Everything about Cantopop totally explained
Cantopop (Chinese: 粵語流行曲) is a
colloquial portmanteau for
"Cantonese popular music". It is also referred to as
HK-pop, short for
"Hong Kong popular music". It is categorized as a
subgenre of
Chinese popular music within
C-pop. Cantopop draws its influence not only from other forms of
Chinese music, but from a variety of international styles including
jazz,
rock and roll,
rhythm and blues,
electronic music,
western pop music and others. By and large, cantopop songs are almost invariably performed in
Cantonese. Boasting a multinational fanbase,
Hong Kong is the most significant hub of the genre.
History
Origin
Western-influenced music first came to the
Republic of China in the 1920s, specifically to
Shanghai. Artists like
Zhou Xuan acted in films and recorded popular songs, and was possibly the first Chinese popstar. The split would come in
1949 when the
People's Republic of China was established by the
communist party. One of the first actions taken by the
government was to denounce pop music as
pornography. Because many of the first generations of artists and composers were originally from the city, Hong Kong cantopop owes its origin to Shanghai. and
Elvis,
Johnny Mathis,
Beatles were the main attraction.]]
1970s: Rise of the industry
Pre-Canto Pop era in the '60s laid seed to the creation of Hong Kong's new pop music. Many local bands mimicking the British American bands became recording artistes. These musicians later turned out to be the key in creating a new form of indigenous music. Two types of local Cantonese music recordings appeared in the market nearly concurrently in 1973 in Hong Kong. One type cashing-in on the popularity of TVB's soap opera were based on more traditional music and lyrics styles. Yet the type of musical cross-overs that made foreigners recognised and coined HK music as "Canto Pop" came largely from Polydor Hong Kong, a foreign label established in Hong Kong in 1970 by acquiring Diamond Music, the local record company that had most of the '60s artistes in Hong Kong.
Samuel Hui 許冠傑, the lead singer of the band "Lotus" from late '60s signed to Polydor in 1972. After a few luke warm success in English language releases, took on the challenge of experimenting with British/American band sound on witty use of Cantonese language lyrics. The pop-star broke the ice for local acceptance that Cantonese music can be just as fashionable as Anglo-American hits. The song that made it happen was the theme song to the movie "鬼馬雙星" which also starred Sam himself. The recording produced by in house producer Ricky TC Fung was a giant success that paved way to a whole new genre of foreign sounding Cantonese language pop tunes for others to follow. The "Wynners" 溫拿樂隊[Philips] and Lam 林子祥[EMI] that followed amassed big fan base from their new style Cantonese pop releases. Sam Hui continued to dominate the charts and won consecutive two times the Centennial Award (Best Sales awards) in the first and second IFPI Gold Disc Presentations (1977, 1978). Polydor became PolyGram in 1978 and continued as the market leader for decades due to its pioneering efforts in Canto Pop.
The industry didn't rise just because of original hits. Hong Kong as movie producing centre, broadcast hub and TV content creator helped propelled Hong Kong's pop music to all Chinese communities.
Beginning with the
1970s, TV was a technological marvel mostly available to the rich, and broadcasted contents were highly valued and respected. Soap operas were needed to fill air time. Many popular Cantonese songs became TV theme songs.
After 1997, there emerged a younger generation of singers after the half-retired 4 kings. Singers like
Sammi Cheng,
Eason Chan and
Kelly Chen began dominating until and even after the turn of the century.
Current
2000s
At the turn of the century, Cantonese is still dominant in the domain of
Chinese popular music. Though the deaths of stars
Leslie Cheung and
Anita Mui in 2003 rocked the industry. The
Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop performed a tribute at the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards. Along with the downturn of the economy, few can deny cantopop was at a low point in the early 2000s.
The industry was mostly in a transitional phase with overseas-raised Chinese artists such as
Sally Yeh,
Nicholas Tse and
Coco Lee gaining recognition. As a result cantopop is no longer restricted to Hong Kong, but has become part of a larger Pan-Chinese music movement.
Since 2005 the industry has began a new upswing with many of the newer artists gaining in popularity. The two major companies that drive much of the Hong Kong segment appears to be East Asia Entertainment &
Amusic and
Emperor Entertainment Group. The more veteran singers like
Andy Hui,
Joey Yung,
Denise Ho,
Eason Chan along with newer artists like
Janice Vidal,
Twins,
Justin Lo have played a major role in the upswing. Many are also on the rise including
Hins Cheung,
Vincy Chan,
Stephanie Cheng,
Kay Tse,
Charles Ying,
Jill Vidal. The new era also saw an explosion of groups such as
at17,
Soler,
Sunboy'z,
Hotcha. As this became a new trend in promoting groups, often many of the artists later end up going solo such as
Kary Ng or
Kenny Kwan.
In January 2008
Gillian Chung won the "Asia Pacific Most Popular Artist Awards" from
Jade Solid Gold following the success of
Twins. In just a short month, the
Edison Chen photo scandal would rock the Hong Kong entertainment industry. Local actor
Edison Chen and a number of highly publicized female celebrities like Gillian Chung,
Bobo Chan and
Cecilia Cheung were caught in sexual acts with the nudity photos spread across the internet worldwide. The event garnered the attention of international media including including
CNN,
MSNBC, and
The Guardian. The scandal raised a number of questions regarding legal issues and
netizen's online rights that went far beyond the usual music discussion.
Characteristics
Instruments and setups
Early cantopop was developed from
cantonese opera music hybridized with western pop. The musicians gave up
traditional Chinese musical instruments like
zheng and
erhu fiddle in favor of western style arrangements. Cantopop songs were usually sung by one singer, sometimes with a band, accompanied by
piano,
synthesizer,
drum set,
guitar, and
bass guitar. They are composed under
verse-chorus form and are generally
monophonic. Practically all cantopop songs feature a descending
bassline.
Lyrics
Cantonese language is one of those pitch sensitive languages. The word carries different meaning when sung in a different relative pitch. Matching Cantonese lysics to Western music was particular difficult because of such musical scale has 12 semi-tones. Through the work of pioneers like Sam Hui, James Wong and Lo Kwok Jim, those that followed have more stock phrases for reference. Cantonese lyricists play a great part in advancing Canto Pop.
Classical Chinese lyrics
The first type is the poetic lyrics written in literary or
classical Wenyan Chinese. In the past, cantopop maintained the Cantonese Opera tradition of matching the musical notes with
tones of the language. Relatively few cantopop songs use truly colloquial Cantonese terms, and fewer songs contain lyrics. Songs written in this style are usually reserved for TV shows about
ancient China. Since the
1980s, increasing numbers of singers have departed from this traditional, though some big names like Roman Tam stayed true to traditional techniques.
Modern Chinese lyrics
The second type is less formal. The lyrics written in colloquial Cantonese make up the majority with compositions done in modern
written Chinese. TV shows filmed under modern contexts will utilize songs written with these lyrics. Most songs share an overriding characteristic, in which every last word of a phrase is
rhymed.
The following is an example from the song
"Impression" (印象) by
Samuel Hui. The last word of every phrase ends with '–oeng'.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cantopop'.
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