Remapping Hong Kong popular music: covers, localisation and the waning hybridity of Cantopop

Popular Music ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiu-Wai Chu ◽  
Eve Leung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
New Media ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
World City ◽  
Popular Songs ◽  
Global Status ◽  
Popular Music Industry ◽  
Original Songs ◽  
Radio Campaign

AbstractEver since its sovereignty reverted to China, Hong Kong has been torn between its national (in terms of China and its ‘soft’ power) and global status (as ‘Asia's World City’). In this special context, Hong Kong's singular, ambiguous but prolific existence ceased. This paper endeavours to map ‘Cantopop’ (Chinese popular songs) on the new media landscape and examine its decline in the context of the rise and fall of cover versions. Cantopop was once very popular, not only in Hong Kong but also in its neighbouring regions. Its rise in the 1970s was a result of its typical hybridity, an important aspect of which was influenced by the use of cover versions that changed its soundscape. In the mid-1990s, the Cantopop market started to shrink significantly. A radio campaign for localisation advocated the release of original songs aimed at enhancing the development of Cantopop, but in the end proved to have the opposite effect. In the new millennium, ‘Mandapop’ (Mandarin popular songs) has taken on the role as the trend setter of the Chinese popular music industry. We argue in this paper that Cantopop's decline is the result of Hong Kong's loss of hybridity.

The political meaning of Hong Kong popular music: a review of sociopolitical relations between Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China since the 1980s

Popular Music ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wai-chung Ho
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
The Political ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Popular Songs

IntroductionThe aim of this paper is to analyse shifting themes in the meanings of Hong Kong popular songs relating to ideological and political changes in Hong Kong since the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident (TSI). In particular, the paper examines the relationship between Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China (PRC) concerning the transmission of Hong Kong popular music, and argues that Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese popular musics articulate fluctuating political meanings. Attention will be focused predominantly on the lyrics, but some aspects of the music are also invoked. After highlighting the political and cultural relations between Hong Kong and the PRC, I discuss the social transformations and the struggles for democracy delineated in Chinese popular music during the 1989 TSI. This is followed by an examination of the intensification of the conflict between the PRC and Hong Kong over the dissemination of popular songs carrying democratic messages in Hong Kong. Finally, the paper considers the rise of patriotism and/or nationalism through lyrics rooted in the notion of educating Hong Kong Chinese people into accepting the cultural and political identity of mainland China, and the promotion of popular songs in the official language of the PRC, Putonghua, since the late transitional period.

The Jewish Population of Tennessee

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Maslon
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Jewish Population ◽  
Music Industry ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Early Music ◽  
Music Publishers ◽  
Popular Music Industry

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first way that the imprimatur of Broadway reached consumers was through the immense distribution of colorful and tuneful sheet music. Early music publishers learned quickly that associating a song with a Broadway show such as the Ziegfeld Follies, Broadway personalities such as Al Jolson and Fanny Brice, or Broadway composers such as Victor Herbert gave that tune a special identity that increased its popularity. In addition, music publishers, such as Max Dreyfus, were major power brokers in the popular music industry, yielding the ability to make a song into a hit, and continued to be influential through the first half of the twentieth century.

The shock of Hong Kong and Taiwan popular songs

1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leng Sui‐jin
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Popular Songs

Perceived and Induced Emotion Responses to Popular Music

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 472-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yading Song ◽  
Simon Dixon ◽  
Marcus T. Pearce ◽  
Andrea R. Halpern
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Dimensional Model ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Emotional Quality ◽  
Popular Songs ◽  
Categorical Model ◽  
Musical Excerpts ◽  
Emotion Model ◽  
The Difference

Music both conveys and evokes emotions, and although both phenomena are widely studied, the difference between them is often neglected. The purpose of this study is to examine the difference between perceived and induced emotion for Western popular music using both categorical and dimensional models of emotion, and to examine the influence of individual listener differences on their emotion judgment. A total of 80 musical excerpts were randomly selected from an established dataset of 2,904 popular songs tagged with one of the four words “happy,” “sad,” “angry,” or “relaxed” on the Last.FM web site. Participants listened to the excerpts and rated perceived and induced emotion on the categorical model and dimensional model, and the reliability of emotion tags was evaluated according to participants’ agreement with corresponding labels. In addition, the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) was used to assess participants’ musical expertise and engagement. As expected, regardless of the emotion model used, music evokes emotions similar to the emotional quality perceived in music. Moreover, emotion tags predict music emotion judgments. However, age, gender and three factors from Gold-MSI, importance, emotion, and music training were found not to predict listeners’ responses, nor the agreement with tags.

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