#Wohoo Music Bureau

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Wuhu Music Bureau 吾湖音乐局 is back! So happy to have another episode of this CHARMING show! And I’m absolutely delighted to have 李琦 Li Qi joining the fun! He seems so dang jolly. 😂

The farm animals have arrived, and Fang Shujian brought his lion dance costume this time. There’s also a basket of… rubber chickens? 🐔

Ayanga brought gifts for the hamster, which is too adorable for words. And later, he did an impression of a certain bass crooner that ENDED ME.

They called many of the Super Vocal season one brothers to get them all to sing a specific line from a song, and it was a cavalcade of familiar faces and voices. There is one glaring omission so far, and yes, I get WHY he can’t be here, but I still hate that Dalong can’t be a part of all this.

Even without our Dalong, this is all so cute, and so wholesome. I love seeing these guys spending time together and making music. Their silly, playful rendition of “Do, Re, Mi” made me smile so much! And every time they do another “wohoo!” I giggle.

Zhang Chao cooks for the group, and demonstrates some impressive knife work on a fish. Who knew?!

There’s an ad for the show’s sponsor, featuring the cuteness of 黄子弘凡 Huang Zihongfan, aka Lars Huang. So happy to see him getting these little promotional gigs! Good for him!

There’s an amusing dance lift sequence that must be seen to be believed. But wait! It turns into Hong Zhiguang hoisting Fang Shujian onto his shoulders, at which point he does some squats. 😂 These fools!

Ma Jia’s return is greeted with joy and some belly rubs. This is how he should always be welcomed. Did he have any idea he’d be carrying a little piggy around this week?

Ayanga takes some time to commune with a little black goat, bleating and fetching a handful of grass for it to munch. He gently coaxes a few beautiful bleats out of it (they’re recording the animal sounds for something), and looks so pleased.

All in all, another lovely episode full of cute moments. 💜 Wohoo!

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吾湖音乐局 Wohoo Music Bureau episode 3 has landed and I am once again screaming at the cuteness of this delightfully low stakes Super Vocal 声入人心 bro fest.

This week, we get to see the 兄弟们 doing calisthenics (thanks to Hong Zhiguang) and vocal warmups, serenade the hamster to keep the power on at the house, then hop on their bikes and head out for an adventure. Wohoo! There are small cameras mounted on their handlebars, so we get some very silly footage of these weirdos riding their bikes.

Special treat: Ayanga singing 《天堂》 while Ma Jia attempts a Mongolian dance. Emphasis on attempts. 😂 Perhaps it could best be described as a suggestion of dance. They and their brothers proceed to sing to a little village over the public address system. It is… exceedingly cute. I literally grinned and squealed through every song.

After they’ve finished their little show for the village, they head off to do some fishing and swimming. They all seem to be absolutely terrible at fishing. Nobody seems to know how to set the hook when they get a bite. (And they make so much noise, spontaneously singing and clowning around, I think they scared most of the fish away.) Mostly, this expedition was an opportunity to feed some raw lamb to the local fish, and for Ju Hongchuan to catch a little nap by the water.

The three juniors (Fang Shujian, Liang Pengjie, and Zhang Chao) go off to swim and act like fools, dragging each other into the water and generally being extremely silly. I’ll bet Huang Zihongfan is sad to have missed out on this quality time with his brothers!

I must take a moment to recognize Ayanga’s secret skill: skipping rocks! He got several hops in with one rock! Who knew?!

One of the guys has to leave without his brothers near the end of the episode, and sweet Liang Pengjie cries as he watches his 兄弟 walk away. Awww! Cutie!

All of their little activities are really excuses for them to hang out together and make music. That seems to be the main point of this series, and if you enjoyed the camaraderie on Super Vocal, you are truly in for a treat with this series.

Looks like next week, we’re getting more of the brothers back, including Li Qi! Can’t wait to see him!

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Obsessed with the extreme cuteness of 吾湖音乐局 Wohoo Music Bureau! This is the first episode, for anyone interested in checking it out. I haven’t seen it with English subs yet, but understand enough to squeal endlessly while watching.

Ayanga is so damn talented. And so charming! He has no business being good at EVERYTHING, while also looking so handsome and acting like such a decent person. Just watching him interact with this little crew of Super Vocal 声入人心 faves makes my heart sing. If you loved watching them interact in Super Vocal, I think you will enjoy this little treat.

One thing I didn’t mention in my previous post about all this fresh content: Liang Pengjie has grown up, but he still seems so sweet! He has the warmest, most open smile. He’s one of the “kids” I’ve kept an eye on since my first time through Super Vocal, and I’m just so proud of him for sticking with it!

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WOHOO! WHERE TO BEGIN?! I LOVE THIS EPISODE!

Let’s start with Gao Yang’s fabulous pretty prince(ss) aesthetic and amazing performance! He owned the stage and showed so much personality and charm, I was just blown away.

