Cantopop

Cantopop (粵語流行曲) is a colloquial abbreviation for Cantonese pop m

Cantopop (粵語流行曲) 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.

Before the 1960s, the Cantonese music available in Hong Kong was limited largely to traditional Cantonese opera and comic renditions of Western music. Tang Kee-chan (鄧寄塵), Cheng Kuan-min (鄭君綿), and Tam Ping-man (譚炳文) were among the early artists releasing Cantonese records in Hong Kong during this period. The younger generation of the time preferred British and American exports, as well as Mandarin music. Some considered fondness for Western music to be a mark of education or sophistication; conversely, those who preferred Cantonese music were considered old or uneducated.