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Hybridity, Empowerment and

Subversiveness in Cantopop Electronic
Dance Music
Matthew M. Chew
Published online: 10 Dec 2010.

To cite this article: Matthew M. Chew (2010) Hybridity, Empowerment and Subversiveness
in Cantopop Electronic Dance Music, Visual Anthropology: Published in cooperation with the
Commission on Visual Anthropology, 24:1-2, 139-151, DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2011.527805

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DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2011.527805

Hybridity, Empowerment and Subversiveness

in Cantopop Electronic Dance Music
Matthew M. Chew

This essay examines ‘‘Cantopop electronic dance music,’’ a term that collectively
designates the several sub-genres of electronic dance music which originated in
Hong Kong. This electronic dance music emerged in 1998 and became the dominat-
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ing club music in Greater China in the early 2000s. While scholars have positively
appraised numerous aspects and subgenres of Cantopop they have never paid atten-
tion to local genres of electronic dance music. Popular music critics and professional
musicians in Greater China also dismiss Cantopop electronic dance music as insin-
cere or incompetent imitations of global (i.e., European and American) electronic
dance music. In this essay I show that Cantopop electronic dance music has valuable
sociocultural characteristics and I elaborate on what they are. Although this dance
music has not inherited the many desirable sociocultural properties of Western elec-
tronic dance music, it has gained new ones through processes of cultural hybridiza-
tion. I will illustrate, through analyzing a range of clubbing practices that hybridize
singing with dancing, how Cantopop electronic dance music empowers local audi-
ences by giving them a central role in music reproduction. Through examining the
remixing of electronic dance tracks by local DJs and the rewriting of lyrics of dance
tracks by local clubbers, I will explicate how local actors ingeniously hybridize,
appropriate and re-articulate local and global musical materials.

THE CANTOPOP SCENE

This essay is concerned with ‘‘Cantopop electronic dance music,’’ a term I coined
to designate collectively the several sub-genres of electronic dance music that ori-
ginated in Hong Kong. This electronic dance music emerged in 1998 and has
become the dominant club music in the Greater China region in the early
2000s. Although since 2003 its regional hegemony has been gradually under-
mined by Mandapop electronic dance music produced in the People’s Republic
of China (PRC) and in Taiwan, Cantopop is still surviving in altered musical

MATTHEW M. CHEW has taught courses on sociology, communication and education in

Hong Kong and Shanghai since graduating from the Department of Sociology at Princeton
University, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Hong Kong Baptist University.
His research interests include cultural sociology, globalization, cultural policy, social movements,
new media and social theory. His articles have appeared in New Media and Society, The China
Quarterly, Positions, Cultural Studies and International Sociology. E-mail: mmtchew@
hkbu.edu.hk

