Expat | Canadian focuses on city’s live music scene for 16 years

Durupt’s story in China began as early as 1996, when he landed a job as a singer in Shanghai. He spent a year and a half singing in Shanghai and seven years in Qingdao in Shandong Province. In 2005, Durupt moved to Shenzhen after being invited to jointly open a live music restaurant in the city.

Leon Durupt

“There weren’t many Thai food restaurants in Shenzhen. And when I was in Bangkok, I saw some live music venues with Thai food. In addition, I think Thai food is more palatable for Chinese customers. That’s why I combined these two things together,” he said.

“I personally recruited the band and hired some Thai chefs, so as to make both our music and cuisine as authentic as possible. However, live music was the number one thing for me, and I wanted it to be the restaurant’s signature,” Durupt said.

According to Durupt, most of the band members are from the Philippines, as he believed they have good exposure to Western music, which was built into their culture to some extent. Another reason was, many Filipinos could speak both Mandarin and Cantonese.

Leon Durupt sings at his live music restaurant. Courtesy of the interviewee

With Sea World undergoing tremendous changes over the last 16 years, Durupt’s restaurant, however, didn’t change its location, Thai food and live music.

“When our restaurant was opened, the surrounding buildings and apartments were not built. Thus, I had a clear view of the sea and Hong Kong from the balcony of my apartment at the foot of Dananshan Mountain. Unfortunately, I lost the sea view, and I moved to a new sea-view apartment nearby. But the good thing is the property owner of Sea World and the government have made Sea World more modern and vibrant through big renovations. And I’m also very happy to see our customers becoming more ‘sophisticated’ in music appreciation and more music venues opening nearby and across the city, which is a reflection of the elevation of cultural level of Shenzhen,” Durupt said.

Editor/Chen Siqi

WeChat Editors/Claudia, Jane