (writer/co-director/composer) funded by B3 Media/BBC Writersroom, Night Lives (co-director/composer) funded by London Borough Film Fund, Dream of Emerald Hill (writer) funded by Singapore SG50, Hall of Mirrors (director) winner: Best Drama Short-London Independent Film Awards, Finding Akira (director), Laid (director) for RADA winner: Best Sc-Fi (Cannes Shorts), Best Horror (Paris Short Film Festival), GYM (director) for RADA, The Room Next Door (director) for LAMDA.
Actor theatre includes The Merchant of Venice, The Country Wife, Moby Dick, Snow in Midsummer, Dido Queen of Carthage (RSC); Porcelain, Pah-La (Royal Court) Welcome Home Captain Fox! (Donmar); The World of Extreme Happiness (National); The Shadow Factory (Nuffield, Southampton); LOVE (A Zeldin Company/L’Odeon Paris European Tour), Our American Cousin, We Know Where You Live, P’yongyang (Finborough); Une Tempete (Gate); The Magic Fundoshi (Lyric, Hammersmith); Hamlet (Riverside Studios); Sun is Shining (King’s Head/BAC/59E59 NYC); The Changeling (Southwark); Branded (Old Vic); Turandot (Hampstead); The Tempest (National/Tour); Measure for Measure (Manchester Library); Nativity (Birmingham Rep); King Lear (Shanghai/UK tour); The Good Woman Of Setzuan (Leicester Haymarket); In the Bag (Traverse); Tartuffe, Romeo & Juliet (Basingstoke Haymarket); Five Tanks (Hackney Empire); Made in England (Contact, Manchester/Birmingham Rep); Blind (Courtyard); The Birds (Aquila, NYC/US tour); The Glass Menagerie, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Singapore Rep); The Importance of Being Earnest, Boeing Boeing (Wild Rice, Singapore); Freud’s Last Session (Esplanade, Singapore); Dealer’s Choice (Pangdemonium, Singapore); Starring Hitler as Jekyll & Hyde (Finger Players, Singapore). Most recently: Dr.Semmelweis (Bristol Old Vic), No Particular Order (Theatre 503) Dmitry at the new Marylebone Theatre, and most recently in the West End transfer of Dr. Seemmelweis.
Television includes: Whitechapel, Moving On, Waking the Dead, Casualty, Peggy Su!, Chambers, The Bill, Supper at Emmaus, A Fish Named Tao, Hollyoaks, and Strangers.
The film includes Scarborough, The Receptionist, Rogue Trader, The Beach, Faraway, Act of Grace, Doom, and Casting Fu Manchu.
Radio includes Doggie’s Nirvana, Romeo & Juliet, The Monkey King, Dead Lines, Say It with Flowers, Inspector Chen, The Odyssey Project: Telemachus, Death at the Airport, Peking Noir, Sneakernomics
Podcast dramas: Temporal (Sweet Talk), Fifth Dimension (Out of the Woods/Tamasha), Zoetrope (Hat Trick)
Kakilang 自己人 (formerly Chinese Arts Now) is an Arts Council England-funded company that produces and presents world-class interdisciplinary art from a wide spectrum of Southeast and East Asian voices.
Two Temple Place is a dazzling neo-Gothic gem on the Victoria Embankment, commissioned by and built for William Waldorf Astor in the 1890s. Owned by registered charity The Bulldog Trust, it presents a year-round programme of arts and cultural events and free participatory activities.
Instagram: @danielyorkloh @antingpig @cheng_yu_music @wangxiaouk
Facebook: @daniel.york.503 @antingpig @cheng.yu.102
Twitter: @DanielYorkLoh @ChangAnTing