Romeu Chao Asis has never let his circumstances define him. Born with no arms, the Macao local represented the city in swimming. Now the 33-year-old Chao, who is of Indonesian and Portuguese descent, is enjoying the name and reputation he has made for himself as a vocalist on the city’s music scene.
His interest in music began from an early age through his exposure to Michael Jackson, whom he watched religiously on video tapes. “At that time I was so mesmerised by Michael Jackson that I would use my mum’s silk stockings to learn how to moonwalk,” he recalls.
Chao’s other great love was swimming. As a young boy, he won a place on Macao’s para swimming team and took part in several tournaments locally and in Hong Kong, winning four gold medals. The feat earned him a nomination as one of Macao’s “10 outstanding young persons” in 2005. But the training was gruelling. “I would train until, maybe, 9 pm or 10 pm before heading home for dinner,” the singer says. “Life was pretty much like this every day.”
[See more: ‘There’s a lot of vulnerability involved’: Macao singer-songwriter Benjamim Soares on his musical journey]
Eventually, music won him over, with Chao forming his first band in 2006, while attending the Escola Secundária Luso-Chinesa de Luís Gonzaga Gomes. But his time in the pool gave him something irreplaceable. Chao says that when they were travelling to tournaments, his coach “would teach me by having us think of ways for me to brush my teeth, wash myself…[and] take the initiative to call room service in English.”
He retains that independence and sense of confidence to this day.
Performing with Eason Chan
Nowadays, Chao produces music as a solo artist, in addition to performing as the lead vocalist of Dr. Jen, a Macao band established in 2018, specialising in funky bilingual (Chinese-English) R&B and hip hop.
His first big break came in 2012, when he performed on stage in front of a home crowd with Hong Kong pop icon Eason Chan. It came about because Chao had uploaded a video of himself covering Chan’s “Mou Jan Zi Ging” (無人之境) to Youtube. Chan viewed the video by chance and left an anonymous message in the comments section, asking if Chao would be interested in “performing in a venue with many people.”
A few months later, Chao received a Facebook message with the contact of Hong Kong music producer Carl Wong Sheung Chun. It was only after reaching out to Wong that Chao realised one of Asia’s biggest pop stars was inviting him to be a guest performer at his concert in Macao that December.
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For Chao, it was a dream come true, as he had been listening to Chan’s music since primary school. “I muted the phone, so that Carl wouldn’t hear me and I shouted ecstatically in the room,” he recalls. The opportunity to perform with Chan not only boosted Chao’s local profile, but also led to more work opportunities with Hong Kong-based musicians such as Jun Kung.
Making music beyond Macao
Gaining recognition as a musician has not been easy, however. In Chao’s opinion, “Macao doesn’t have a [music] market,” with residents generally uninterested in local music. Chao has partly tried to overcome this by taking part in regional competitions. In 2016, he made his TV debut in the fifth season of Mai Wang Zheng Ba (麥王爭霸). The GDTV talent quest brought together artists from across Guangdong Province and gave Chao the opportunity to meet another Cantopop icon, Hins Cheung.
Eking out a living has also been difficult, with performances infrequent and selling his recordings a hit and miss affair. For most of the Covid-19 pandemic, when music venues across the country were shuttered, Chao hunkered down as a call centre operator at Wynn Macau. Then came a stroke of luck. In 2022, he found work as a teacher at Rock Center Macau, a large facility that offers a range of courses to young people. Chao teaches his young charges to sing and trains them in performance.
[See more: 10 questions for Macao music group MFM]
He continues to make his own music, with four singles planned for release this year. One of them is a song called “Decade,” which Chao says reflects his 10-year journey from swimmer to musician. “I want to tell everyone that doing what you like to do is really a happy thing,” he explains.
Earlier, he recorded a piece titled “Inspire My Life,” with a message about overcoming challenges. “No arms, no worries / Still can put your head up bro,” the lyrics read. That line was inspired by a quote from Nick Vujicic, the renowned Australian motivational speaker who, like Chao, has congenital limb difference.
Chao is grateful for the opportunities that he has had to date. “I’m truly convinced that if I didn’t have the opportunity [to perform] with Eason and create opportunities to showcase myself, people might not have had the confidence to use a disabled individual in this society,” the singer says.
He is acutely aware that life can be “very tough” for people with disabilities in Macao, where government aid takes the form of a subsidy that – at most – amounts to a mere 18,000 patacas annually. “At the [local] disability association, I’ve seen lots of friends who are struggling.”
But, as ever, it is music that lifts him up. Says Chao: “No arms, no worries. When I see this phrase, it gives me power.”
