HKBU Alumnus Albert Au Shui-keung (Communication)

The BUddy Post has interviewed alumnus Albert Au, founder of Music Farm, who will share with us the development of the Farm and his love for music.

Reporter: Can you share with us the development of Music Farm?

Albert: I established the Farm about 25 years ago which was initially called Anthropological Survival Out-Reach and was a non-profit making organisation. It aims at training youngsters and children the necessary survival skills and mind-set in overcoming the challenges in nature. All our activities were held outdoors as we wanted participants to survive on nature. These trainings are indeed essential to the personal development of children, particularly for those who grow up in a protected environment.

Ten years after its establishment, the Farm had trained up many talented people. Some of them have become our volunteers and some have become social workers who helped further promote our training and thus forming a strong network.

As I have some knowledge about how to farm since young, I also tried to teach people how to farm. I wanted children to understand that many things in our daily life come from mother nature and take time to grow and develop. I think it is very important for children to learn this concept. Regrettably, we needed to trim down the scale of this activity because of budget deficit.

We then developed to become a charitable organisation and become fully self-sufficient financially.

Reporter: What are the characteristics of the Farm’s activities?

Albert: Our activities combine learning with fun. I would say, our activities are “Edutainment”. I think without fun, learning activities would be quite boring and this applies to our life. We should do things that are interesting to us even if it may involve some pain from time to time.

We also have music workshops in which 20 students will learn music together. This is very different from the 1-to-1 teaching mode in other learning centres. We also organise activities for different parties such as teaching them to make bread in brick oven. But it is not enough to simply organise good activities. The Farm also needs to pay attention to marketing. In my opinion, a charitable organisation should do things no different from other organisations.

Reporter: Can you share with us your direction in music?

Albert: I love soft music since I was young. I love folk songs by Peter, Paul and Mary. In fact, most of the things I do such as singing and producing records carry a sense of nature. I have once produced a series of records titled “Purifying Hearts” in which I blended in the sounds of nature such as wind, wave and water. The sales of this series were very good and it was one of the platinum records. Slowly, I have established my style of being natural and the audience can recognise my voice right away.

Reporter: You will be staging a charity concert in coming April. Can you introduce it to our alumni?

Albert: The concert is called “Albert Au Loves You Forever 2014 Concert” which aims at bringing to audience good songs and laughter. Special guests of the concert include Alan Tam, Eric Tsang, Nick Chan, Teresa Carpio, Bowie Wu, C All Star and pianist Vincie. They will all sing in my concert. Some of the proceeds of the concert will be donated to Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care and Music Farm. There are 4 types of tickets available and they are priced at HK$580, $480, $380 and $280. HKBU alumni can enjoy a 10% discount if they purchase tickets through the Order Form for HKBU alumni. However, due to administrative issue, no discount can be provided if alumni choose to purchase the tickets through URBTIX. I hope I can help strengthen alumni’s network through my concert.

Interviewee’s Biography:

Albert Au is an alumnus of School of Communication. He is the founder of Music Farm and a famous disc jockey. His folk songs are so well-known by people that earn him the reputation of “Prince of Folk Songs”.