And then sweet Liang Pengjie comes out and delivers that wonderful, energetic, thrilling performance. Every one of his 兄弟们 was radiating their pride and joy at him throughout that song, and made me incredibly emotional. 加油，朋朋！And seeing them all crying at the end, especially Fang Shujian, was so touching!

Of course, seeing the outrageous success of darling Lars Huang Zihongfan (who currently has over 8 million fans on Weibo!) is a delight. He was a dang FETUS on 声入人心, for crying out loud. And now he’s a star. Watching his ascent is thrilling. (Unfortunately, the audio appears to be deliberately distorted during his performance above. Whyyy? Hopefully they’ll post the clip by itself on YouTube, but they did post on Weibo… https://h5.video.weibo.com/show/1034:5111819124277305 )

Frank Ju Hongchuan is one of my favorites for a lot of reasons. His voice is a grounding note that ties the others together and provides a solid foundation for beautiful music. He writes great songs, and can arrange the heck out of a song for an ensemble. But honestly? He just seems so sincere, and like a good friend to the brothers (including Dalong, whose absence is felt every week, but who is always remembered fondly on Frank’s Weibo!). He supports them all in their endeavors, posting about their projects and celebrating their successes. He cries openly out of sheer, unbridled affection, and I’ve gotta say, that’s a beautiful thing.

The presentation of 风声 is something I hoped would happen from the beginning, so I’m so excited to finally get to see what they’ve been working on! Seeing the shadow puppets come into play was so dang satisfying! And hearing all the random snippets of music played at the mystery house, coming to life in this staging? Aaaahhh! I’m a wreck! Every one of them is killing it and all of this is making me want to fly around the world to see this show when it’s produced.

And the rehearsal outtakes of Qi Yu and Liang Pengjie! 😂 Lovable goofballs!

Seeing the four babies come together to revisit one of their wonderful performances from 声入人心 absolutely broke me. I was a weepy mess.

They followed that with a high energy performance from two of the opera bros, Hong Zhiguang and Ma Jia, which I needed to pull myself together after getting so emotional over the boys.

And then… right back to making me cry, with Frank and Gao Yang singing one of my favorite songs, 《大船》. Dear lord, it’s so beautiful. Their voices are so good together. And Ayanga looked as emotional as I was during this song. (Possibly for the same reason…) GAAAAAHHHHH. I am still so worked up over this performance! This arrangement!

We end with a pair of group songs, including the inevitable Auld Lang Syne. A beautiful weep fest. A wonderful episode. I will be rewatching this one repeatedly. And crying. 😭

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And they’re back! Episode 2 of Wohoo Music Bureau 吾湖音乐局 is out and delightful!

This week, another familiar face arrived at the Mystery House to make music with the 吾湖 brothers. 洪之光 Hong Zhiguang arrived dressed like a dang gym teacher, ready to bro it up with the other guys.

An outrageous amount of lamb 羊肉 was cooked over a wood fire, Mongolian style, thanks to Ayanga. Frank Ju Hongchuan 鞠红川 helped out, and did a lot of other cooking (and music making!).

I like how relatively low stakes it all is so far. I just get to enjoy seeing them hang out, sing, play instruments (and occasionally kitchen implements), and be friends. Nobody’s being reduced to tears by a harsh criticism of their song choice or performance style. There’s no jockeying for position. There’s just camaraderie, which translates to JOY for me.

I need more people to watch the show and shriek about it. It’s too cute to be missed. 🥰

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We recently rewatched Super Vocal season one, and went through all the emotional ups and downs perhaps even more intensely than the first time.

With that in mind, imagine how wholly I am losing my mind at all the new Super Vocal 声入人心 content now, like the “reunion” show 吾湖音乐局 （Wohoo Music Bureau, aka Wohoo Brothers) on Mango TV (and YouTube). It’s a collection of some of my favorite Super Vocal season one singers, including (so far) Ayanga, Ma Jia, Fang Shujian, Liang Pengjie, Zhang Chao, Ju Hongchuan, and Gao Yang, with a few more we should see arriving next weekend (including one of my faves, Li Qi!), gathering together to once more “chase the light” together while staying together in a mysterious house with lights powered by music and a hamster wheel. (Just… watch the show. Trust me.).

I’m bummed that Zheng Yunlong doesn’t appear to be involved (at least so far), but he’s been very busy lately, so I’m still getting my Dalong fix!

Also, so far Huang Zihongfan (aka Lars Huang) has only appeared via a phone call, but he just dropped a new album (!!!!!), so he has a lot going on right now. So proud of him!

The Wohoo Brothers appear to be preparing for a concert - I believe they are working on the upcoming concert staging of Ayanga’s new musical The Message （风声). Can’t wait for that!

It’s so great to see the Super Vocal “juniors” (ducklings?) all grown up and singing so beautifully. Shujian has really matured as a performer, but honestly, I could say that of all of them. Working with Ayanga and Dalong in 2018-2019 was so good for them, and they’ve clearly continued in their studies and vocal development.