139
 140 M. M. Chew

formats and many of its original elements were inherited by Mandapop

electronic dance music. While scholars have positively appraised numerous
aspects of Cantopop (including its lyrical content, singer-idols, band sounds,
melodramatic ballads and rock), they have never paid attention to local genres
of electronic dance music in Hong Kong [e.g., Chu 1998; de Kloet 2005; Fung
and Curtin 2002; Ho 2003; Ma 2002; Witzleben 1999]. At the same time, popular
music critics and professional musicians in Greater China also tend to dismiss
Cantopop electronic dance music as insincere or incompetent imitations of global
(i.e., European and American) electronic dance music [Anon. 2001]. In this essay,
I will illustrate that this dance music is more musically and socioculturally valu-
able than is currently presumed. I will identify the hybrid qualities of such dance
music and analyze how they contribute to empowering local audiences, pluraliz-
ing pop music cultures, and challenging the social hierarchy in Hong Kong.
Electronic dance music is considered socioculturally liberating in multifarious
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ways in North American and European contexts [Buckland 2002; Gilbert and
Pearson 1999; Malbon 1999; McKay 1998; Pini 2001; Reynolds 1999]. It has since
the early 1990s become one of the globally dominant popular music genres and
has diffused to numerous non-Western localities [Chew 2004; Marlin-Curiel
2001]. The genre however does not always assume a liberating form when trans-
planted to other cultural milieux [Banerjea 1998; Colista and Leshner 1998]. First,
because culture inevitably transforms when it travels, localized electronic dance
music’s cultural content and social impact may not be identical to those of its
American and European counterparts. Secondly, because sociocultural circum-
stances differ greatly across the globe, the musically iconoclastic and socially sub-
versive characteristics of global electronic dance music can be irrelevant in many
non-Western localities. Thirdly, the socially subversive qualities of global elec-
tronic dance music are also compromised when the music is consumed as a sta-
tus symbol by affluent cosmopolitan groups in non-Western localities [Lau 2004;
Sliavaite 1998]. Fourthly, as a globally dominant genre, global electronic dance
music acts to some extents as a homogenizing force that undermines local music
traditions.
Although local electronic dance genres often do not inherit the positive socio-
cultural qualities of their American and European counterparts, they may still
offer a different set of positive sociocultural potentials. Current studies of global
diffusion of popular music suggest that the most promising directions through
which one can identify these potentials are the culturally hybrid contents of loca-
lized music, the representation of agency in localized music practices, and the
shift of cultural-political power from global music makers to local audiences
through processes of music appropriation [Bom and Hesmondhalgh 2000;
Diessel 2001; Sharma, Hutnyk and Sharma 1996]. This essay will adopt these
investigative directions to analyze the several sub-genres of hybridized electronic
dance music in Hong Kong.
The substantive analyses in this essay will be organized into four sections. The
first and second of these elaborate upon a range of clubbing practices that hybri-
dize singing and dancing. These practices illustrate how Cantopop electronic
dance music empowers local audiences by giving them a central role in music
reproduction. The third and fourth sections deal with local DJs’ remixing of
 Cantopop Electronic Dance Music 141

electronic dance tracks and local clubbers’ rewriting of lyrics for dance tracks
respectively. Both sections demonstrate how locals appropriate and re-articulate
local and global musical materials to generate hybridity.

CANTOPOP ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC: A BRIEF BACKGROUND

In the mid-1990s American and European electronic dance music began to reach
beyond a tiny, cosmopolitan party crowd in the major metropoles of Greater
China; Cantopop electronic dance music emerged shortly after that. In 1998
and 1999 a leading popular music producer in Hong Kong, Mark Lui, produced
Eurobeat tracks for the prominent pop idols Leon Lai and Kelly Chan. These and
subsequent productions by Lui were well received in Hong Kong, Taiwan and
the People’s Republic of China by clubbers and non-clubbing music audiences
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alike. Less established producers, singers and record companies in Hong Kong
invested in localization of electronic dance music between 1999 and 2002. These
efforts generated a number of musical varieties including cover versions, Euro-
beat, and watered-down Techno, but few of them ventured beyond highly com-
mercialized products. At the same time, Hong Kong’s independent DJs
developed original and non-commercialized sub-genres such as Cantopop rap.
Brother Nine (jiuge) and MP4 were the most influential among these Cantopop
rappers. An additional sub-genre of Cantopop electronic dance music emerged
around 2000 when it became popular for DJs to remix Cantopop tracks with
House and Techno bass-lines. Clubbers’ improvised karaoke-singing, patterned
yelling, and lyrics rewriting at club settings constitute another important distinc-
tive feature of Cantopop electronic dance music.
The DJs, dance clubs and audience of Cantopop electronic dance music were
geographically located in Kowloon, a major shopping and club area of Hong
Kong, and the nearby Mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen at the very beginning.
Within two years the dance music had rapidly spread to many major cities in
China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Clubs in the Cantonese-speaking cities neigh-
boring Hong Kong, including those of the Dongguan region, Greater Guangzhou,
and the nearby twin cities of Macau and Zhuhai instantly embraced it. Ethnic
Chinese clubbers in Southeast Asia, including Kuala Lumpur and Singapore,
usually understand the Cantonese dialect and became receptive to Cantopop
electronic dance music too. Chinese party crowds far away from Hong Kong
who do not understand Cantonese also accepted it. In 2000 Cantopop electronic
dance music earned the appellation of Guang-hai (Cantonese drug music) in
Taiwan, and has established itself as the dominant club music there. This dance
music was played profusely in all major ‘‘party cities’’ in the PRC, including
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Fuzhou, and Chengdu, by the
year 2000 [see Figure 1]. Since 2002 clubs in non-Cantonese-speaking provinces
began to substitute for Cantopop electronic dance music the similar sound of
Mandapop electronic dance music. But by the mid-2000s a significant portion of
Mandapop electronic dance tracks were still derived from their Cantopop ver-
sions; these were created by Hong Kong producers and sung by Hong Kong-based
singers. Smaller towns and hinterland cities in China have not yet strongly
 142 M. M. Chew
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Figure 1 The Jiangtan Park nightlife district in Wuhan, a large city in Central China. Large-scale
nightlife districts are being constructed by local officials in many Chinese cities since the early
2000s. (Photo # Author)

