"Choi Kou...Choi Kou..." People may think that being cheered by fans is very exciting. However, there is still a very long way from an unknown duckling to a super star.

Towin Mak Kin Choi is a local singer and an owner of a tutorial centre, which caters mainly to secondary students in various courses from English to Mathematics. He is known as "Choi Kou" to his fans. He graduated from the University of Macau in 1998 with a major in Accounting.

This March, Mak's first EP (Extended Play) "Macau United" was published. There are four songs in the EP. "Originally there were five songs, but I was told that only these four songs were good enough," he explains.

As a local singer, Mak has put much of his effort in his music world. "I like creative work very much. I remember I began composing some simple songs when I was eight!" Mak says. He likes performance too. He has been invited to give performances in UMac's Cultural Centre several times.

During the production period of his songs, Mak couldn't have a rest even after the heavy workload of his tutorial centre. Although he doesn't have to teach, he has a lot of things to do in managing the centre, such as improving the quality of the center and maintaining a balanced account and so on. "I have to work with the music producers at night because that was the only time they could be available." Meanwhile, he had to work even harder in his tutorial center to avoid the gossip that he might ignore his students because of the production of his own EP. 

He seems very optimistic, though. "I don't expect very much, not even to earn money from this EP, I do it only for fun." However, he faces a great pressure to be able to cover the cost of the production. He has to worry about the sales of his EP.

In his EP, there is a song that was edited by one of Hong Kong's famous music producers, Tam Kwok Cheng. Mak emphasizes that he is grateful to this producer for editing this song, although it is the most expensive song in his EP because of the producer's fee. "The promotional costs of the EP are even higher than the production," Mak says. His promotional efforts include newspaper and radio advertising and distributing flyers. Some of his EP flyers can be seen on campus.

However, not everybody appreciates his EP. "His singing skill is common, all the songs in the EP seem very similar. I think he should try a different style of songs," Sam Chan, a third year student said. Another student Kevin Leong agreed, "I don't really like his EP, I don't even know what he is singing." 

But Jack Lee, a CD shop assistant, has a different view. "No matter what results his EP will bring, Towin Mak is still a very hardworking person in my eyes."