Lam Kar-sing, born Lam Man-shun in Hong Kong on 18 January 1933 and a native of Dongguan, Guangdong, fell in love with Cantonese opera as a boy. In 1941 he first studied singing and the yangqin at the Rose Music Academy under Yung Tak-yi and Yung Tak-cheong, then moved to Guangzhou with his family, where he and his sister Lam Kar-yee studied formulaic scenes and stage Mandarin under Tang Chiu Lan Fong, learned principal percussion from Lee Hoi-yung, and trained under maestros including Wong Chi-wan, Wong To, Wong Yuet-sang and the Peking-opera teachers Zhou Wenwei and Wan Chunming; he also trained in both the Northern and Southern martial schools. A child prodigy, he played Wu Song at nine, debuted at twelve and took the name 'Kar-sing' at fourteen. At sixteen he became percussion leader for Sit Kok-sin and was later accepted as his disciple. From 1949 he worked with many troupes, forming his own in 1962 and, in 1966, another that staged such works as Blood-Stained Spring and Autumn. He made his screen debut as a child in An Orphan Raised on Love (1947), took his first leading role in Why Not Return? (1958), and appeared in more than 300 films between 1947 and 1967, his last being Madame Lee Sze-sze (1967). In 1976 he made a 26-episode Cantonese opera series for RTV. After 38 farewell performances in 1993 he emigrated to Canada, founding the Lam Kar Sing Foundation in 1994. He was decorated three times, and also received the 1983 Hong Kong Top Ten Screen and Stage Stars Golden Globe, an honorary fellowship of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1999, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council's Lifetime Achievement Award for Chinese Opera in 2000, and an honorary doctorate in 2010. He returned to Hong Kong in later years and, despite Parkinson's disease, kept promoting Cantonese opera. He died on 4 August 2015.
Lam Kar-sing carried the Southern-school craft inherited from Sit Kok-sin into post-war Cantonese opera, and his many films spread operatic movement and singing to cinema audiences. Through his own troupes he preserved signature works such as Drums Along the Battlefield, becoming a mainstay of 1960s Cantonese opera. The foundation he set up in his later years has continued to train new performers and promote the art.
Achievements
- 1947 · Made his screen debut as a child actor in An Orphan Raised on Love.
- 1962 · Founded his own Cantonese opera troupe, staging signature works such as Drums Along the Battlefield.
- 1994 · Established the Lam Kar Sing Foundation to promote Cantonese opera and nurture new talent.