Made in Hong Kong

Studies in Popular Music

Anthony Fung, Alice Chik, Anthony Fung, Alice Chik

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367226985
• eBook ISBN: 9781000056082
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Made in Hong Kong: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive and thorough introduction to the history, sociology, and musicology of twentieth- and twenty-first century popular music in Hong Kong. The volume consists of essays by leading scholars in the field, and it covers the major figures, styles, and social contexts of popular music in Hong Kong. Each essay provides adequate context to allow readers to understand why the figure or genre under discussion is of lasting significance. The book is organized into four thematic sections: Cantopop, History and Legacy; Genres, Format, and Identity; Significant Artists; and Contemporary Cantopop.

PART I

Cantopop, History, and Legacy

The history of Cantopop, or Hong Kong pop music, reflects sociopolitical changes in Hong Kong, and it has continuously included references to the West and China. Like all popular music in the world, Hong Kong Cantopop reflects both a cultural memory of the past and a rendition of history (Bennett & Janssen, 2015). The intrinsically nostalgic properties of music, the artists who perform it, its texts and images as well as its consumption are footprints, or representations, of social narratives, political events, and cultural legacies. These footprints are precisely what this book attempts to rediscover. This is particularly meaningful for Hong Kong because according to official records, its history usually consists of colonialism and the consequences of China’s Opium War. The voices of Hong Kong people are seldom heard or considered in official historical accounts. The problem addressed by this book concerns the fundamental question of historical authenticity in connection to power.

If we believe that people who live in their motherland narrate their history differently than official chronicles do, then cultural histories, including histories of popular music cowritten by musicians, critics, and intellectuals, offer a pluralistic view of history that is in stark contrast to the often linear, partial, and one-sided views recorded in official history. In its decades-long colonial history, the authorities did not intervene in Hong Kong, perhaps because its culture was considered trivial and insignificant. The history of popular music in Hong Kong presented in this book offers an authentic, genuine, uncensored, spontaneous record of the past from the colonial period to Hong Kong’s political transition to a Special Administrative Region of China. Embedded in the narratives of Hong Kong popular music are colonial symbols of the Orient and a symbolic place where East meets West. Hong Kong gained a spotlight in world politics when its sovereignty was handed over to China in 1997. Recently, the city has been a site of ideological struggle between views of Hong Kong as a free, democratic, and capitalist metropolis or as an emerging socialist regime governed by China as the dominant authority.

As explained in the introduction to this book, it is not intended to be a recollection of all major versions of the cultural history of Hong Kong, nor is it a comprehensive account of Hong Kong popular music. The chapters in this book are focused on selected moments that mark and index Hong Kong popular music in significant contexts. In the first chapter of the book, Vicky Ho and Miranda Ma offer a historical summary of Cantopop, which is followed by a discussion of the golden days of Cantopop in the 1980s. Ho and Ma share with us—and probably with the other scholars who have contributed to this book—the view that Hong Kong popular music is more than a cultural form that reflects aesthetic values. Their chapter emphasizes the social connotations and discursive formations of Cantopop and discusses Cantopop stars as cultural representatives of Hong Kong. In their example, the Daughters of Hong Kong perform and release albums that are connected to the political situation of Hong Kong. The “daughters” are Anita Mui (梅艷芳), who was probably the first diva of Cantopop in the 1980s, and Denise Ho (何韻詩), who was a fan of Anita Mui and later worked with her as a vocalist. These two female Cantopop artists and their political participation across 30 years of change are representative of intergenerational history and the differences and similarities in ideals and strategies that led to Hong Kong’s political situation.

Crowned the “daughter of Hong Kong” after her death in 2003, Anita Mui is publicly regarded as an exceptional woman who rose from being a street performer to a superstar in the 1980s through her own determination and persistence. In the eyes of Hong Kong people, her spirit, combined with her elegant performances and extravaganzas, embodies what we call the “Hong Kong ethos” nowadays. Mui had many apprentices, including Denise Ho, who would also be called a daughter of Hong Kong during the Umbrella Movement in 2014. Returning to the question of the relationship between music and politics, as suggested by John Street (2012), Ho and Ma highlight Anita’s and Denise’s enthusiastic support and exuberant involvement in major pro-democracy movements and protests during their music careers. Anita Mui composed protest songs, and she was one of the leading figures supporting Beijing students during the Tiananmen Incident in 1989. Denise Ho played an active role in organizing, supporting, performing at, and promoting events where local democrats protested against Beijing regarding democratic development in Hong Kong, eventually leading to the Umbrella Movement.

The chapter discusses in detail the ways in which the two artists related to these movements through actions such as writing protest songs, marching alongside the protesters, or being involved in other activities. Ho and Ma highlight the differences between the political orientations of these two “daughters” by comparing the narratives of the old and new “Lion Rock spirit,” which exemplifies of the ethos of Hong Kong, as represented by the two daughters and their two generations. Anita Mui’s neoliberal sensibility led her to work hard, take responsibility, and “pull herself up by the bootstraps,” representing the experience of Hong Kong’s economic boom in the 1980s and 1990s. After 1997, however, the changing political realities brought by China’s rule over Hong Kong have shaken fundamentally embedded local values, such as civil engagement, democracy, and autonomy. Thus, the daughter of today, Denise, has sought another route to respond. Similar to many other Hong Kong people, her music career is integrated with her persona and symbolizes the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong even at the expense of her popularity in the mainland Chinese market. The chapter concludes by emphasizing that both Anita and Denise, though having different strategies, personify specific conjunctural practices. Anita Mui’s approach was consistent with the conventional logic of developmentalism. Denise Ho chose an erratic path with foreseeable obstacles, and she manifested a shift in the Hong Kong ethos toward alternative post-materialist values and ideals. Despite the different paths taken by different artists, the role of Cantopop and Cantopop artists have contributed to the formation and transformation of the Hong Kong ethos.