There was also a recent episode of Time Concert season 4 (episode 3) that featured several of these guys, plus Wang Kai and Cai Chengyu, revisiting some of the songs performed on Super Vocal. (Look it up on the Mango TV app for full performances, as some of them are muted on YouTube.) Big performance glow-up to check out: Zhang Chao is DELIGHTFUL on stage now, very warm and engaged with the song, his fellow performers, and the audience.

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I realized I haven’t posted the links for the last couple of episodes of Wohoo Music Bureau, not because I’ve stopped watching, but because my phone was dead when I watched those episodes. Whoops. I’ll share them later, but for now, here’s this week’s installment! Episode 7! Only three more to go after this! 😭

We have a long-awaited concert! Hong Zhiguang warms up the audience (LITERALLY), then brings out perennial fave Ju Hongchuan, aka Frank Ju, to help with the warm-up exercises. One by one, they welcome the remaining 兄弟们 ：Gao Yang, Qi Yu (fka Zhang Chao), Fang Shujian, Li Qi, the adorable Liang Pengjie, Huang Zihongfan (Lars!), and of course Ayanga. They’re sad to announce that Ma Jia is unable to be there, but hey, THE WUHU HAMSTER IS ON STAGE.

The brothers sing and play their theme song together, then do several rounds of “兄弟们！吾湖!”, which gets the hamster racing along excitedly. Then they split into two groups, with Ayanga initially standing with “his boys” (and Dalong’s), only to trade places with Gao Yang, putting the five youngest together and joining forces with, well… the old guys. 😂

Impressive feat worthy of note: Qi Yu picks up (and bridal carries!) Hong Zhiguang. I had no idea he had that kind of strength!

Lars does an absurdly spot-on impression of Ayanga, which wrecks Gazi-ge and leads to one of the best fake laughs I’ve ever seen. No, seriously:

SIR. Your face.

Cutie pie Fang Shujian does a song and dance in his lion dance outfit. He’s able to get so low in his side crouches, it makes my knees ache just watching him, but it also makes me wish I were that nimble. Hong Zhiguang joins him onstage in a matching outfit, hoisting him up to take the mask from him. It’s a pretty great performance, with all the drama we’ve come to expect of Shujian. 太帅了！

Qi Yu is up next, and I am once again stricken by how much these young men have grown in the last six years. He delivers a dramatic number in French, with a surprising handle on the French and a delightful rasp to his voice. There’s a wild KEYTAR break, and then he’s back to pouring on the attitude. Wow! 太棒了！

Hong Zhiguang brings a bit of Verdi to the show with a very cool arrangement of “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata” from Rigoletto.

Ayanga is up next, after a funny little bit about Pengjie running on the hamster wheel. Gazi explains that Ma Jia couldn’t be there today, but assures the audience he’s always in his heart. 😄 He starts singing 《兄弟》，and Ma Jia surprises him, joining on the first verse (and bringing out their fishing poles!). Ayanga is so happy to see him, he loses the song for a brief moment before recovering and diving right back into it. They’re both so happy to be singing together! Everyone is so happy to see Ma Jia, they’re all eager to hug him (or in Zhiguang’s case, let him leap into his arms).

Another silly highlight: messages from the hamster, periodically printed out for the 兄弟们 to read.

Qi Yu offers a scathingly perfect impression of Ayanga’s singing (during which Ma Jia does a little hint of Mongolian dance for good measure), and then Lars mimes singing while Ayanga hides behind him, singing (a la that scene in Singin’ in the Rain).

Zhiguang then takes it all to the next level with an adorable impression of sweet baby Pengjie. 😂 At that point, I perished for a bit. Frank also gave a little Pengjie moment, so Lars started mimicking Shujian. They all look like they’re having so much fun together, just goofing around and lovingly poking fun at one another. It’s so clearly built on an abiding affection between the 兄弟们.

Another little cluster of guys from 声入人心 （Lu Yupeng, Chen Bohao, Liu Binhao, Jian Hongyi)surprise them onstage, singing 《不说再见》 and making them all cry (Frank and Li Qi are MESSES, and they’re taking a sobbing Pengjie down with them). It’s a highly emotional moment, and the whole place is full of weeping and wailing. Everyone on stage, everyone in the audience… they’re all destroyed. So happy to see these brothers reunited!

After all that crying, some of them need their makeup fixed. I’m looking you, Li Qi! Of course, he’s next up to sing 《那来那去》, so he needs to be camera ready!

Gao Yang has acquired a sparkly tiara, and my only complaint is that it didn’t come into play sooner. His song has to wait til next week, unfortunately, as does Pengjie’s performance and Lars’.

There was a brief teaser of Gao Yang and Frank singing 《大船》 (which was a single released by the PAINFULLY ABSENT Dalong, and is one of my favorite songs, so the teaser made me cry). I am going to lose my dang mind next week! Until then, here’s Dalong’s version: