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    • Hans Ebert
      • Nov 16, 2021
      • 8 min read

    Those in Hong Kong who made a career in music work for them...

    Before she and her partner quietly slipped out of Hong Kong for Dubai, someone I had got to know reasonably well for over a period of 2-3 years, kept mentioning how Hong Kong was finished as an international city. There was a quiet desperation to what she was saying.


     

    Sure, everyone’s who’s interested in this subject is going to have a different view of things, or the same one with maybe a few deletions and additions.



    It was both interesting and therapeutic thinking about who I see as having been game changers in Hong Kong’s music landscape and how they did what they did, where and when timing and a little luck came into play, and if anything can perhaps be taken away from their “master classes”.



    Gawd knows, today’s Hong Kong needs something to wake itself up from a comatose state and where there’s so much that keeps things being more and more dumbed down and locked down.

    If Music is the magical panacea it’s always been, it needs to be allowed to breathe and inspire and re-activate that motorcade coming over the hill.



    Hong Kong might never ever have had a groundbreaking music scene, but the bibs and bobs it did have helped add a little more to everything else that was happening in the city. Like giving a heartbeat to attract tourism. Remember tourism?

    Then again, what’s here to attract international tourists? A staycation at a six star hotel? The usual players making the same old noises? It’s time to change channels.



    In this city that’s pretty much had everything- except for a genre of music that was Made IN Hong Kong and FOR Hong Kong- and which might even be accepted by the world- seems like a good place to kickstart things.


    While looking at a complete makeover for Chinese popular music in Hong Kong, one has to wonder about the future of Western music in this city. How much space will it occupy?


    It’s hard to say, because, well, there’s really nothing around except for Canto Pop, which was and is Variations On Desperado and a smattering of old school boyband doodlings that have skirted on the fringes of Backstreet Mongkok Boys. Truly awful stuff. But when there’s nothing else...



    Just for a second, however, there was the Canto Pop/Rock of Sam Hui that offered up something new.

    This could have been something else until things made a U-turn and went for style over substance and well-rehearsed HKTVB-itis replete with dodgy awards shows and where the real stars were hairstylists.


    Is it too late for Hong Hong, and has the Fat Lady sung and gone home, Grasshopper? One would like to think not.

    Can anything be learned from Hong Kong’s game changers in music who came before? Or were they only about sticking to a formula and the money?

    Apart from wondering if Hong Kong even has the talent young enough to bring something new and fresh and create that Big Picture, I return to Sam Hui and his earliest experimentations in giving Cantonese popular music a new voice.


    This was when Aces Were Going Places and those Games Gamblers Play could have trumped Crazy Rich Asians decades ago. But things got sidetracked and ambushed by the big money of HKTVB-itis and creativity was shelved.

    Musical creativity has never been a priority in Hong Kong. This has become more and more obvious, especially in recent years and when this city has started to wobble.


    During those gold rush days when way over the top Canto Pop concerts at the Coliseum became something that was basically a three hour long TVB Jade television variety show, no one noticed or cared to notice that all this Bigness had nothing to do with music. And here lies a problem being felt today.


    For myself, writing is often time in a bottle and a magical mystery tour with the soundtrack to one’s life playing in the background.

    It’s about feeding that headspace from somewhere within, and which is exclusive and honest.


    It’s a thought process that might lead to somewhere new and exciting- not just more mirror versions of everything that’s come before.




     

    Anita Mui



    She broke all the rules in order to show that there should be no rules, especially in the stifling cookie cutter Hong Kong music industry- and what passes itself off as “the music business”.

    It was about taking control of her career and how to own every aspect of this.



    What has the Hong Kong music business and artists learned from Anita Mui?

    Could one not borrow from what Anita Mui gave and be inspired and brave enough to give Hong Kong a very different version of, let’s say, Black Pink?

    Another thing: Did we miss the big boat and the sampan by not embracing that rainbow coalition when gay icons like Mui, Leslie Cheung and Danny Chan were hanging out at Disco Disco and Canton Disco was bringing some Studio 54-type coolness and outrageousness to Hong Kong?



    Hindsight is a wonderful thing and so is foresight. Even during these barren rock days, impossible is nothing.



     

    Donald Ashley



    Blackjacks/Ramband/Chyna



    The uncommon common denominator in all three of these Rock bands who performed in English was drummer-vocalist-songwriter Donald Ashley. He drove each band with the same passion and angst and intensity some of us had always come to expect from him.



    Some stopped working with Don because of his somewhat erratic behaviour and unreliability.

    All I know is that if I insisted to whoever was producing a session that I needed him, and called him, Don would show up.

    Despite his Boris ranting emails and anger at those musicians undercutting recording sessions’ hourly rates, he was a unique individual and brilliant all-round musician.

    His song “Within You’ll Remain” and a hit for Chyna around this region and Japan was “Chinese” enough to be commercially successful without bludgeoning audiences with a giant char siu bau.



    He checked out not having finished what he was sent here to do.



     

    Schtung Music



    New Zealanders Andrew Hagen and Morton Wilson raised the bar almost immediately after arriving in Hong Kong when it came to producing music for commercials.

    What they produced weren’t fluffy jingles. They were soundscapes- and quality Award winning work.

    Though having only used Schtung for a McDonald’s track that needed something less jingle jangling and more filmic, I was to work much more with Morton, below, during my decade with EMI Music.


    Morton brought to us the Shanghai Divas Remixed project that used our classic Pathe recordings.

    Personally, I believe that EMI outside of Hong Kong did a lousy job of getting behind this release.



    From here, I had his team at Schtung work with me and our A&R teams in India and elsewhere on remixes for Bowie, Robbie Williams, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Deepak Chopra and Dave Stewart. Gorillaz and many others.

    The work was excellent, it was unique and certainly didn’t go unappreciated by Mr Bowie-though once again, the EMI offices outside of this region either didn’t get it or didn’t want to get it.





     

    Norman Cheng



    When the Danny Diaz Trio beat Teddy Robin and the Playboys to win Hong Kong’s big Battle Of The Sounds, one wonders if it was a popular result.

    After all, though desperately needing a sense of style, the all-Chinese Teddy Robin and the Playboys were Hong Kong’s most popular mainstream pop group.



    Danny Diaz and the Checkmates were a professional and sophisticated group comprising the three musically accomplished Diaz brothers and their drummer. The Checkmates and their jazz chords and material were in a different league though you wouldn’t know it from the record sleeve below.



    Looking back, it’s interesting to see the career paths taken by the individuals in each band.

    Teddy Robin Kwan made a few solo recordings before branching out into the Hong Kong film world. The other Playboys did a bit of this and a bit of that and nothing of much consequence.

    Guitarist and leader Norman Cheng, meanwhile, worked himself up from studio engineer and producer to become one of the most successful Chinese music executives.

    He became head of PolyGram, Universal Music and EMI Music in the region.

    We worked closely together in each of these companies and had our fair share of different home runs.



    Also a horse owner, Norman had the A&R skills to sign up legendary names in Canto Pop like Jacky Cheung, yes, Sam Hui, Alan Tam, and mapped out the return to recording of the iconic Teresa Teng...

    He also saw the end of the music business as we knew it hurtling our way and made contingency plans.

    He sold his Gold Typhoon music and management company and cashed out. Timing is everything.



     

    Sam Hui



    It was the combination of Wallace Chau on guitar and charismatic frontman and singer Sam Hui that made the Lotus the drawcard they were in Hong Kong.



    We all knew that it was always a matter of time before Sam would go it alone and become hugely popular. He was the total pop package and readymade for television and the movies.



    With the Lotus and when in concert, Sam Hui might have covered Western hits by bands like the Searchers, the Hollies and Paul Revere and the Raiders, but he knew his chords and had a naturally original voice.



    Though I haven’t seen nor heard from Sam in decades, those who have seen him in concert always mention that his singing is like it’s always been.

    Back in the day when with my ex wife, we used to see Sam and wife Becky pretty regularly.

    I had known Sam since my days at KGV Secondary School and when he was already playing professionally with the Bar Six at the Firecracker Bar of the Hyatt Regency.

    I was to write the song that became his first solo hit- “April Lady”- and the two follow up singles.




    When Sam started to write and record songs in Cantonese for the movies, I was writing for the American trade publication Billboard and dubbed this new music genre Canto Rock.


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantopop

    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]

    This became Canto Pop when others jumped on the bandwagon and the music turned bland and took a backseat to style over substance. But not Sam. He stuck to a style that was his own and which others could not copy.


    While the solo singers who were signed to mainly PolyGram often released turgid ballad after ballad and stuck to this formula, Sam’s ballads always harked back to his Western folk roots and where it was always about melodies and lyrics that mattered.


    He certainly wasn’t Bob Dylan, but the songs of Bob Dylan worked best when covered by Peter, Paul and Mary.

    Sam was the Chinese Jim Croce and Don McLean- slightly before Jim Croce and Don McLean.

    I still don’t know if Hong Kong music fans understand just how much Sam Hui changed the face and sound of Chinese music- at least for a short while.

    Songs from this era are still talked about today. Maybe they should be remixed and refried?

    They shouldn’t just be left on the shelf as a quaint little curiosity piece.

    With the past being back there and a good place to visit once in a while for inspiration and to see what can be learned, surely it’s time for Hong Kong to finally grow some balls and do everything it should have done years ago?

    What should be remembered is that all this everything happened long before social media was unleashed on the world and when priorities suddenly got lost in the shuffle of clicks and clutter and a vapid numbers game. The technology long tail was not wagging the dog.


    Instead, things were allowed to get all soft and dopey and with too many still in music looking after number one and their already bulging bank accounts.

    This is why and when we need Bruce Lee now more than ever...



    #cantopop #hansebert #hongkong #samhui #anitamui #donashley #normancheng #music #cantondisco #schtungmusic

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    • Open Space
      • Jul 2, 2021
      • 5 min read

    Why Canto Pop needs a facelift

    by Hans Ebert

     

    Maybe now that Hong Kong has reached a point in its history where no one knows where it’s heading and what its future might be, these surreal times might just inspire someone to finally write a really REALLY good song about this city that’s always lived on borrowed time.


    It’s always struck me as, er, odd that in a city, where so many who profess to be musicians, and with some believing they occupy some rarefied space in the lifeblood of this city, how there might be some good copyists, but, wherefore art thou, the creators?


    This is not to say there aren’t some very good young Made In Hong Kong talent. They can be seen busking all over this city.




    Others are probably hiding away in their home recording studios somewhere in Tuen Mun or Wong Tai Sin making brilliant new music. Who’s to know?


    How can this new generation of local musicians make themselves heard, AND be accepted, especially if offering up something different to what’s come before on those tedious and dubious HKTVB Awards shows?



    Would these new musicians need to “comply” with Les Predictables before being given a platform to let young music fans decide for themselves- young being the operative word?


    Front and centre for the past 20-30 years, at least when it comes to Western music, are the usual now middle aged suspects one has heard over and over again at places like Grappas, Peel Fresco or hotel lounges where things never veer from another round of covers.


    As for original material, let alone a song about Hong Kong, there’s mainly been a roaring silence.

    As some will know all too well- and why it happened- Western music in this city was pretty much driven “underground”.


    This was when there was a very much focused business objective in the Nineties to promote Canto Pop across all mediums by those who came to control it.


    These “lobans”- big bosses- made billions out of Canto Pop before cashing in and bailing out when the Independent Commission Against Corruption got too close to the truth. Others were extremely fortunate to have a Get Out Of Jail Free card.



    It was during these days that the future of Hong Kong music was well and truly signed, sealed and stuffed.

    As time progressed as did the city, the music moved into the karaoke world where one only sings the old hits. This is where it’s been allowed to stay.