embraced clubbing but to the extent that they have, they received Cantopop
electronic dance music much more warmly than global electronic dance music.
Japan, South Korea and other parts of East and Southeast Asia were hybridiz-
ing global electronic dance music at around the same period when Hong Kong
did (between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s). The development of Cantopop
electronic dance music was largely unaffected by parallel developments in East
and Southeast Asia, however. The only exception was the making of Cantopop
cover versions of Korea’s K-pop dance tracks in the early 2000s. The lack of
intra-Asia influences is not surprising. Similar to global diffusion of other
cultural genres, that of electronic dance music traveled predominantly from
the United States and Europe to the non-West, with relatively weak counter-flow
from the rest to the West and equally weak interaction amongst non-Western
localities themselves.

INTERACTIVE HYBRIDITY: THE MIXING TOGETHER OF KARAOKE AND

DANCING PRACTICES
After the dissipation of disco fever in late-1980s Hong Kong, karaoke emerged
and gradually dominated local nightlife. Not only did karaoke boxes become a
 Cantopop Electronic Dance Music 143

major nightlife establishment but karaoke singing got institutionalized in other

nightlife formats including hostess nightclubs, bars and dance clubs. When the
rave culture-inspired club culture gained popularity in Greater China during
the mid-1990s, it was there also greatly influenced and altered by karaoke prac-
tices. Global electronic dance music and its reproductive practices in Western
club settings are not at all influenced by karaoke practices. The majority of DJs
in Western contexts are silent for most of the time in their sessions—they com-
municate with the audience through playing music rather than singing. Only a
minority of DJs and MCs sing, including vocal DJs who sing over the tracks
played in funky house sets and MCs who rap over tracks in drum-and-bass
and hip-hop parties. But because their singing and rapping are intended to
complement the music, this can hardly be classified as karaoke-style singing.
Sometimes they also add musically to the track through skillfully improvised
performances that deviate from the vocals in the tracks they are playing.
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In Hong Kong’s local dance club circuit, DJs and MCs often sing as one would
in karaoke boxes. They do not just do short bursts that correspond to the chorus
part of tracks, but often sing entire songs. The singing is not meant to demon-
strate singing skills or add musically to the track being sung; and sometimes
DJs and MCs yell the song out instead of singing it. As in karaoke singing, their
singing resembles the original vocals; but the practice is not entirely devoid of
(non-vocal) skill requirements. For instance, DJs and MCs need to place their kar-
aoke singing acts at the right moments during the club night. By instigating the
crowd to sing along and accentuating the climactic moments of the night, it could
bring everyone’s mood up an additional notch. This timing of climactic moments
resembles that in the structure of karaoke partying––getting participants to sing
in unison at the right moments is an effective way to reach the party climax in
karaoke settings.
Clubbers in Hong Kong sing in karaoke style in dance clubs almost as much as
they do in karaoke boxes. Clubbers in the US and Europe sometimes sing, but
singing is not frequent and not central to their clubbing experience. Moreover
most global electronic dance music tracks do not come with vocals and lyrics,
whereas literally all Cantopop dance tracks do. Another reason that facilitates
Hong Kong clubbers’ singing is that they rewrite the lyrics of the tracks and they
want to share their favorite rewritten lyrics with others on the floor. Unamplified
singing against the loud music on the dance floor could strain one’s voice, but the
lack of amplification has not prevented local clubbers from karaoke-singing on
the dance floor. Because most Chinese clubbers party in karaoke settings as much
as they do in dance clubs, they are used to singing their favorite tracks even with-
out the help of amplification (e.g., the number of singers in a karaoke room easily
exceeds the total number of microphones available there, necessitating some to
sing without amplification).
The site where Cantopop electronic dance music is intensely sung and
danced to is actually limited to dance floors in dance clubs, though also in
makeshift dance floors in karaoke boxes. Party people in Hong Kong often club
in small karaoke rooms inside dance clubs, hostess nightclubs, bars or karaoke
box establishments [Chew 2010]. There are no authoritative global norms that
culturally and psychologically constrain these local clubbers’ practices in
 144 M. M. Chew

