Members of the Grant Avenue Follies, an upscale dance troupe based in San Francisco’s Chinatown, collaborated with rapper Jason Chu on the Lunar New Year song “That Lunar Cheer.”
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Members of the Grant Avenue Follies, an upscale dance troupe based in San Francisco’s Chinatown, collaborated with rapper Jason Chu on the Lunar New Year song “That Lunar Cheer.”
IW Corporation
A cabaret dance troupe made up of elders from San Francisco’s Chinatown released a rap music and celebratory video Lunar New Year.
It’s cheering the mooncooperation between Grant Avenue and Los Angeles-born rapper Jason Chuhip hop enters the Year of the Rabbit with calls for food, family, and fun.
“We’ve had a few challenging years, and we want to wish everyone a happy new year and make sure it’s a peaceful and healthy new year. That’s very important to us. “, Cynthia Yee, co-founder of Follies told NPR. “We have customs that we have to follow, such as cleaning the house before New Year’s Day to wipe out all bad luck and welcome the new year.”
The video was sponsored by AARP, a nonprofit interest group that focuses on issues affecting people over the age of 50.
No stranger to hip-hop
The 12 members of the Follies, ages 61 to 87, may be into tap dance and songs from the 1950s and 60s. But they’re no strangers to hip-hop.
It’s cheering the moon is the group’s third rap track to date. The Follies song opposes violence against people of Asian descent, Gai Mou Sou Rap (named after the chicken duster that Chinese parents often use around the house and also use to spank naughty children), has amassed nearly 90,000 YouTube views since when it launches in May 2021.
Clarion Center for the Performing Arts
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Yee, the founder of Follies, said she feels a connection to the hip-hop genre.
She said, “What better way to express yourself is through poetry, which is a song with rap.
Their dedication to the art form impressed rapper Chu, who wrote It’s cheering the moonand has a solid background in community activism and music.
“These women are strong, hot-tempered and creative,” Chu told NPR. “Collaborating with them is exactly the art form that I love – that brings out culture and community in an exciting and empowering way.”
Yee added that she hopes the song embodies the values of the Year of the Rabbit: “Most of it is very quiet, very lovely, very fuzzy and of course it’s all about having a lot of families. ,” she speaks. “The year of the rabbit is to multiply everything, whether it’s children, great-grandchildren or money.”
