Born and raised in Macao, Germano Guilherme is one of the most celebrated singers to emerge from the city in recent times. Known for his raw passion and intensity, the 36-year-old vocal talent has earned accolades within the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and beyond. In March this year, Guilherme reached a new level of fame by winning the second season of a major reality TV competition beamed across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
The show, Midlife, Sing & Shine!, ran for nearly nine months and featured 108 aspiring stars from around Asia. High-profile judges from the Cantopop world, including Jade Kwan, Priscilla Chan and Miriam Yeung, determined their fates: the group was gradually narrowed down to one champion, Guilherme. Nearly 1.74 million people tuned in to watch the final, which was filmed in Hong Kong in front of a live audience.
Guilherme, also known as German Ku, captivated the judges with his renditions of two very different songs, both close to his heart. The first was “Heart is Still Cold”, a melancholic early 1990s ballad by Hong Kong pop diva Anita Mui. Guilherme followed that with the triumphant show tune “Feeling Good”, made famous by jazz legend Nina Simone in the 1960s. The singer’s powerful final performance earned him a near-perfect score of 99 points. Yeung, in particular, was impressed, congratulating Guilherme for “making this stage your own.”
A star on the rise
While recent years have seen Guilherme make a name for himself in Hong Kong’s music industry, the singer’s musical roots are firmly in Macao. He got his start here as a teenager, performing theme songs at major sporting fixtures held in the city – including the 2006 Lusofonia Games, the 2007 Asian Indoor Games and the 2009 National Games of China. Of Chinese, Portuguese and Pakistani descent, Guilherme also cherishes his Macanese identity and has learned to speak decent patuá (along with Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Portuguese).
Guilherme vividly remembers the moment he first became interested in music. “I was maybe two or three at the time and watching TV,” he reminisces. “By chance, I happened to see this young lady wearing a fruit hat, singing and dancing very happily and skillfully.” That young lady was Anita Mui, who remains Guilherme’s role model.
Much like Mui, who first rose to fame with Hong Kong’s 1982 New Talent Singing Awards, Guilherme’s big break into the professional music industry came via a televised singing competition. That was the 2009 edition of Asian Millionstar. While Guilherme didn’t make the top three finalists, he did win a special prize for best stage performance – and earned himself a life-changing contract with Hong Kong broadcaster ATV.
Guilherme’s next big gig was on the 2010 sitcom Hong Kong Go Go Go, in the role of pharmacy employee Kam. His time with ATV also saw him hone his hosting abilities on the music programme Starry Starry Night and children’s show Q&A Lessons, and perform as a guest on subsequent editions of Asian Millionstar.
During his time at ATV, Guilherme was mentored by the Macanese-Hong Kong entertainment personality Maria Cordero, who also helped judge the latest Midlife, Sing & Shine! competition. “The most important lesson I’ve learnt from [Cordero] is to respect others, respect yourself, respect your work and most importantly, respect the stage and your audience members,” Guilherme says.
Returning to music
The performer continued putting Cordero’s advice to good use after leaving the now-defunct ATV in 2014 – when he returned to Macao and redirected his career back towards his first love, music. In 2020, Guilherme’s first full-length album of original tracks, Fai, hit the shelves. The polyglot also applied his language skills to a side hustle working as a multilingual MC. Guilherme has hosted a number of major arts and cultural events, the latest being this year’s Parade of the Year of the Dragon.
Culture is extremely important to Guilherme, especially when it comes to preserving his own. For example, he is part of a new wave of Macanese breathing life back into their traditional patuá dialect. Like Macanese people and cuisine, patuá reflects Macao’s historically diverse ethnic make-up – a fusion of Portuguese, Chinese, Malay, and Sinhala elements. Guilherme didn’t grow up speaking patuá, but he set about learning it as an adult through performing in a local theatre group. Patuá theatre, designated an intangible cultural heritage in Macao, is a distinctly Macanese form of comedy that’s gaining popularity as a means of keeping the language and culture alive.
Guilherme participates in educational videos promoting the language, and has sung in it when performing with local band Tuna Macaense at Macanese cultural events. “If I can use what little ability I have to make more people aware of our Macanese culture, then I am more than happy to do my part,” he enthuses. The singer says he’d love to release a whole album in patuá some day.
He also considers it an “honour” to promote Macao culture in general overseas. In June, Guilherme performed at an integrated resort’s gala master dinner – an event held in Bangkok, Thailand, to publicise the territory’s gastronomic and tourism offerings. “I hope that when people listen to Germano Guilherme’s work, they’ll not only remember me, they’ll also remember an artist who is from Macao,” he says.
What’s next?
Since his Midlife, Sing & Shine! triumph, new doors are opening for the Macanese artist. He’s since performed at a number of major events in Hong Kong, staged by the city’s jockey club, Yan Chai Hospital and broadcaster TVB (which screened the show). Guilherme says he’s thankful to everyone he met on the competition – from fellow contestants to his trainer, Vivian Koo – for their support, and offers a shout-out to the people who tuned in to watch his performances each week. “In a lengthy televised competition like this, the judges, coaches and even internet users will constantly give you lots of suggestions, meaning you have to constantly improve,” Guilherme notes. One thing he acknowledges really having had to work on was an almost too-polished stage persona. “I gave off this aura that everything is practised and rehearsed,” he says.
Midlife, Sing & Shine! also led to an invitation to perform at an integrated resort’s 20th anniversary celebration event in May. There, he sang Katy Perry’s hit “Firework” alongside West End singer Kayleigh Stephenson, from the UK. “As a Macao artist, it was a great thing for me to be able to help on such a grand occasion,” Guilherme says. “It shows everyone that there are, in fact, great talents, singers and performers in Macao who can make it onto the big stage.”
Guilherme is enthusiastic about opportunities emerging in Macao’s expanding entertainment sector, thanks to support from the government – which is working hard to transform the city into an internationally recognised hub for performing arts.
Looking ahead, Guilherme has plenty to keep him busy. He says he’s eager to collaborate with emerging local artists and explore new genres of music. He also wants to return to a hobby that’s been on the backburner lately, due to his musical commitments: documenting his life through video blogging. In addition to that, he’s keen to break back into acting. Guilherme knows that sounds like there’s a lot on his plate, but insists it’s all part of being an artist in this day and age. “A singer today can’t focus on one area and should try different industries, like acting, hosting and being a social media influencer,” he explains.
As for advice to emerging performers, Guilherme recommends authenticity. “Most importantly, you have to find your own character,” he counsels. “You have to recognise the type of person you are, and convey that to your listeners through your music and work. Because being yourself allows them to really know you.”
