radio – Clara Hsu

On Radio

One of the most memorable childhood pastime is listening to the radio. Summer days were spent lying on my father’s big bed. After the news at noon the radio played theme songs of the latest movies, followed by story-telling and Chinese opera excerpts.

At seven-thirty at night our maid would set up the ironing board in the kitchen. I sat on the low stool while she ironed, and together we listened to our favorite radio show, Diary of a Stout-hearted Husband, a comic parody on family life.

My connection with the radio remains, with live-in partner Dore Stein (Tangents Music Radio, KALW), friends Avotcja and Stephen Kent, hosting shows on KPOO and KPFA. Tomorrow my voice will come out of the radio during Jack Foley’s Cover to Cover show (KPFA, 3pm). I had often wondered what was on the other side of that box that I spent so much time with. Now I know, and it still amazes me.

Our Daily Listening

From the moment of waking my ears are actively decoding. It is second nature, and I don’t think about it unless there is a change in the ambiance—like rain pattering on the window, or birds making extra noise, or complete silence, which can be quite startling. I am most conscious of listening when learning Arabic. It is a language that fascinates me. How much listening does it take before the brain acknowledges and stores the information? I’m sure it has to do with intention and individual ability. After several years of on and off lessons, I retain very little and often blank out whenever I am given an opportunity to practice. Besides listening to a series of lesson tapes, I have developed a habit of going to BBC Radio Arabic on the internet. At times I hear a word or two that I have studied. The rest is incomprehensible. It is disappointing but it’s the best I can do for now.

My father’s hearing began to decline after a stoke over fifteen years ago. He used to practice on the cello every day, go to concerts, and listen to the classical music station first thing in the morning. Now completely deaf, I find him sitting in front of the TV watching in silence Yo Yo Ma in concert or Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco symphony. Perhaps he is reminiscing. Perhaps in his mind he hears the music, that which he had stored from years of daily listening.

Music Orgy

I enjoy having the house by myself on Saturday nights while Dore does his show, Tangents, at the radio station. I hardly listen to his show. After a long day of teaching I find his selection usually too energetic. All I want is quiet.

We receive three to five CDs in the mail every day. When Dore auditions he puts the music on loud. The sound fills the kitchen and the living room. Escape is difficult, even when I keep my door closed, the pulse of drums and bass seep through.

Sometimes though, his music connected with me on a gut level and would change my state of being. One day I walked into the house to the music of cello and piano. The two instruments were in a most intense dialogue, drawing from each other’s breath, entwining, bemoaning, separating, coming back together, making love, urging the listener, stirring up an emotion that needed immediate fulfillment. I joined the orgy. Pen to paper, poetry flowed out like a third stream.

Photo credit: Raymond Van Tassel