Cantopop
Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese.[1] Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption.[2] The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hong Kong popular music from the middle of the decade.[1] Cantopop then reached its height of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s before slowly declining in the 2000s and shrinking in the 2010s. The term "Cantopop" itself was coined in 1978 after "Cantorock", a term first used in 1974.[3][4][5] In the 1980s, Cantopop reached its highest glory with fanbase and concerts all over the world, especially in Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. This was even more obvious with the influx of songs from Hong Kong movies during the time.[4][5]
Cantopop
粵語流行音樂
粤语流行音乐
Yuèyǔ liúxíng yīnyuè
Yuèyǔ liúxíng yīnyuè
ㄩㄝˋ ㄩˇ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄒㄧㄥˊ ㄧㄣ ㄩㄝˋ
Yüeh4-yü3 liu2-hsing2 yin1-yüeh4
Yuè-yǔ lióu-síng yin-yuè
Yuht yúh làuh hàhng yām ngohk
jyut6 jyu5 lau4 hang4 jam1 ngok6
Besides Western pop music, Cantopop is also influenced by other international genres, including jazz, rock and roll, R&B, disco, electronic, ballad and others. Cantopop songs are almost invariably performed in Cantonese. Boasting a multi-national fanbase, the genre has gained popularity in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Additionally, it has found following in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi in southeastern mainland China. Hong Kong remains as the significant hub of the genre.[6]
History[edit]
1920s to 1950s: Shanghai origins[edit]
Western-influenced music first came to China in the 1920s, specifically through Shanghai.[7] Artists like Zhou Xuan (周璇) acted in films and recorded popular songs.
When the People's Republic of China was established by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, one of the first actions taken by the government was to denounce pop music (specifically Western pop) as decadent music.[7] Beginning in the 1950s, massive waves of immigrants fled Shanghai to destinations like North Point in Hong Kong.[8] As a result, many first generation Cantopop artists and composers hail from Shanghai.[7]
1960s: Cultural acceptance[edit]
By the 1960s, Cantonese music in Hong Kong was still limited largely to traditional Cantonese opera and comic renditions of western music. Tang Kee-chan, Cheng Kuan-min (鄭君綿), and Tam Ping-man (譚炳文) were among the earliest artists releasing Cantonese records.
The generation at the time preferred British and American exports. Western culture was at the time equated with education and sophistication,[9] and Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis and The Ladybirds were popular.[7]
Conversely, those who did not prefer Cantonese music were not considered fashioned or educated. Cheng Kum-cheung and Chan Chung-chug (陳齊頌) were two popular Cantonese singers who specifically targeted the younger generation. Connie Chan Po-chu is generally considered to be Hong Kong's 657th teen idol, mostly due to her career longevity. Josephine Siao is also another artist of the era.
1970s: Beginning of the Golden Age (Rise of television and the modern industry)[edit]
Local bands mimicked British and American bands. Two types of local Cantonese music appeared in the market nearly concurrently in 1973: one type cashed in on the popularity of TVB's drama series based on the more traditional lyrical styles. The other was more western style music largely from Polydor Hong Kong (寶麗多唱片). Notable singers from the era include Liza Wang and Paula Tsui. At the same time, television was fast becoming a household must-have that offered free entertainment to the public. For example, The Fatal Irony (啼笑因緣) and Games Gamblers Play (鬼馬雙星) took the local music scene by storm as soon as they were broadcast on the radio and television.[10]
Soap operas were needed to fill TV air time, and popular Cantonese songs became TV theme songs.[7] Around 1971, Sandra Lang, a minor singer who had never sung Cantopop before, was invited to sing a Cantonese TV theme song "A marriage of Laughter and Tears" (啼笑因緣). This song was a collaboration between songwriters Yip Siu-dak (葉紹德) and the legendary Joseph Koo. It was ground-breaking and topped local charts.[7] Other groups that profited from TV promotion included the Four Golden Flowers.
