Nanquan Mama
Meal No.2
Nanquan Mama, a group consisted of youngster who idolised Jay Chou. Nanquan mama, it can be translated as “South Fist Mother”, which means they can be as powerful as the chinese ancient martial art - south fist, or as gentle as a mother. To be Meal no.2 is their 2nd album.
When I first heard this album when my friend was playing, I asked “Is this Jay Chou’s newest album?”. Yes, they sing like Jay, rap like Jay and compose song full of “Jay-Style”. They do not have the powerful vocal. They do not have Idol’s good looking face. But their talent on music composing are undeniable.
There are so many great songs worth mentioning in this album - Meal No.2. The main hit of this 2nd album goes to “Gone” (Xiao Shi). Highly complimented and recommended by Jay Chou himself. The new addition of a female member, Lara adds depth to all their songs. My favourite song, “The Last Smile” (Zui Hou Yi Mei Xiao Rong), is a “one-man-show” product by one of the member, Devon (Dan Tou). It is so sentimental and the chorus with Lara is beautifully attuned.
Another good song is “Angel’s Hero”. I like the lyrics part and it goes like this “You are my hero; I am your angel”. Amazes me on how it beautifully lays out the synergetic relationship between friends . The light, easy and cool “Orang Softdrink”(Ju Zi Qi Shui), “Peony River” (Mu Dan Jiang) are fun to listen to. “Daybreak” (Po Xiao) is a heavy metal rock song has the chorus style of “F.I.R” band, the rap part is also good. Adding up with that, the nasty “Wild Thing (Ye Dong Xi), the lonesome “Yuan Lai”, the simplistic “Eat the fish you cook” (Chi Ni Zu De Yu) are so nice and demonstrate what this young group can do.
Comparing to their first album (which consisted of 2 different member), Meal No.2 is definitely better. The first album is , raw (perhaps they want it to be this way), and this one is more polished, as well as more commercialized. And, I still think the whole album is still overshadowed, leaving every footprint of Jay Chou’s influence. Anyway, I still love it ! Highly recommended!
Track Listing:
1. Day Break (Po Xiao)
2. Gone (Xiao Shi)
3. What Can I Do
4. Wild Thing (Ye Dong Xi)
5. Peony River (Mu Dan Jiang)
6. Yuan Lai
7. Orange Softdrink (Ju Zi Qi Shui)
8. The Last Smile (Zui Hou Yi Mei Xiao Rong)
9. Night (Fu Ye)
10. Song Written For Chocolate (Xie Gei Qiao Ke Li De Ge)
11. Eat The Fish You Cook (Ci Ni Zhu De Yu)
12. Angel’s Hero
Written by Steve on Oct 12, 2005
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58 Comments, Join the discussion
Diana
Hey..stumbled on this blog, very interesting! cos I don’t really know that many people who listen to chinese music.
NanQuanMaMa’s 师父 is actually Jay, hence the influence in style..
My fave song - Peony River :)
Oct 14th, 2005
Steve
Hello Diana,
Thanks for “stumbling by” and your comment. :D
Yeah, Jay’s “leng”. Just like David Tao and Tension.
Oct 14th, 2005
Error
This guys talking Crap! Dan tou is called Devon who calls him bullethead! doesnt he knows the other names of the two memebers?They are Yu hao and Zhang jie!
Oct 19th, 2005
Steve
Ah, thanks for correcting the mistake. Bullethead was direct translation from his name, 弹头. Anyway, thanks again for pointing out and I have corrected it ;)
Oct 19th, 2005
Alex
they canot sing ler… the vocals during Jay’s Incomparable concert was… sooo bad! Even Jay had to apologize after that. Hai..
Oct 21st, 2005
Steve
Alex, I never heard of their live performance. Is it really that bad?
Oct 22nd, 2005
~Jessy~
Alex:
Really?
Well, their songs are not my type anyway…. haha….
Oct 23rd, 2005
Veronica
Hi Steve !!
i was wondering if u noe da song by nan quan mama which starts of with some piano den jay starts singing. in da end of the song his fwends and him are all torking. ummm.. in da song everyone is singing lalalala. lol. i dunt noe if dis has helped you but can u tell me wat the song is called? thankz
sz veronica
Oct 23rd, 2005
Steve
Hello Veronica!
Yes. It is track No.2 of their first album. The song is called “Vanilla Puff” ( Xiang Cao Ba Pu / 香草吧噗).
Oct 23rd, 2005
Veronica
Hi !!!
i just want to say thankyoo so very much for helpinh me !! UR THE BEST !!
love veronica
Oct 24th, 2005
Steve
No problem Veronica. Thanks for dropping by ;)
Oct 25th, 2005
Amber
In this album, I recommend the song 牡丹将 (The River Peony) follow by 消失 (Disappear).
