Who dunnit? The show report Agatha Christie could have—not—written...
My own show reports mix commentary, photos and embedded links to assist subsequent web surfing of whatever products or companies might trigger a reader. This show report does not. In hoary mystery fashion, you'll have to figure out the who and what. That's because the suspect—we'll give him away at the very beginning, one Vincent Luke of Abbingdon Music Research—only took these photos for his own amusement. But when he returned to home base Blighty, he sifted through some 200 shots and knowing I'd extensively covered the Guangzhou AV Fair last year but couldn't this year, wondered whether I might like to take a look at his own impressions. I did.




"It was the first time we attended and it was certainly a positive surprise for me and a bit of an eye opener. The most noticeable things were the number of rooms that made a presentation and the sheer volume of attendees."


Those had been my exact sentiments a year ago. Because few Westerners have the opportunity to see for themselves, I decided to turn Vince's private photos into a Silent Pictures coverage. It'll at least allow us to accompany Mr. Luke like a ghost on his shoulder through the highways and byways of the White Swan hotel on Shamian island and take note of what attracted his attention.


So it's not exactly a who dunnit mystery. We know who did it. It's a who was there deal instead. Have fun deciphering the clues in 183 silent pictures, salivations, inability to decipher Chinese signage, hope, frustration, context and all. Test your own resourcefulness. Pop quiz audio world. Who's who? If you scroll fast enough, you could even turn these into moving pictures. You'd still have to provide your own soundtrack though...