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香港ポップスが誕生するまで
北京や台湾、香港、アメリカ、イギリスなど、外国の歌が主流だった香港の音楽界で、十数年前から、地元で作られた広東語のポップスが力を発揮。トップ10の半分は香港歌手の歌が占めるようになり、今後が期待されている。
The Rise of HK Canto-Pop
By VIVIAN CHIU
Hong Kong disc jockey Elvin Wong Chi-chung, 27, had a relatively restricted musical childhood, growing up with music made everywhere but Hong Kong. Like many others from his generation, Wong was influenced mostly by the Beatles.
It has not been until the last decade or so that youngsters in Hong Kong could boast of listening only to local singers and band idols playing the home-grown, Cantonese-language Canto-pop.
"A distinctly Canto-pop sound has evolved in Hong Kong over the 1980s from a collection of Mandarin pop, Cantonese black-and-white film soundtracks and Western rock 'n roll," Wong said.
"The course of Hong Kong's pop music culture went through a number of turning points, which has had a lot of impact on the quality of our music today," he added.
Mainstream music in postwar Hong Kong consisted of Cantonese opera and Mandarin pop, represented by musicians who fled the Communist takeover.
When the Beatles arrived in 1966, the rock fever that had already hit the West caught on in Hong Kong, and high school bands sprang up, turning students like Sam Hui into overnight stars.
At the same time, Hong Kong experienced another invasion of Mandarin pop, this time from Taiwan. At the time, Wong said, Canto-pop existed in a very primitive form, only in soundtracks from old Cantonese movies.
"The sound was raw, the words are vulgar and were despised by listeners, who would rather choose English and Mandarin songs," he said.
Japan was also a source of popular music. Popular singers of the 70s and 80s included Akina Nakamori, Seiko Matsuda, Mayumi Itsuwa and Hideki Saijo. Their songs were sung by local singers in Cantonese. At that time, Televison Broadcasting Corporation (TVB) would broadcast the Japanese Red and White Singing Contest on the first three days of every Chinese New Year.
The Canto-pop sound emerged when songwriter Joseph Koo wrote the soundtrack for a 1974 TVB drama series.
"He combined traditional Cantonese music with Western orchestral music in his songs, so musicwise they were a revolution," Wong said.
Cantonese pop songs then started to emerge but failed to dominate the music scene. Many local bands were still only singing English songs.
Then in 1975, Sam Hui, the pioneer of Canto-pop, opened a new chapter in Hong Kong's music history by creating songs using a rock 'n roll sound and colloquial lyrics that brought out the social mood of that period.
The localization of popular music came into full force when overseas record companies set up bases in Hong Kong.
"Records were locally produced and printed, and local stars and idols, which come hand in hand with a record company, had to be created," Wong said.
There were still waves of English songs, Taiwanese folk songs and Japanese songs in the late 1970s but they were no longer able to monopolize the music market.
"Canto-pop consolidated itself with the infrastructure support of record companies and television and radio stations," Wong said.
Superstar Anita Mui, the product of TVB's first annual talent competition in 1982, served as a role model to the large reserve of budding singers. The popularity of Japanese music faded in the late 1980s and Canto-pop began to dominate the music market.
"In reviewing the past 20 years," said Wong, "the number of local artists has more than tripled, from 40, which was the upper limit in the 1970s, to over 150 in the 1990s.
"There are many factors for Canto-pop's success. Singers are singing in a tongue familiar to most listeners, enhanced by a new generation of lyricists like Cheng Kwok-kong who put literature into their lyrics. Also the sound production quality has reached an international level."
The most popular female singer in Hong Kong is Sammi Cheung, who in the last two years has topped reigning singing queen Faye Wong's popularity.
But "it'll be hard to expect any breakthroughs from them," Wong said of the current stars, "as they'll just keep in line. Hope lies in the rising stars, those who have potential and are willing to try different things."
Canto-pop has won mass acceptance but there is still some way to go before it establishes a solid identity. The HK Top 10 is almost equally divided between local and foreign artists ― with the foreign 50 percent including British, American, Japanese and Taiwanese artists.
"It is common practice to borrow American or Japanese pop songs and fill in Chinese lyrics. Canto-pop is not like Western music whose different categories can be labelled as new romantic, reggae or rap. Musicwise we still have no identity," Wong said.
"Very rarely some songs have traditional Chinese instrumental backup ― a mixture of Eastern and Western flavors. Maybe this will be the direction in which we'll find our identity."
Hong Kong disc jockey Elvin Wong Chi-chung, 27, had a relatively restricted musical childhood, growing up with music made everywhere but Hong Kong. Like many others from his generation, Wong was influenced mostly by the Beatles.
It has not been until the last decade or so that youngsters in Hong Kong could boast of listening only to local singers and band idols playing the home-grown, Cantonese-language Canto-pop.
"A distinctly Canto-pop sound has evolved in Hong Kong over the 1980s from a collection of Mandarin pop, Cantonese black-and-white film soundtracks and Western rock 'n roll," Wong said.
"The course of Hong Kong's pop music culture went through a number of turning points, which has had a lot of impact on the quality of our music today," he added.
Mainstream music in postwar Hong Kong consisted of Cantonese opera and Mandarin pop, represented by musicians who fled the Communist takeover.
When the Beatles arrived in 1966, the rock fever that had already hit the West caught on in Hong Kong, and high school bands sprang up, turning students like Sam Hui into overnight stars.
At the same time, Hong Kong experienced another invasion of Mandarin pop, this time from Taiwan. At the time, Wong said, Canto-pop existed in a very primitive form, only in soundtracks from old Cantonese movies.