Sam Hui is regarded by some to be the earliest Cantopop star. He was the lead singer of the band Lotus formed in the late 1960s, signed to Polydor in 1972. The song that made him famous was the theme song to Games Gamblers Play (鬼馬雙星), also starring Hui.[11]
The star of TV theme tunes was Roman Tam. Three of the most famous TV soap opera singers were Jenny Tseng, Liza Wang and Adam Cheng.[7] The Wynners and George Lam also amassed a big fan base with their new style. Samuel Hui continued to dominate the charts and won the Centennial Best Sales Award in the first and second IFPI Gold Disc Presentations twice in a row in 1977 and 1978. Polydor became PolyGram (寶麗金) in 1978.
It was at this time that the term Cantopop was first coined. The Billboard correspondent Hans Ebert, who had earlier coined the term Cantorock in 1974, noted a change in its style to something similar to British-American soft rock, therefore started to use the term Cantopop instead in 1978.[3]
In 1974, as the theme song of The Fatal Irony (啼笑因緣) was very successful, TVB sold to the mainland and other countries and Cantopop reached overseas audiences through drama series.[12]
1980s: The Golden Age of Cantopop[edit]
During the 1980s, Cantopop soared to great heights with artists, producers and record companies working in harmony. Cantopop stars such as Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Sally Yeh, Priscilla Chan, Sandy Lam, Danny Chan, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau quickly became household names. The industry used Cantopop songs in TV dramas and movies, with some of the biggest soundtracks coming from films such as A Better Tomorrow (英雄本色). Sponsors and record companies became comfortable with the idea of lucrative contracts and million-dollar signings. There were also Japanese songs with Cantonese lyrics.
The "Queen of Mandarin songs" Teresa Teng also crossed over to Cantopop. She achieved commercial success with her original Cantonese Hits under the Polygram Label in the early 1980s. Jenny Tseng was another notable singers, who was born in Macau.
In the 1980s, there came the second wave of "band fever" (the first wave came in the 1960–70s, which was much influenced by the global Beatlemania at that time. Young people thought that forming bands was fashionable. Many new bands emerged at that time, such as Samuel Hui's Lotus, The Wynners, and the Teddy Robin and the Playboys. However, the bands emerged in this first wave were just copying the western music style, mostly covering British and American rock songs, and prefer singing in English rather than Cantonese). Different from the first wave in the 60s, the "band fever" in the 80s did not show an obvious relationship with the global culture at the time being, but much related with the marketing strategy of the local record companies and mass media. Many independent bands and music groups were signed by big record companies, and this made a positive impact to the Hong Kong pop music world, as their works were highly original, with strong individuality, and they were all devoted to writing songs in local language, i.e. Cantonese. The subjects of their works were different from the mainstream (which was mostly love ballads). Politics and social life were popular subjects for the bands in their creation. The "band fever" also brought variety in musical style to the Hong Kong mainstream music world (which was almost monopolised by Pop-ballad for a long time). Styles like Rock, Metal, Pop-Rock, Folk, Neo-Romantic, Pop and some experimental styles (e.g. Cantorock) were introduced. Among them, Beyond and Tat Ming Pair (達明一派) gave the greatest impact to the Hong Kong music world. Some renowned bands and groups included: Beyond, Raidas, Tat Ming Pair, Tai Chi (太極樂隊), Grasshopper (草蜢), Little Tigers (小虎隊), Paradox (夢劇院), Blue Jeans (藍戰士), Echo, Wind & Cloud (風雲樂隊), Citybeat (城市節拍).