    It’s mind boggling that the only “Hong Kong” song one can recall is the kitschy “Kowloon Hong Kong” written in the Sixties by Vic Cristobal and recorded by a Filipina quartet known as the Reynettes. But this odd ode to colonial Hong Kong with lines like “Come here, come here, rickshaw boy”, are a million miles away from what this city was and where it’s at today.



    Where IS Hong Kong today? Probably somewhere between the Tai Po marshes and searching for an identity.

    Maybe- just maybe- a really really REALLY good song might help lighten the load?

    Why not try without only being bloody trying?


    Of course, many have written songs about Hong Kong, but none of these have ever really gone anywhere. Not that I recall, anyway.


    During the SARS crisis and when at EMI’s Regional office, Norman Cheng and I thought it would be a good idea to ask entertainer Danny Diaz to record one of his originals.


    Called “Hong Kong”, and recorded in English at the old Schtung Studios, it was a nice enough track and immediately dumped onto a compilation CD given away for free during what turned out to be the farcical Harbourfest extravagozola. Let’s not go there.


    Before that, there had been the jaunty commercial Canto Pop of Sam Hui, which, much too quickly, morphed into the bloated ballads of people like “The Four Heavenly Kings”.



    Though Hui’s songs were at least a clever and fun musical commentary on life in the city at that time, there’s not been a squeak about Hong Kong in song.

    Hell, even Bangkok has a song written about one night in the city.


    My love ballad to lap sap, which was actually an advertising jingle for the Government Information Services about “Pitching In” to keep Hong Kong clean, is best left alone though friends mention what a “big hit” it was. Where? Mongkok?


    With Ben Semmens, we wrote “Home”, which was meant to be about this city, but suddenly took a left turn and ended up being about a girlfriend.


    Kat Coetzee and I recorded a song called “Hong Kong” around five years ago, but that’s best left wherever it rests today on life support.


    If there’s to be a song about Hong Kong today, what could it be about?


    There’s already been a “Puppet On A String”, so there goes an idea for a song about Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam.


    The brainiacs at the Hong Kong Tourism Board are no doubt looking at the currently extremely popular local Canto Pop boyband Mirror to come up with a ditty, if and when there’s something here to see tourism return.



    If this were to happen, what are the odds that it would be something very commercial- absolutely nothing wrong with this- but with more than a hint of Nineties deja-vu?


    With it, no doubt would be an accompanying video featuring Mirror and the usual bunch of Yesterday’s People giving the ‘V’ sign while holding hands and swaying to the music.


    Would this help elevate the mood of Hong Kong 2021?


    What exactly have most Canto Pop recordings ever been, anyway, other than various derivative versions of the Eagles’ hit “Desperado”?


    The other question is whether Hong Kong audiences would accept anything else other than Nineties Canto Pop?

    Perhaps they have been bludgeoned into submission by the Canto Pop machinery for so many decades that the indoctrination process is complete?


    Recently came news of some familiar names to do with the Hong Kong music industry and now living in Vancouver banding together to create a different variation of Canto Pop which has already been dubbed #Vantopop. At least they’re trying to do something new.


    “#Vantopop 可以係個新概念、亦都係一個行動。由幾個溫哥華香港音樂人發起,喺當地製作廣東歌。期待其他散落於世界各地擁有共同語言文化嘅人,一同以各種形式延續 Cantopop 嘅故事。


    “#Vantopop is a brand new concept and movement. It was established by a group of Hong Kong music producers in Vancouver for the purpose of creating a local industry for Cantopop. No matter where we all may reside, we hope to inspire other diaspora with this shared language and culture to continue the next chapter of Cantopop”.


    What about musicians in Hong Kong- those involved in producing popular music in Cantonese?


    Is it going to be more of what was churned out in the Nineties and have overstayed their welcome?


    Or is someone finally going to use these days and nights when there’s nothing much happening to make something that’s musically freshly baked, take this out of the oven, give it a new name and feed it to the forty thousand along with the rest of the seven million people in Hong Kong?


    Let’s hope so.


    #CantoPop #hongkong #SamHui #corruption #bigbosses #fourheavenlykings #mirror #vancopop #westernmusic #music #madeinhk #creativity


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