karaoke settings. In the early 1990s most tracks sung in karaoke boxes were
melodramatic ballads, but by now Cantopop electronic dance music and danc-
ing have become a common and legitimate part of karaoke partying. Local club-
bers take over a great deal of the reproductive responsibilities in the karaoke
box setting. For example, they assume the role of the DJ in picking tracks to
play and arranging the sequence of play, and they sing the tracks along with
the original vocal.
The singing of dance tracks has evolved into more varied and complex forms
as it became more popular. In the singing of Techno rap, for example, DJs and
clubbers often answer each other’s singing in orderly patterns. These interactive
types of singing are sometimes improvised and sometimes pre-arranged by club
tracks. Let us examine two examples. In the dance hit ‘‘There Ain’t Cute Gals’’
(Meiliangnü), the difference between music making and music reproduction is
intentionally and artfully dissolved. The original version is recorded by Brother
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Nine at his home club, with him and a large group of friends. Brother Nine yells,
‘‘there ain’t cute gals’’ and then his friends answer ‘‘there ain’t cute guys’’ or
‘‘there are cute girls.’’ The ambience and the spontaneity of this yelling are cap-
tured in the recorded track. When the track is replayed in club settings, clubbers
on the floor are prompted to answer to Brother Nine’s yelling in the recording or
the live MC who copies the part of Brother Nine. The meaning of the lyrics of
course is an impetus for collective participation. For example, they sing because
the lyrics vividly capture the disappointment and excitement of an average club
night––whether there are cute guys or gals is indeed a central concern that many
clubbers have in mind when clubbing.
The prompting and answering pattern in the track ‘‘Jinwan chi jiji’’ (Tonight
let’s eat chicken) is more freely structured. The track contains an echoing of
similar sentences between MP4 (the Techno rapper) and a chorus of voices
within the recorded track. However, clubbers and DJs who are listening to
the track in a dance club are encouraged to improvise on the lyrics instead of
simply repeating them. The lyrics of the track consist of four lines with identical
length and intonations.

Hey, tonight we must get high!

Hey, tonight we get high as usual!
Hey, tonight we go crash on the streets!
Hey, remember don’t waste tonight!

In the recording, MP4 yells out one of the four lines and a chorus of clubbers
shouts back. Each line contains seven Chinese characters and the first five of
each line are identical: clubbers are hence encouraged to improvise on the last
two words. Numerous improvisations have been made by clubbers and DJs;
most of them are creative. Because the intonation of the last two words resem-
bles that of two commonly used expletives, so clubbers often replace the words
by these expletives. If one listens carefully to the recording there also appears
to be a stray voice in the chorus chanting the expletives. Aside from expletives,
clubbers also constructed other sentences reflecting a Hong Kong style (i.e.,
‘‘senseless’’) humor.
 Cantopop Electronic Dance Music 145

LOCAL EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MUSIC REPRODUCTION: PATTERNED

