I recorded my friend Roy who grew up on Wuchang Lu. I had always wanted to record his story but forgot about it until recently when he posted pics of his collaboration with an artist that took him to his old neighborhood. I told him that we had to do it this week. We began in front of the Peace Hotel along the Bund which was his edge of his world when he was young. We walked along Suzhou Creek and past the old central Post Office and into his area. The area was mostly developed and inhabited by Cantonese residents since the 1920s. We went to an old Nongtang across from his former house which was half demolished waiting for the last few residents to leave. His house was the only old structure left on his street, it was amazing to record where he lived as a child. Nearby, we saw the architectural models where the residents to be relocated could select their new home. Roy's story was amazingly personal and recorded his own discovery of a part of town that he rarely came back to since his family moved out many years ago. It was an amazing recording.
