Cantopop

Cantopop is a colloquial abbreviation for "Cantonese pop music", a form of popular music that is a subgenre of C-pop. It is also known as HK-pop, short for "Hong Kong pop". Cantopop draws 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 definition, Cantopop songs are almost invariably performed in Cantonese. Although Cantopop boasts a multinational fanbase, Hong Kong is the most significant hub of the genre. In Hong Kong and around the world, the Cantopop music industry is dominated largely by record labels owned by record industry giants such as Sony, EMI, Polydor, Emperor Entertainment Group, and Philips.

Cantopop market

Cantopop is not restricted to Hong Kong. Since the late 80s the entertainment industry in the Guangdong Province of Mainland also raised a sizable production team and market for "made-in-China" Cantopop, also known as Cpop. Rivalry and the involvement of the underground in the entertainment industries on both sides prevented the Hong Kong and Guangdong Cantopop industries to merge, although a few Mainland singers made it on Hong Kong hitlists. From the early 90s and especially since the mid-90s Cantopop music has largely overwhelmed the small Mainland Chinese Rock movement centered in northern China. A number of Mainland-born entertainers, such as Faye Wong (Wang Fei) and Hins Cheung, have shot to success either by mimicking the Cantopop style or directly appealing to the Hong Kong audience. It is notable also that the Cantopop industry in Hong Kong attracted many stars raised in Overseas Chinese communities, such as Canadians Sally Yeh and Nicholas Tse; and Coco Lee from the United States. As a result Cantopop is no longer restricted to Hong Kong but has become part of a larger Pan-Chinese music movement.

Related Topics:
Cpop - Underground - Chinese Rock - Faye Wong - Sally Yeh - Nicholas Tse - Coco Lee

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