YELLING AND MC-ING

There is a tendency in music reproductive practices in Hong Kong dance clubs to

emphasize lyrics, language and vocals at the expense of other aspects of music.
This tendency is reflective of the characteristics of Cantopop electronic dance
music in general. The push factor is that the majority of local clubbers do not pos-
sess the subcultural capital required to appreciate or creatively reproduce elec-
tronic dance music, perhaps not even in its watered-down versions. But there
is also an important pull factor. The use of streetwise, colloquial Cantonese––
composed of unofficial Chinese characters, vulgar vocabulary and non-standard
intonation of common words––in club settings is attractive. Very few formal
media or public spaces in Hong Kong stage street Cantonese as the official lan-
guage. The employment of colloquial Cantonese in recorded music as well as live
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DJ sessions turns the dance club into a rare space of cultural belonging in Hong
Kong and other Cantonese-speaking cities.
MC-ing is an indispensable element of local Chinese clubbing practices. DJs
tend to talk continuously and their voices can be heard over music for as much
as half of the sets. MCs are occasionally present alongside DJs to take up the role
in a more specialized way. The talking controls the club atmosphere in a way
similar to a DJ’s, karaoke singing: they draw the crowd together and accentuate
climactic moments of the club night. MCs and DJs also host a variety of activities
during which they stop playing music and talk for minutes at a time. Activities
include lucky draws, promotion of alcohol or cigarette brands, distribution of
neon sticks, beauty contests or sundry other mildly imaginable events. Many
local clubbers do not find fault with these extra-musical activities and take them
as a legitimate dimension of club entertainment, though serious Western clubbers
might find them sacrilegious. Major themes about which MCs speak include
nightlife enjoyment, sex and dating jokes, dancing, drugs, and other filler topics.
A local clubber informant approvingly describes this as local DJs’ provision of
‘‘multimedia entertainment that integrates stand-up comedy with dance music.’’
The most emblematic music reproductive practice of local clubbers is their pat-
terned yelling to the beat of dance tracks in the form of ‘‘hoi-hoi-hoi-hoi.’’ It does
not require much musical knowledge on the part of clubbers; most Cantopop
House and Techno tracks have a clear four-beat pattern. When a lot of clubbers
join in, the yelling is very effective at energizing the crowd. The choice of ‘‘hoi’’ is
not arbitrary or meaningless: in colloquial Cantonese one says it when one is
straining one’s physical force or for synchronizing a work group for a
co-ordinated use of physical force. In comparison to the spontaneous and indivi-
dualized yelling in Western club settings, the local yelling in Hong Kong is much
more collectively structured.
This kind of patterned yelling has been criticized by cosmopolitan, experienced
ravers in Hong Kong.
In rave parties nowadays, there are big herds of cattle on the dance floor.
They are entirely in unison at doing certain things.
Suddenly they burst out ‘‘hoi-hoi-hoi-hoi.’’
They’re so retarded.1
 146 M. M. Chew

Evan though clubbers’ yelling often connects accurately to the beat of dance
tracks, it can displace dance music in indirect ways. The loud volume of the yell-
ing may overwhelm subtleties that knowledgeable clubbers are able to identify in
sets, such as how the DJ is phasing a track or slam-jamming a number of tracks
together. But given local clubbers’ lack of club-cultural capital, their preference
for patterned yelling over musical subtleties is entirely understandable. They
are able to achieve several goals through the simple action of yelling in unison:
expressing their energized selves, reinforcing the uplifting moments of the club
night, and concretizing the evasive oceanic feeling of rave party circumstances.
Patterned yelling also yields an important cultural-political implication: it
helps to shift control of the club night from the DJs to average local clubbers.
The average local clubber in Hong Kong is not knowledgeable about electronic
dance music and hence cannot easily participate in music reproduction in dance
club settings; but patterned yelling gives a valuable and easily accessible handle
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to participation. The decision to start yelling depends much more on contingen-

cies on the dance floor than the DJ or the tracks. The yelling has a better chance of
diffusing through the crowd if the DJ and his set are of high professional quality,
but there are so many other clubber-centered factors that the yelling often erupts
for reasons unrelated to music. The time of night when a group of clubbers have
taken drugs, for example, could be a decisive factor. The bold moves of a parti-
cularly skillful dancer, the sight of a group dancing in unison, or simply the
arrival of a long awaited friend, can trigger the patterned yelling of some small
group of clubbers. These kinds of yelling are usually able to spread through the
crowd even if the DJ and the music are not particularly inspiring at the moment.
These are the underlying reasons for why cosmopolitan, knowledgeable ravers
oppose patterned yelling.