Oct 25th, 2005
Pao
I like Nan Quan Mama too and Im currently inlove with peony river… they sound so much like jie lun but.. I dunno.. I like them both anyways.
Any idea where I can find their lyrics?
thanks.
Oct 27th, 2005
Steve
Amber: Thanks for comment! :D
Pao: I got most of their lyrics from mp3.baidu.com. Do you want to find their chinese or romanized (pin yin) lyrics?
Oct 27th, 2005
sachi
Hey Hey
I was actually looking for jay chow’s ‘you can listen’ lyrics when i clicked on this page but it looks very cool :o)
Does anyone knw where to get his lyrics for ‘you can listen’ cos i really wanna knw wat hes saying in it. i cnt understand the words cos i cant read it. im nepalese. =D
Nov 1st, 2005
~Jessy~
Hi Sachi,
Sorry I don’t know the song.
I think Steve can help you.
Do you want the romanized lyrics or translation?
Nov 2nd, 2005
melvin
cool blog about nan quan ma ma, their band rocks
Nov 4th, 2005
Steve
Sachi: I never knew Nepalese likes Jay Chou. Cool! I will try come out with the translation lyrics. ;)
Melvin: Thanks. They really rocks!
Nov 4th, 2005
Michael
Personally, I enjoyed this ablum alot. Very refreshing for me to listen…
Nov 7th, 2005
Steve
Michael: Yeah. Exactly. Refreshing is the word :)
Nov 7th, 2005
Zhemin
Alex,
Jay’s performance was not very good as well during that concert. He admitted that sometimes he will sing out of the tune! His music is great. However he still has a lot to do with his singing skills. He is still far way behind compared to those who can sing live show very well!
Nov 8th, 2005
zee
There’s this one song by Nanquan Mama which has chinese instrument, very beautiful. What song is it? I came across it a few times, but the DJ either never say the name or they say too fast. >:(
Nov 13th, 2005
Lisa
Sounds interesting… gonna try to find it and give it a listen now.
Nov 16th, 2005
Dyland
I first saw Lara in Jay’s Coral Sea video and thought WOW she’s a hottie!!
Can’t wait to hear and see more of her. Googled but couldn’t find much. Guess there’s more stuff on chinese sites, but that’s what you get for not being chinese literate. Time for some chinese lessons.
Nov 16th, 2005
Tim
Hi, I was wondering if you could put “Nanquan Mama” and “Lara”’s name in Chinese characters in reply. trying to search them without much joy! I’m not chinese literate either but I can get by providing the characters are already submitted!
Thanks!
Nov 16th, 2005
Dyland
Tim, agree. I usually cut and paste the chinese characters from sites and then google for it.
Better yet, if anyone knows where we can see more of Lara, just put up the link here for the benefit of all. Cheers.
Nov 16th, 2005
Steve
Dyland, Tim:
This album name is 南拳妈妈 二号餐.
Lara, it’s a hard one. Because everybody just call her, LARA. However, I managed to get few information about here, translated as below:
“Lara is Jay Chou’s junior, just reached seventeen years old (OMG). Her grandfather is Russia American, hence she inherited some some “russians”, but still manage to speak concise mandarin. She also learned to play instrument while singing from his father. And, she likes to compose music.”
If you guys wanna see more of her, you can look for the MTV of track no.2, Xiao Shi (消失). Which is, Lara’s first MTV, directed by Jay Chou. ;)
Nov 17th, 2005
JENSON
Nanquan Mama ROCKZZZ!!!!!
Nov 17th, 2005
Steve
Jenson: YEAHZZZ!!! :D
Nov 19th, 2005
andrew
Do you know where I can get the Xiao Shi MTV?? Thanks!
Nov 20th, 2005
Michael
anyone know if they have their own website or fansite..tried searching google yield nothing… trying to get to know the group abit more..
Nov 24th, 2005
Jessi
This group I am crazy about…by chance I happened to stumble upon the songs Daybreak and Peony River and they are my two favorite!! I was wondering tho if you know where I can find the Romanized lyrics to the songs?
Nov 26th, 2005
Steve
Andrew: I don’t know :( Any chance in http://youtube.com/ ?
Michael: Yeah. I also do not know any of their fans site or official site.
Jessi: Sure. We can do it for you (at our free time :D ) at our forum -> http://chinesemusicblog.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=4
Nov 26th, 2005
Jessi
Thanks for ur help ^_^ i ended up reegistering here! I just got all of their second album and im going crazy listenin to all their songs! they put me in such good spirits! Im glad i found this site…its helped me out a lot! Much thanks!
