A tribute to a legend

Chyi, 60, withdrew from the limelight after releasing her last album Camel-Flying Bird-Fish in 1997. She has since been focusing on Buddhist music compilations instead.

"Pan called me to join the concert and I am very interested," says Chyi during a recent interview in Beijing. "I was one of the producers of the album Echo and the process of making the album was unforgettable."

The veteran singer, who rose to fame in the 1970s with her easy-listening songs and sweet voice, is one of the most famous singers of Taiwan and is credited as the one who started the trend of singing "campus folk songs". A self-confessed diehard fan of Sanmao, Chyi didn't meet the writer until the latter arrived in the Rock Records office to discuss about Echo. Sanmao had previously written Chyi's 1979 hit The Olive Tree.

Chyi and Pan also visited the writer at her home in Taiwan to listen to her personal stories and ideas about the lyrics for the album. One of Chyi's favorite photos was taken at Sanmao's home. The black-and-white photo depicts the three long-haired women sitting on a tatami mat with a set of giant bullock cart wheels leaning against the wall behind them.

"She was a mysterious woman before we met. She talked softly and sounded like a little girl. She liked Bohemian style," recalls Pan, 60, who is the first singer signed to Rock Records in 1980 and has released hits such as Blue Skies Everyday in 1982, Spring Comes For Wild Lilies Too in 1983 and Am I The One You Love Most in 1989.

Chyi says she would describe Sanmao as "an adventurous and brave woman" for she travelled around the world and her books "brought me to exotic places I had never been to".