HYBRID APPROPRIATIONS: LOCAL DJ REMIXES

Remixes do not at first glance appear to be a defining characteristic of Cantopop
electronic dance music. The obvious areas of innovation in this dance music lie in
lyrics, language and vocals. Music remixing in the United State and Europe does
not usually focus on these three aspects of original tracks. Additionally, Hong
Kong DJs who are sufficiently capable and ambitious tend to avoid associations
with Cantopop electronic dance music because working with global materials is
a better way to win international acclaim. Those who are willing to produce
Cantopop remixes often do it for the mundane and practical purpose of making
fillers for their sessions in local clubs. Despite their humble origins, local remixes
manage to encourage sociocultural critique and articulate cultural hybridity.
In the beginning, local remixes were primarily made by DJs for their own live
sessions in dance clubs, and were not played outside club settings or distributed
through the mass media. But by 2002 local remixes came to be distributed in a
relatively large volume through pirated CD shops, internet sites and personal
circulation among party people. Local remixes aim at the functionality of dance
clubbing much more than at formal musical innovation. Such innovation, which
is prioritized by American and European remixes, does not effectively cater to
 Cantopop Electronic Dance Music 147

the practical needs of local clubbers because local Chinese clubbers are not cap-
able of understanding it. Commercially distributed Cantopop electronic dance
tracks, especially Cantopop Eurobeat ones, often had their electronic dance music
elements compromised in order to attract a general non-clubbing audience. Local
clubbers loved these tracks but preferred more robust versions of them for danc-
ing, and local remixes satisfied this demand. Technically decent remixes of the
Eurobeat tracks of Leon Lai, Kelly Chan, Aaron Kwok, Sammi Cheng and other
established pop idols were regularly played in local clubs by 2000. While they
may not be particularly innovative in musical form, they re-injected hardcore
electronic dance elements into watered-down Cantopop dance tracks. Local club-
bers were also in dire need of a larger Cantopop electronic dance repertoire. The
production rate of Cantopop electronic dance tracks has never been high, num-
bering a few dozens each year between 1999 and 2003. Yet local clubs typically
spent the majority of their airtime on them. DJs ameliorated this shortage by
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remixing old dance tracks in the Cantopop repertoire into electronic dance tracks.
Cantopop disco and hard rock tracks from the 1990s were revived through these
remixes in a similar way to how disco tracks from the 1980s were revived in con-
temporary Western remixes.
The local remixes often reinforce the socioculturally subversive qualities of
Cantopop electronic dance tracks. For example, remixing efforts are capable of
turning the melodramatic meanings of a Cantopop k-song right side up without
altering its lyric contents at all. Remixes of Candy Lo’s 2003 hit track, ‘‘Please be
Kind and Break Up’’ (Haoxin fenshou), are an example. The track’s title may either
be interpreted in Cantonese in a traditional feminine and sentimentalist way as
‘‘Please be kind and break up,’’ or in a more assertive way as ‘‘Just leave!’’
The lyrics describe the ambivalent feelings of a woman who is initiating a
break-up with an unfaithful lover. The original recording, in line with the Canto-
pop k-song tradition, unsurprisingly leans toward the sentimentalist interpre-
tation. Remixes of the track drastically re-present it in a defiant way by
speeding up the tempo and continually repeating the title phrase. Another set
of tracks the meanings of which were redefined through remixing are those of
Twins, the mainstream pop duo. The affectedly cute and highly commercialized
mood in their tracks dissipates as local remixes skillfully bring out the playful
and self-confident side of the duo. The Twins’ transformation through club
remixes was so well-received and refreshing that their corporate managers
re-adjusted their market image in that direction for a while.
Another creative achievement of local remixes is their hybridizing of local cul-
tural elements and global electronic dance materials. Western DJs have explored
a wide range of novel vocal content in electronic dance remixes, including
recorded historical speeches, interviews with musicians and storytelling. Simi-
larly heterogeneous audio contents were creatively employed in local Cantopop
remixes. An example of these audio contents is the dialogue of Stephen Chow in
his classic comedy films. Chow is the leading figure of ‘‘senseless humor,’’ a local
school of humor that is emblematic of contemporary Hong Kong popular culture.
The chosen dialogue in the remix—Chow’s introduction of himself and his weap-
onry in the film Trick Masters (Zhenggu Zhuanjia)—is typically senseless and
hilarious. Additionally for clubbers the dialogue’s senseless nature matches the
 148 M. M. Chew

psychedelic mood of rave party contexts. Another example of local remixes with
hybrid articulations is those that make use of the local theme track ‘‘McDull and
Chicken.’’ McDull is a successful local cartoon series with humorously delivered
subtle meanings. The track features McDull describing tasty chicken dishes, but
risqué references are accented throughout by the remix if one listens carefully.
Both examples make original use of local materials that are not previously con-
nected to clubbing.

