Tricia Buser is an internationally-acclaimed singer and the founder of My Musical Studio.
Click here to see Tricia Buser on video
How do you make a difference in Hong Kong?
I’m lucky that a number of my Hong Kong friends are very charitable and have very big hearts. My dear friend, Mahnaz Lee, for example, launched Women Helping Women, a charity that helps families facing domestic violence, and I have been able to get involved in that.
The other thing that is really close to my heart is the International Care Ministries, an organisation that works with the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. I started supporting them a few years ago, but recently it has really become a calling for me.
As a Filipina it has been nice to try to help my fellow countrymen, particularly the children. I have three kids, so I know how hard it is to raise children. But when you don’t have food for the family or can’t afford to send your children to school, that becomes another thing entirely.
A couple of my Filipina girlfriends and I have also just started a kindergarten in the Philippines, which works with kids before they go to school and also offers some food and education for their families.
If you didn’t live in Hong Kong, where else would you like to live?
I think it would have to be Singapore. Firstly, because I love the food and, while that might sound a bit silly, I like to eat. I know life is a little slower there than Hong Kong, but I have three small kids so that isn’t a bad thing.
Another major attraction would be that it is still fairly close to the Philippines. I didn’t used to think that being near my family was important and I didn’t realise that I needed my mum as much as I now do. These days, if I’m travelling – and I go a lot to Europe – it is important for someone to be here with my kids, just to give me peace of mind. That’s one way in which Hong Kong is the best – it’s just a two-hour flight from the Philippines, so my mum can come straight over, if needed.
Which decision changed your life?
When I auditioned for Miss Saigon, I didn’t tell my parents at first. It was only after I’d been accepted, that I realised I would have to take a leave of absence from my studies – I was doing a pre-law course at the time – and I thought: “Now I really have to tell them.” I phoned my mum up in tears and she said: “Why are you crying?”
“I’ve just been accepted for a part in Miss Saigon,” I wailed at her.
“Then why are you crying?” she repeated.
I’ve always been quite studious and I didn’t want to take a break from my studies. My mum was more pragmatic. She said: “Just do it, it’s only one year, and not many people get a chance like this.” Then, one year became three and then I moved to Hong Kong. And I’m not a lawyer. That decision really changed the course of my whole life.
Even though I never became a lawyer, sometimes people ask, only half-jokingly: “Why don’t you go back home and get involved in politics? In the Phillipines, you can be a singer, an artist, even a boxer and be in the Senate.”
I come from a family of lawyers and politicians and, a few years ago, I thought seriously about going home and getting involved. Now, though, I think I won’t. In politics, it’s difficult to stay true to who you are because of all the different things you get exposed to. So, I think I wouldn’t really be the best example to my children if I ever entered politics.
Which language do you wish you could speak?
Mandarin and Cantonese. I’ve lived here for about 10 years now, so it’s getting to the stage where I really feel I should learn, but it’s never quite happened. I’ve tried a few times, but it always proves a bit more difficult than I expected. This is partly because of the time it takes, but also I feel because I’ve reached a certain age. If I were single and didn’t have my children, then I think I’d go to Beijing and study full time for a year.
I can sing a few songs in Mandarin though. Obviously, it’s easier to get the feeling for a song if it’s in a language that you already know, but it’s not as difficult as you would think. It’s just notes, after all. If I’m learning a song in a language I don’t speak, I make sure to ask someone who does understand it to explain it to me line by line. If I really study, I can get it to a reasonable level in a week. I want to get the tones right. I don’t want to sound like a foreigner singing it.
Even if you know a song already, when you sing it in a different language, it doesn’t feel the same. Take Miss Saigon, which I first performed in Dutch. While the story doesn’t change from the English version, for me, the emotions the character goes through are different and some of the lines in the Dutch version feel more heartfelt. I’m not sure what it is, but maybe it connected more with me in a cultural way. As a performer you always need to think about where you’re coming from. If you’re singing in a different language, even if you are performing a part you have played before, it feels like you’re coming from somewhere entirely different and that’s always interesting.
Of course there are some benefits to singing in a language you know well. I can’t really say that English or Filipino is actually my first language as I learnt them at the same time. If I’m singing in one of them and I forget a phrase, then I can ad-lib. I know whether it’s passable. Clearly, in a different language that’s more challenging. When I was performing Miss Saigon in Dutch every time the curtain would go up, I would think I was going to throw up because of my nerves. Then it’d all start and I would think: “Well there are 2,000 people in front of you, you’ve got to get on with it” and it would all fall into place
As well as getting a different perspective on the characters from singing in different languages, it can be different playing the same part at different times in your life. When I was first playing a mother in Miss Saigon, it was before I had my kids. So I had to talk to my mum and my friends who had children about what it was like. Now I have my own children, I look back and think that I got it sort of right, but the emotions were nowhere near as intense. After I became a mother, when I first sang I would give my life for you, which my character sings to her son, I couldn’t finish it. I was so emotional. Even now, when I sing it, I still well up.
What do you find the most attractive feature in a person?
For me, I think it is the eyes. If you look straight into someone’s eyes, then you can almost see into the soul of that person. They can say anything they want – even if it’s a lie – but if you’re looking into their eyes, you can tell. Even in a photograph, you can have the most perfect picture but if the eyes are not smiling – or they are not communicating what they are meant to be communicating – then for me that’s an “epic fail.”
The eyes are even important when talking to small children. Say I’m chatting to my kids, but at the same time I’m on my phone, then they are like: “Mummy you’re not listening properly.” In fact, I think they are probably better than I am at not looking at screens when they’re talking. They like playing on iPads and watching TV, but they also like being outdoors, something they probably get from their father.
When they’re with me, I am very careful but if they’re with their dad… Oh my goodness, they can do anything. They can be climbing rocks and my husband takes them out kayaking and all sorts of things. With him, they are outdoorsy. With me, it is more about the arts, as all three like to sing and dance. They come together, though. When my six-year-old daughter started sailing, she was alone in her little dinghy and, afterwards, I asked her whether she was scared. She said, “Mummy when I got scared I started to sing and then I felt better.” So she’s found a good way to bring the arts into her other interests like sailing.
What has been your most extravagant purchase to date?
I think it would have to be a horse. It was all a little strange really. When I was pregnant with my second son, I would literally wake up in the middle of the night while my husband was asleep and watch the football world cup. I was so into the whole man thing for some reason. Around that time, we went to see a race at the Jockey Club and I fell totally and utterly in love with one of the horses that we saw.
My husband had some friends over from New Zealand and we were talking to them and I mentioned that I’d really love to have a horse. Then our friend from New Zealand said: “Hey, we have a yearling. Would you like to have a look?” So we did and I fell in love. Now, when we go to New Zealand, I visit him. He can’t race unfortunately as he as some problems with his oesophagus, but I think that’s a pretty extravagant purchase, especially as I can’t even bring him here to Hong Kong.
What’s your most hated TV show?
Can it be something you hate so much that you sort of love it too? If so, then my most hated TV show would be the Kardashians. Their lives are really just about clothes and their family life, but then, because of how they are, it suddenly becomes interesting. If I flick it on, I start watching it. Then, when my husband comes in, he starts watching it too, and we find we’ve watched the whole thing. In fact, I would say that I am not a big fan of any the reality TV shows, but I still watch them all. Can we keep that a secret from the wider HK world, please
Thank you.