M sends a song to her parents who once called her “reactionary”. J sends a song to “boy, 17”. XF sends a guided meditation to protesters. C sends a song to F in Hong Kong. F sends a song to X, who is now in London. This is not a game of telephone, but a classic genre of radio programming throughout the Sinophone world since the heyday of Cantopop in the 80s and 90s. Audiences—insomniacs, dreamers, believers—would call in their favorite radio hosts to request songs, along with a personalised dedication, for a recipient of their choosing. These melodic confessions could be as straightforward as an apology, as coded as a crush confession, or as banal as wishing someone a good day. Regardless of the content, what they all say is: I am thinking about you.
Emerging out of a climate of uncertainty, fear, and ruins, 夢中人 Misty Connections Radio makes a redux of this genre of 點歌 (dim2 go1) programme for its radical potential as a space for the nameable but unspeakable, directed but unfinished. As what was almost or not quite yet, or was present and at the same time yet to come, the protective cover of this misty cloud of ‘missed’ connections evokes curiosity, courage, and telepathy, weaving a momentary encounter of radical empathy through which we may be able to reach across and to recognize one another through the mist.
