Hong Kong Soul Brings Bold Cross-Cultural Energy to Edinburgh’s Fringe Stage

Hong Kong Soul is a contemporary platform created by TS Crew to showcase the diversity and unique talents of Hong Kong artists, now in its third year. This year they are presenting four shows as a part of their showcase: No Sugar No Milk (Prototyping), HK Soul showcase – Triple Bill, Rock Hard – A Theatrical A Cappella Adventure and Waves of Tradition: A New Horizon in Scottish-Chinese Music.

We spoke to creative teams from each show ahead of the Hong Kong Soul Showcase at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

What does being part of the Hong Kong Soul showcase at the Fringe mean to you, especially in this time of global artistic exchange?

TS Crew: Hong Kong Soul is a collective platform that showcasing diverse Hong Kong artists with their unique artistic creations. Being part of Hong Kong Soul showcase, it helps TS Crew to anchor itself as one of the important representatives or stakeholders, which in turn, equips TS Crew and it’s creation a handle to take part in the wave of global artistic exchange. Especially, No Sugar No Milk (Prototyping) is a show about re-define and at the same time upholding our identity in the international context. However, it is a fun show with different physical theatre and circus element, where also some traditional performance elements are embedded into our creation too.

Yat Po Singers: Rock Hard is the debut work of Yat Po Singers back in 2008 and the premiere captivated audiences in Hong Kong with its groundbreaking fusion of vocal music and movement. We now bring this production to Edinburgh Fringe as our debut here. We are excited to share our unique art form -  “A cappella Theatre”  to the Fringe audiences, and to showcase our singular approach to both a cappella and music theatre. We are also keen to facilitate more artistic and stylistic exchanges with the talents from all around the world!

Wan Xing: Waves of Tradition- A New Horizon in Scottish-Chinese Music is a premiere program at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the UK space Surgeon’s hall theatre 2 on 6pm from 19 to 23 August 2025. This concert is not only a tribute to the traditions of Chinese and Scottish music but also an innovative fusion of classical, jazz, and world music. 

Being part of Hong Kong soul showcase means we can connect with more regional artists to joint-force and promote innovative and creative arts programs together. I believe this will be influential and inspiring as to cross-cultural music exchange, in terms of ideas stimulations - discovering possibilities of our arts; in terms of exploring the roles of traditional music in today’s world - how we could further push its boundaries. I hope the exchange is going to also bring back new thoughts and reflections to us ourselves as an artist. 

How does your show reflect both tradition and change in Hong Kong?

TS Crew: No Sugar No Milk (Prototyping) has set it’s background story happening in a Hong Kong style café / diner, which we name it “cha chaan teng”. “cha chaan teng” has always been described as a miniature of Hong Kong because every single “cha chaan teng” has its own way to keep the menu update as well as own style of operation, and it keeps evolving to cope with the change in society and atmosphere.

Performing-wise, when compare to No Dragon No Lion, No Sugar No Milk (Prototyping) further breaks down the traditional performance elements into small particles and blended into dance, physical theatre and circus, just like the idea of “cha chaan teng”, keeps evolving with our own style, but still, you can see “Hong Kong” in this piece, even there is a change of “jacket”.

Yat Po Singers: Rock Hard is a wordless musical journey through Hong Kong’s past, present, and future. Merging a traditional Hong Kong folk tale with innovative use of the human voice, Rock Hard is a genre-defying work that leaves audiences spellbound. A group of scouts embark on a hiking trip, their voices echoing through time as they relive the city’s past, myths, and dreams.  Change is constant, but it’s the wisdom we extract from history and the reflections we carry forward that fuel our journey.

Wan Xing: In recent years, Hong Kong is transitioning from focusing on solely promoting our culture and traditions to more an east meets west center for international cultural exchange, apart from being an international financial center. The HK government is actively supporting and hosting similar events and programs not only in arts but also other categories like sports and tourism, whether these are taking place locally or internationally. 

Our cross-cultural music performance Waves of Tradition brings together the Chinese Zheng, Celtic harp and Scottish Bodhrán in a contemporary concert setting that explores connection of different countries through sounds and dynamics. This is exactly what east meets west means (or west meets east), the chemistry of cultural bombardments. And this is also the first-ever crossover of Chinese, Celtic and Scottish music. We wanted to bring to our audience the image of HK being innovative and openness to conventionality.

What inspired you to choose a diner as the setting for this story?

TS Crew:  Since the Hong Kong style diner (“cha chaan teng”) and its content, including how they serve the customers, how to set their menu, the daily operation of the diner are indeed the miniature of Hong Kong, also, when you get into the “cha chaan teng”, it’s like a choreographic physical theatre performance, therefore, we choose a diner as the setting for this story

How does the a cappella format shape the storytelling?

Yat Po Singers: Rock Hard is based on Hong Kong's geological history, featuring mostly non-verbal sounds and tones to produce a picture or to set up a soundscape. Singers recreate the feeling of echoes reverberating between mountains, imitate energetic Chinese percussion during a traditional Chinese wedding scene, sing a childlike and nostalgic lullaby reminiscent of a bygone era... We hope the Fringe audiences will be able to feel the power and directness of human voices beyond language.

What surprised you most when blending Chinese and Scottish music?

Wan Xing: I feel so excited and mind blowing to be able to collaborate with the talented Glasgow based duo Eleanor Dunsdon and Gregor Black. We were amazed by how perfect the tones of the three instruments can come together through our delicate arrangements and superb improvisation. Whats more surprising is we can blend ancient folk songs from China, Scotland, and Ireland into a unique style that is truly one-of-a-kind in the world. I’m sure our audience will be impressed by the music and we look forward to seeing you all in Edinburgh! 

No Sugar No Milk (Prototyping) is at Assembly George Square Studios, Studio 2, 8 – 17 Aug 2025 (not 12), 12.15 (13.15). For tickets go to https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/no-sugar-no-milk-prototyping

Rock Hard – A Theatrical A Cappella Adventure is at Big at theSpaceTriplex, 11 - 23 Aug 2025 (not 14 or 17), 12.20 – 13.15. For tickets go to https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/rock-hard-a-theatrical-a-cappella-adventure

Waves of Tradition: A New Horizon in Scottish-Chinese Music is at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall, Theatre 2, 19 – 23 Aug 2025, 18.00 (18.45). For tickets go to https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/waves-of-tradition-a-new-horizon-in-scottish-chinese-music