The Works：Tribute to Leonard Cohen, Thai artist Sutee Kunavichayanont & in our studio: guitarist Yan

Last Friday morning, Hong Kong woke to the news of the death of poet, novelist, and singer songwriter Leonard Cohen. He died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles, and was later laid to rest in his hometown of Montreal. He began his music career in 1967 at 33. He released his final album just three weeks before his death. In the meantime he’d touched the lives of many all around the world.
Given that Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton won last week’s presidential election by popular vote but lost it through the electoral colleges, it’s fair to say a minority - Donald Trump supporters - are delighted with how the whole process went. The rest of the country and the world, with the possible exception of Russia, are considerably less happy. Protesters took to the streets across the United States. Artists too are making their dissatisfaction clear. Some have even suggested that in the new conservative climate in many countries, art is going to have an even bigger role to play in mounting a resistance. In our show today, we’ll look at Thai artist Sutee Kunavichayanont’s work on the political realities in Thailand. Like the United States and the United Kingdom, Thailand too is facing its own political stresses. Power and politics are the focus of Thai artist Sutee Kunavichayanont. His largely installation-based works often ask the viewer to engage in a dialogue about freedom and civic responsibility, democratic values and the role of the citizen.
On Friday and Saturday this week Yang Xuefei is playing one of the world’s most recognized guitar concertos with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. She’s here with us right now.