However, Cantopop has not always been problematic. In former years, particularly in the 1980s, there was a burgeoning diversity of artists and music genres. In Chapter 2, Yiu-Wai Chu illustrates this “golden time” in the history of Cantopop. He suggests that 1984 was a pivotal year in the history of Cantopop and that, in addition to 1974, this could be considered the “start of a new chapter for Cantopop.” Thus, he first provides a brief overview of Cantopop history from around the 1970s, highlighting that 1984 was a special year for Cantopop. He focuses on two aspects: the emergence of Cantopop superstars and the changes in musical style through the hybridization of music, formats, genres, and lyrics.

Key to Hong Kong popular music in the 1970s, Cantopop was closely allied with the film and television industry. Inspired by cross-media and cross-cultural exchanges as well as the development of infrastructure both outside and inside the music industry, the stage was set for a pivotal year in Cantopop history. In addition to the music, Chu discusses the importance of the infrastructural development. Multiple awards, such as those offered by the Asian Music Contest, and other shows, organized by Television Broadcast Limited and other media channels, paved the way for the creation of hitherto unseen Cantopop superstars. Other media outlets, such as print magazines and music video clips, also boosted the Cantopop industry both in Hong Kong and internationally. A monumental infrastructure, the Hong Kong Coliseum, which was built in 1983, became the premiere stage for Cantopop stars to confirm their status as “gods” of Cantopop. The diverse record labels and song or lyric writers provided a creative impulse that led to an even greater diversity of musical styles and song topics beyond the predominant topic of love in Cantopop.

Regional cultural flow also played an important part. This era saw the rise of superstars such as Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung, who were the two most important Cantopop stars in the 1980s. These superstars, like many other Cantopop musicians, were highly influenced by musical elements in Japan. It seems inevitable that these two stars, as well as other Cantopop artists, found success in the early stages of their careers by producing covers of Japanese pop songs. According to Chu, 1984 was a critical year for Cantopop because of the convergence of internal and external factors. First was the development of infrastructure both inside and outside the music industry, with Hong Kong’s premiere concert venue, publication venues, and different media outlets finding their stride around this time. Second, the influences of national and international music converged to provide Hong Kong artists with a vibrant ground for creating a unique blend of hybrid pop music in Cantonese. These factors provided the pathways for superstars such as Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung to achieve success in Cantopop.

The influence of Cantopop has declined since the 2000s, which the industry alleged was due to the piracy of music online. Cantopop faced a difficult regional challenge. In addition to the rise of Mandopop in Taiwan and the emergence of mainland Chinese popular music as well as independent music, a major challenge is Korean-pop, or K-pop, a music genre that has eclipsed the popularity of Cantopop in Hong Kong.

Elucidating the prevalence of K-pop, Kai Khiun Liew and Meicheng Sun begin Chapter 3 by describing an episode of the South Korean television drama Reply 1988 (2015). Situated in Korea in the 1980s, the episode involved a scene of everyday life in which cultural consumption in Korea was shown with explicit references to the Hong Kong movie and Cantopop star Leslie Cheung in the period before the emergence of K-pop. Paradoxically, it could be said that Hong Kong popular culture now has been reduced to a nostalgic history of Korea. Hong Kong people can now reminisce about their culture intermittently through viewing television shows produced in Korea about Korean popular culture. It is likely that most people interpret such dramas as ironic narratives of the remains of Hong Kong popular culture. However, Liew and Sun examine the rise of K-pop and its relationship to Cantopop from an alternative angle.

Liew and Sun argue that rather than considering Cantopop or K-pop as separate phenomena, we should consider them border-crossing cultural influences in today’s globalized world. In illustrating inter-Asian music flows between Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan since the 1970s, Liew and Sun argue that the decline of Cantopop reflects a Chinese proverb, “the wheel of fortune changes,” which implies that there are both good times and bad times in a day. Cantopop was predominant in Asia in its golden years from the 1970s to the 1990s, but now it is K-pop’s turn to experience success. Second, in theoretical terms, this saying refers to the unnoticed yet continuous cultural flows and acculturation among the various Asian regions, driven by media capital. These flows continue to influence all forms of popular culture, including those discussed in Chapter 3—music and cinema. Liew and Sun point out that the Cantopop music industry was already aware of Korean music during its golden years, and this inspired the production of cover versions of K-pop songs as well as other musical tributes. Today, the inspiration of K-pop has become the imitation of K-pop as the Hong Kong music industry has sought to reengage with a new, young audience. Such imitation has been the case since 2003 when different Hong Kong-based artists began to draw on K-pop to reinvigorate their music. Liew and Sun refer to two new pop groups that emulate the Korean style: the all-female As One and the all-male JJCC. The authors argue that the various changes in these groups are emblematic of the changes in Cantopop.

Regarding Cantopop’s musical repertoire, Hong Kong has also proven to be a staging ground for K-pop bands to gain access to mainland Chinese audiences, thus further combining the industries in the two places both musically and infrastructurally. Finally, the authors reiterate that one should look at culture from a historical perspective. For example, instead of simply stating that Cantopop artists today are mimicking K-pop, one should analyze the connections between the two, which have always been present in one form ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Figures
• Series Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Mainstreaming Hong Kong Popular Music
• Part I Cantopop, History, and Legacy
• Part II Genres, Format, and Identity
• Part III Significant Artists
• Part IV Contemporary Cantopop
• Coda
• Afterword
• Contributors
• Index