When Chinese pop music resonated through the solemn expanse of St James’s Church Sussex Gardens in London, it yielded a captivating auditory impact. On the evening of 3rd May 2025, singer Ziqing Weng presented her “Candlelight C-Pop Tribute” concert within the church’s natural reverberation—honoring the late Khalil Fong and showcasing Ziqing’s own multifaceted vocal technique and interpretive depth.
Ziqing’s timbre favors a warm midrange, yet she demonstrated agility across her entire register. In “Ai Ai Ai,” her precise breath control was evident: she deliberately slowed the air release on the opening low notes, allowing her tone to swell gradually in the reverberant space. Upon reaching the chorus, her vocal color tightened without sacrificing clarity, yielding a direct emotional intensity. In “Special Person,” she introduced subtle breathiness and a delicate vibrato—eschewing forceful projection in favor of an intimate touch. This level of dynamic shading made each lyric feel as if she were confiding with individual listeners.
Ziqing was backed by a quartet featuring piano, guitar, and cajón. Their arrangements preserved the rhythmic drive of the original C-Pop tracks while weaving in jazz. The pianist opened “Ai Ai Ai” with a spare arpeggiated figure—richly voiced enough to provide harmonic depth yet restrained so as not to overshadow Ziqing’s voice.
Between songs, the ensemble inserted transition passages adapted from Western classical and contemporary motifs—choices that did more than change mood; they deliberately created a dialogue between Eastern and Western musical sensibilities. For example, the guitarist introduced a sprightly motif reminiscent of European folk, which then intertwined with Ziqing’s vocal improvisations. These subtle details conveyed the concert’s deeper objective: to offer the audience a sonic experience where C-Pop and Western traditions resonated in tandem.
The church’s expansive acoustics posed both an opportunity and a challenge. Throughout the performance, Ziqing adjusted her technique to suit the space. In pivotal moments, she moderated her tempo to allow her voice to accumulate resonance. When ascending to the upper register, she engaged more precise vocal cord adduction to maintain tonal focus without losing warmth. This adaptive approach ensured her pitch remained impeccable and her volume stable in a setting devoid of elaborate sound engineering.
Ziqing’s interaction with the audience felt natural and heartfelt. Between numbers, she shared how Khalil Fong’s music had inspired her—her tone imbued with genuine reverence and affection. When she remarked, “What moved me most about Khalil’s music was his ability to find hope within sorrow,” the seated audience responded with soft murmurs of agreement. In these exchanges, the concert transcended a mere musical presentation; it became a shared act of remembrance and emotional communion, with music serving as the connective thread.
On the whole, Ziqing’s performance was marked by impressive tonal control and sonic depth. Beyond honoring Fong, Ziqing functioned as a cultural ambassador. By reimagining C-Pop classics through arrangements infused with Western harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary, she allowed London audiences to appreciate the genre’s breadth and sophistication. Her performance challenged any notion of C-Pop as a narrowly defined commercial phenomenon, demonstrating instead its capacity for cross-cultural dialogue and universal emotional appeal.