Nov 28th, 2005
jane_t
Lara’s full name is Lara Veronin. Here’s here blog. http://www.xanga.com/veronin .
not ur usual pretty pretty chick. seems wild
Nov 30th, 2005
winc3n
sure thats her blog o_O weirdness
Nov 30th, 2005
Dyland
jane_t, thanks for the link. I’m gonna continue this on the forums here to keep things tidy.
http://www.chinesemusicblog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=113#p113
Nov 30th, 2005
andrew
may i noe where is nan quan mama from?
Dec 5th, 2005
Geof
If you mean you want to KNOW where they’re from, they’re Taiwanese.
Dec 7th, 2005
shez
this group is amazing!! love the songs even though i do prefer their first album 南拳妈妈的夏天！ yea, i thought lara didn’t look very chinese, she’s 17?!?! bloody hell, dat’s a bit young! like me, i wouldn’t be expected to do something like that! my face song is 橘子汽水- Orange Drink! such a cool song even though 小时候 from their first album is better XD it’s amazin that lara can speak proper mando cuz both my parents are chinese and even though i can speak fluently my reading and writing is a bit crap, but i’m still learning XD and chinese songs are a main study source for me, especially reading the lyrics!
Jan 2nd, 2006
LeEn
Well, nanquan mama certainly sounds like jay chou. whenever i played it on player, friends would ask,”huh? jay got new song?”. but i definately LOVE nanquan mama’s new album. Lara’s What Can I do and Song Written For Chocolate is definately a fine one when you are down. I would go to KTV to sing Day break, Gone and peony river. Love ‘em!! of cos… also love JAY CHOU!!! *Wink*
Jan 23rd, 2006
noobie-gal
um…i really like this song called Po Xiao that i only heard once. I dont know if this is the same one, but i dont know where to find the song so i can make sure. Does anyone know where i could go to find this song? :(
Feb 10th, 2006
karma
Steve: back to your reply about the Jay Chou Incomparable concert. I did see it, and the segment where they sing is pretty painful to listen to. Jay chou comments about it afterwards. I think he says something like, “How could you guys forget the words to your own song?”
Mar 13th, 2006
Yang Yang
Yah, I reckon they’re pretty cool. But the comparison between their first and their second song is so big. The first is all rock, or meloncholy, now they have like all Lara. Hardly any songs feature the guyz. My favourite song though is “What Can I Do”, even though its only got Lara. Very catchy, any chance of more websites about Nan Quan’s bio or soemthing?
Mar 14th, 2006
kaii
Got hooked onto NanQuan from their first album.. haha.. it was like another version of Tension. Check them out.. but i think they disbanded already, meh.
Most people only got interested in Nanquan after their second album.. It was pretty sad when Gary and Ju Pao left..
Apr 23rd, 2006
rice
Lara’s a senior at Taipei American School where I graduated from in ‘05. I was in her choir class lol
May 24th, 2006
Xiao Mei
Good review, thanks! ^^
May 31st, 2006
steffi
omgomg. i listened 2 peony river ona burnt cd. and it took me ages to figure out the name (me being nto fluent) and then find trhe band, and the lyrics, etc! and i am so glad i foudn it!@ i lsitened 2 i 30 times wen i first foudn it and i am still not sick!
Jul 8th, 2006
tai mei
wow this band is really good. thanks for the info.
Aug 1st, 2006
tai mei
wow this band is really good. thanks for the info.
Aug 1st, 2006
HT
does anyone know where i can find naquan mamas guitar tabs??
Aug 20th, 2006
Pleaser
hiie steve..i heard about your wonderful blog..and it really is neat..i hope you really could help me in this situation..do you know any reliable webbies where i can get my guitar chords/tabs for the song (li jia bu yuan) please help!
Sep 3rd, 2006
simon
Anyone know where i caan get the chords for Nanquan mama s new song on guitar?
Dec 6th, 2006
sam
“They do not have the powerful vocal. They do not have Idol’s good looking face.”
I totally disagree with this statement. Jay excells because of his uber composing skills, not because he has looks or a good voice.
Apr 1st, 2007
tc
i agree with sam. jay does NOT have the best looks, (but he’s pretty attracting after you stare at him for a while!) He’s popular for the songs he composes.
and the first time i heard a song from NQMM, i was like, “Whoa! I have got to listen to more of their songs!!!” Their style reminded me of Jay and well… I LOVE JAY!
So i recomend them… AND JAY!
Jun 21st, 2007
tc
Oh, one more thing! the only thing i disagree with sam is that Jay has an AMAZING voice! That’s what first attracted me to him… :D
Jun 21st, 2007
tc
I JUST TOTALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH JAY’S VOICE!!!
Jun 21st, 2007
Phil
Yeah i’d like to know of some tabs/chords for po xiao… i’ll check back in a bit.
Jul 20th, 2007
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