"Jambalaya" by Chang Loo

Chang Loo, circa 1950s
(from The Age of Shanghainese Pops: 1930-1970)

Chinese pop music has always developed hand in hand with Chinese cinema, so I hope you don't mind if I occasionally indulge in a musical tangent or two. Recently I was listening to a Chang Loo CD that I picked up a few years ago and was really digging her song "小癩痳" (sorry, I don't know the English translation). The back of the CD case indicated that it was a cover version of "Jambalaya". Now, I'd eaten the dish before when I was in New Orleans, but I'd never heard the song. So, I was surprised to discover that it was a big hit in the early 1950s, originally recorded by none other than Hank Williams, and has been extensively covered throughout the years by artists ranging from Brenda Lee to The Carpenters.

There couldn't have been a Chinese singer more appropriate than Chang Loo to record this "creole" song. Influenced by Hawaiian, Japanese, Latin, and Western styles, Chang Loo epitomized the global vogue for all things cosmopolitan. According to an interview excerpted in The Age of Shanghainese Pops, it was Brazilian singer Carmen Miranda who inspired her to take up singing.

At 15 and 16 I was in Shanghai and had just left school. I liked music and in movies I happened to come across Carmen Miranda, a Brazilian singer - definitely the wild kind. In Shanghai we rarely had fruits, but she had fruits on her hat, a really big hat (with all those fruits). And the way she swung and wriggled, with very little clothes on. That kind of tropical allure, (as I watched) I just thought she was a goddess, and wanted to see more of it. She gave me a lot of inspiration, and it was then that I felt that foreign people were so open, so energetic. It made me feel that singing was a very enjoyable thing.

Without further ado, here is Chang Loo cooking up some tasty jambalaya, Hong Kong-style.

小癩痳 ("Jambalaya") by Chang Loo
(play song)

References
The Age of Shanghainese Pops: 1930-1970 by Wong Kee Chee