Background

Introduced by Hans Ebert, the editor of the American Billboard magazine, Cantopop is a colloquial abbreviation 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. In general, cantopop songs are almost invariably performed in Cantonese. Boasting a multinational fanbase, Hong Kong is the most significant hub of the genre. Prior to the development of popular music in the 1960s, Hong Kong's musical output was dominated by Cantonese opera, English pop and some Mandarin songs. Since the 70’s, Cantonese pop songs they have become the main stream of Hong Kong and Macau music. In terms of main stream, firstly, the majority of Hong Kong citizens listen to them; secondly, the popularity of cantonese pop songs has surpassed other kinds of music in Hong Kong and Macau after the 70’s. The development of Cantopop has very close relationship with the society as the rise of them exactly reflects the economic and cultural changes of the society.