A Little Story
About Resident Composer Rich Ho Kok Tai
An Out of Point Introduction
Rich Ho Kok Tai had spent his life in mainstream education being infamous.
When he was 3, he decided during a family tour to Taiwan to run up a national monument by himself and recite a Chinese poem to the panting tour group who had chased after him.
When he was 11, the teacher said to build a village hut for their history project, and while the other kids bought ice-cream sticks and glue, he ordered timber and concrete. (He never managed to build it, his parents found out a week after the goods were delivered).
When he was 13, while other kids made transparencies for an analytical skills presentation, he transformed the class into an airline and staged a hijacking (featuring explosions from gunpowder scratched out from small fire crackers, a crackling gunpower filled revolver, and a boy being thrown out of the plane…by jumping out of the classroom window in “fear” onto a ledge outside the building). The lady teacher (who was unaware of the ledge outside) screamed and kids from other classes rushed over to watch.
Hearing Music
He started to take basic piano lessons at the grand old age of 13. The teacher declared him hopeless. He quit after a term of lessons.
One night, he looked up towards the skies, and prayed that he might know how to play and write music. In the days that followed, he could suddenly play the piano by ear, and many other instruments that he came into contact with. He began to “hear” music around him, and began to write music with his own music shorthand.
When he was 14, he joined a TV music composition competition. He was asked by the judges, “What kind of music do you usually listen to?” and he replied, “My own.” The judges laughed before they realized that he wasn’t joking. He was the youngest participant and in a later competition, the youngest award winner in its history.
When he was 19, he received his first film commission and Richmanclub Studios was born. He continued to compose music for all of the studios’ productions.
The Birth and Infinite Procrastination of Richopus
Now Rich seems like a completely normal person in our world… well almost. A reporter once asked him about one of his movies, “How did you learn to do all the special effects?”
Rich replied, “I pray.” The reporter laughed before she realized that he wasn’t joking.
“Does it work?” She asked him.
“Every time.” He assured her.
In 2008, Rich decided to return to the music that he had placed secondary to his film making. In that year, Rich kept his director status a secret, and was selected amongst thousands all over the world to Berlin International Film Festival’s Talent Campus as a Film Composer.
Richopus Music was conjured and procrastinated upon, and finally here in 2010, marking Rich’s official return to music.