"The sound was raw, the words are vulgar and were despised by listeners, who would rather choose English and Mandarin songs," he said.
Japan was also a source of popular music. Popular singers of the 70s and 80s included Akina Nakamori, Seiko Matsuda, Mayumi Itsuwa and Hideki Saijo. Their songs were sung by local singers in Cantonese. At that time, Televison Broadcasting Corporation (TVB) would broadcast the Japanese Red and White Singing Contest on the first three days of every Chinese New Year.
The Canto-pop sound emerged when songwriter Joseph Koo wrote the soundtrack for a 1974 TVB drama series.
"He combined traditional Cantonese music with Western orchestral music in his songs, so musicwise they were a revolution," Wong said.
Cantonese pop songs then started to emerge but failed to dominate the music scene. Many local bands were still only singing English songs.
Then in 1975, Sam Hui, the pioneer of Canto-pop, opened a new chapter in Hong Kong's music history by creating songs using a rock 'n roll sound and colloquial lyrics that brought out the social mood of that period.
The localization of popular music came into full force when overseas record companies set up bases in Hong Kong.
"Records were locally produced and printed, and local stars and idols, which come hand in hand with a record company, had to be created," Wong said.
There were still waves of English songs, Taiwanese folk songs and Japanese songs in the late 1970s but they were no longer able to monopolize the music market.
"Canto-pop consolidated itself with the infrastructure support of record companies and television and radio stations," Wong said.
Superstar Anita Mui, the product of TVB's first annual talent competition in 1982, served as a role model to the large reserve of budding singers. The popularity of Japanese music faded in the late 1980s and Canto-pop began to dominate the music market.
"In reviewing the past 20 years," said Wong, "the number of local artists has more than tripled, from 40, which was the upper limit in the 1970s, to over 150 in the 1990s.
"There are many factors for Canto-pop's success. Singers are singing in a tongue familiar to most listeners, enhanced by a new generation of lyricists like Cheng Kwok-kong who put literature into their lyrics. Also the sound production quality has reached an international level."
The most popular female singer in Hong Kong is Sammi Cheung, who in the last two years has topped reigning singing queen Faye Wong's popularity.
But "it'll be hard to expect any breakthroughs from them," Wong said of the current stars, "as they'll just keep in line. Hope lies in the rising stars, those who have potential and are willing to try different things."
Canto-pop has won mass acceptance but there is still some way to go before it establishes a solid identity. The HK Top 10 is almost equally divided between local and foreign artists ― with the foreign 50 percent including British, American, Japanese and Taiwanese artists.
"It is common practice to borrow American or Japanese pop songs and fill in Chinese lyrics. Canto-pop is not like Western music whose different categories can be labelled as new romantic, reggae or rap. Musicwise we still have no identity," Wong said.
"Very rarely some songs have traditional Chinese instrumental backup ― a mixture of Eastern and Western flavors. Maybe this will be the direction in which we'll find our identity."
Shukan ST: March 6, 1998
(C) All rights reserved
- Canto-pop
- 広東語ポップス
- had a relatively restricted musical childhood
- 子供時代、音楽に関しては比較的限られていた
- music made everywhere but Hong Kong
- 香港以外の音楽
- last decade or so
- 過去十数年
- youngsters
- 若者
- boast of 〜
- 〜 を誇る
- Cantonese-language
- 広東語の
- distinctly
- はっきりとした
- has evolved
- 発展した
- Mandarin pop
- 北京語の中国ポップス
- went through a number of turning points
- いくつかの転機を迎えた
- Mainstream
- 主流の
- postwar
- (1949年中華人民共和国成立までの)内戦後の
- opera
- 伝統的歌劇
- represented by 〜
- 〜 に代表される
- fled the Communist takeover
- 共産党の支配を逃れた
- caught on
- 流行した
- sprang up
- 現れた
- turning 〜 into overnight stars
- 〜 を一夜にしてスターにして
- invasion of 〜
- 〜 の波
- primitive form
- 荒削りな 〜
- raw
- 洗練されていない
- vulgar
- 低俗な
- were despised by 〜
- 〜 に見下されていた
- source
- 出所
- broadcast
- 放映する
- Japanese Red and White Singing Contest
- NHK紅白歌合戦
- emerged
- 現れた
- musicwise
- 音楽的には
- revolution
- 革命
- dominate
- 優位を占める
- colloquial lyrics
- 話し言葉を使った歌詞
- brought out the social mood of that period
- 社会の風潮を表した
- localization
- 地元化
- came into full force
- 最高潮に達した
- set up bases
- 拠点を置いた
- come hand in hand with 〜
- 〜 と関連してついてくる
- monopolize
- 独占する
- consolidated itself with 〜
- 〜 によって強化された
- infrastructure support of 〜
- 〜 のような社会的生産基盤の支え
- annual talent competition
- 毎年行なわれるタレントコンテスト
- served as a role model to 〜
- 〜 の手本となった
- large reserve of budding singers
- 大勢の歌手の卵
- factors
- 要因
- tongue familiar to 〜
- 〜 に親しみのある言語
- enhanced by 〜
- 〜 で高められて
- lyricists
- 作詞家
- has topped reigning 〜
- 君臨していた 〜 を超えた
- breakthroughs
- 現状打破
- as they'll just keep in line
- 今までのスタイルで続けていく
- Hope lies in 〜
- 〜 が期待される
- has won mass acceptance
- 一般に認められた
- establishes a solid identity
- 独自性を確立する
- common practice
- よくあること
- traditional Chinese instrumental backup
- 伝統的な中国楽器の伴奏
- flavors
- 特色