The second wave of "band fever" also brought a group of new music lovers to the Hong Kong mainstream music world. Most of them were the just-grew-up generation, or the music lovers of the western Avant-garde music, also the Euro-American Rock-band lovers. This contributed to a great change in the population and age distribution of the music listeners from the 70s. Record companies were laying ever more stress on the buying power of these young new customers. The second wave of "band fever" emerged from the mid-1980s (around 1984) and reached its climax in 1986–87. However the "band fever" cannot put for a long time. Along with the death of the legendary Wong Ka Kui, the leader and co-founder of Beyond, in 1993, and the disband-tide emerged in the early 90s (Tat Ming Pair disbanded in 1990), the "band fever" gradually faded away and totally got down in the early 1990s.[13]
As Cantopop gained large followings in Chinese communities worldwide, Hong Kong entrepreneurs' ingenious use of the then new Laserdisc technology prompted yet another explosion in the market.
1990s: Four Heavenly Kings era[edit]
In the 1990s in Hong Kong, the "Four Heavenly Kings" (四大天王)—Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok — dominated pop music, and coverage in magazines, TV, advertisements and cinema.[14][15] They had wide audience across different regions, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, Southeast Asia, and even South Korea. The female counterparts in this era were Faye Wong, Sammi Cheng and Kelly Chen.
The sovereignty handover created a culturally challenging atmosphere for the industry. Establishment of Basic Law and language ordinances made the adoption of Mandarin inevitable.[16]
In 2019, Andy Lau spoke of his desire for a reunion of the Four Heavenly Kings in an interview with the press.[17]
Canto-jazz[edit]
on January 29, 2010, Jacky Cheung released his Private Corner album coining the phrase "Canto-jazz", to describe the concept of the album and the musical style of the songs.[42][43][44][45]
In The South China Morning Post, Rachel Mok described "Canto-jazz" as a "unique fusion of the two music styles" of "light jazz" and canto-pop creating a fresh sound with a uniquely local flavour". She cited Jacky Cheung's Private Corner and Karen Mok's "Somewhere I Belong" among artists who have recorded Cantonese language albums in the new jazz genre coined "canto-jazz".[46]
An educational study traced the development of jazz in Greater China and explored the cross-cultural issues in rearranging a cantopop song for big band or jazz combo arrangement.[47]
Industry[edit]
Cantopop Stars[edit]
Talent is unusually secondary to the success of a Cantopop singer in Hong Kong. Most times, image sells albums, as it is one of the characteristics of mainstream music similarly mirrored in the United States and Japan. Publicity is vital to an idol's career, as one piece of news could make or break a future. Almost all modern Cantopop stars go into the movie business regardless of their ability to act; however, the reverse may also occur with actors releasing albums and embarking on concerts regardless of singing talent. They immediately expand to the Mandarin market once their fame is established, hence pure Cantopop stars are almost nonexistent. Outside of music sales, their success can also be gauged by their income. For example, according to some reports, Sammi Cheng earned HK$46M (around US$6M) from advertisement and merchandise endorsements in one month alone.[48] Many artists, however, begin with financial hardships. For example, Yumiko Cheng owed her company thousands of dollars. Others include Elanne Kong crying in public with only HK$58 left.[49]
Cantopop superstars include 70s: Sam Hui, Paula Tsui, Roman Tam, Frances Yip; 80s: Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Beyond; 90s: Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Sammi Cheng, Faye Wong, Kelly Chen; 00s-10s: Eason Chan, Joey Yung, Miriam Yeung, Leo Ku. They successfully held world concert tours, e.g. Jacky in New York 's MSG, Faye in Tokyo's Nippon Budokan, Eason in London's O2 Arena and Beijing's National Stadium (Bird's Nest).
Labels[edit]
PolyGram, EMI, Sony, Warner and BMG were established in Hong Kong since the 1970s. Local record companies such as Crown Records (娛樂唱片), Wing Hang Records (永恆), Manchi Records (文志) and Capital Artists (華星唱片) in the past have become successful local labels. As TV drama themes lost favour in the mid-1980s, market power soon drifted to the multi-national labels. Sales are tracked at the IFPI HK Annual Sales Chart.[50]