Professionals team up for Honolulu launch to showcase vital part of city’s cultural heritage
OLIVER.CHOU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Monday, 04 April, 2016, 10:28am
Industry veteran Ruby Choy says the project comes at a time when Cantonese culture is under threat. Photo: Bruce Yan
Canto-pop is far from finished, say a group of like-minded professionals who are determined to show the lasting power of Hong Kong’s indigenous voice to the world.
“Hong Kong is Singing”, which will be launched in Honolulu on Wednesday, is the latest initiative to address the declining fortunes of Canto-pop songs, which the organisers believe represent the city’s popular culture and values.
“We hope to show to the world Canto-pop is not dead but still vibrant and energetic,” said Ruby Choy Ching-yee, the event’s convenor.
“What has changed is not so much the genre itself but the business model of Canto-pop, which was based on monetary terms like record sales and concerts.
“How can you compare the sales of Anita Mui’s records with one million hits on the internet now?” the veteran music executive asked.
Singer Endy Chow will lead a group of hand-picked musicians. Photo: Nora Tam
Choy, who spearheaded original compositions back in 1995 when she was a programme director at Commercial Radio, argued that local songwriters and singers were still working as hard as ever and deserved a boost, especially at a time when Cantonese culture was under threat and the city under stress.
“I think the trend of Cantonese being marginalised is happening, as I learn from school principals and teachers about teaching Putonghua in their schools,” Choy, a part-time teacher, said.
“Through Canto-pop songs, I hope to reaffirm our self-confidence, which has become rather fragile in recent years, and this initiative is to leverage on the accumulated strength of the city’s song tradition for a greater agenda.”
The launch concert at Washington Place in Honolulu, for example, will play to an audience including patients and families from a local hospital.
“We want to reposition Canto-pop from an entertainment genre to charity and for the disadvantageous, and we do it in Hawaii with an aim to connect with the world as well as test the waters of the international market for our initiative,” she said.
We want to document this not to promote a singer or a song, but what’s behind the Canto-pop songs as a part of the global culture
LOFAI LO TING-FAI, VIUTV
Songwriter and singer Endy Chow Kwok-yin will lead hand-picked musicians, including a teenage member from the Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, to showcase the latest output of Canto-pop songs.
“I think our songs will transcend language barriers, just like those Japanese pop songs I listened to in my younger days without understanding the lyrics,” the 36-year-old singer said.
Among his latest works to feature will be Freeze Illusion.
“The song is about the present situation in Hong Kong, including its absurdity, our helplessness and agony,” he said.
On stage with him will be Hawaiian ukulele sensation Taimane Gardner, who was in Hong Kong last November singing Canto-pop numberShanghai the Bund.
“Aside from that, she and I will perform Aloha Oe to show our musical connection,” Chow said.
The entire show will be filmed and screened in June to raise a target HK$80,000 for the project.
“We take part in this because we can feel the passion behind the project, which is in line with our mandate of providing diverse programmes for our viewers,” said Lofai Lo Ting-fai, general manager of the new ViuTV.
“We want to document this not to promote a singer or a song, but what’s behind the Canto-pop songs as a part of the global culture. So I hope viewers will feel entertained and be moved.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1933210/singing-canto-pop-hong-kong-musicians-take-their