SOCIOCULTURAL SUBVERSION: THE REWRITING OF LYRICS BY LOCAL

CLUBBERS
The rewriting of lyrics has always been a favorite pastime of local Cantopop
audiences.2 Similar to the rhymed verses (shunkouliu) written by citizens in
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China, rewritten lyrics in Hong Kong often contain socioculturally subversive

contents and function as social critique. But these rewritten lyrics were rarely cir-
culated publicly, heard or performed. With the advent of Cantopop electronic
dance music, rewritten lyrics have been given a social space in which the lyrics
are regularly performed and reproduced. Clubbers rewrite lyrics and sing them
out loud in dance clubs for fun. Occasionally these lyrics are recorded by club
DJs, made into compact discs, and then distributed through pirate stores and
replayed in dance clubs or homes.
Beginning in 1999 local clubbers and DJs started to rewrite chorus parts of indi-
vidual Cantopop Eurobeat hits of Leon Lai and Kelly Chan. Local DJs and clubbers
sang the rewritten versions in club settings. Many clubbers found them amusing
and applauded the singer-clubbers. The earliest generation of rewritten lyrics
tends to focus largely on sex and vulgarities. These rewritten lyrics are not socially
meaningless; they subvert the lyrical contents of mainstream Cantopop and Hong
Kong society, which tend to propagate morally conservative views on love,
marriage and sex. The lyrics of Cantopop electronic dance music are typically more
colloquial than mainstream Cantopop. The rewritten lyrics made by local clubbers
have gone one step further and employ vulgar and colloquial vocabulary
profusely. Clubbers’ public performance of vulgar lyrics is also socioculturally
subversive because public mediation of any sexual and morally suspicious con-
tents is in danger of prosecution by the conservative, conformist political elite
in Hong Kong. Clubbers are subverting the domination of this elite when they
perform rewritten lyrics in the semi-underground public spaces of dance clubs.
There was another early type of lyric rewriting: the matching of Cantonese lyrics
to global electronic dance tracks.3 They were not as numerous as vulgar language
lyrics, but they were more culturally hybrid. An example is the rewritten lyrics for
a classic Belgian Techno track from the early 1990s, ‘‘Anasthasia.’’ The lyrics go:
‘‘fall flat on your face, Huang Fei-hung’’ and ‘‘fuck your mother, Bruce Lee.’’
The expletives do not mean much more than expressions of solidarity and being
energized; they are understood by clubbers to be directed at no one. The references
to Huang and Lee—the greatest Cantonese-speaking kung-fu masters in Hong
Kong’s collective memory—are adroitly chosen. The two names carry a complex
combination of meanings: extraordinary martial prowess and energy, greatness
 Cantopop Electronic Dance Music 149

of Cantonese pop culture, exaggerated kung-fu actions and bodies, and nostalgia
for old Hong Kong. These meanings add up to a surreal, energized mood that aptly
matches the acid sound of that classic Belgian track. Kung-fu visuals in general
are considered a good match with electronic dance music in Western and Chinese
contexts. Kung-fu imagery has also influenced U.S. hip-hop, although the interac-
tion is less comprehensively developed than for example the hybridization of
Japanese anime and global Techno sounds.
The rewriting of lyrics became a fad among local clubbers in 2000 when DJs in
the leading discos of the local circuit such as Red Disco or Club 348 aggressively
encouraged the singing of rewritten lyrics in their sessions. More Cantopop
tracks were rewritten and their quality improved. Loyal clubbers began to create
‘‘theme lyrics’’ for major local clubs to sing aloud in clubs. The fad subsided in
2001 but resumed again in late 2002, when an even larger quantity of sophisti-
cated rewritten lyrics was generated. For example, the Cantopop hip-hop track
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‘‘In Love with Hitman’’ (Aishang shashou) has several entirely different rewritten
versions and over a dozen other modified versions. Clubbers sang the major
versions in different local clubs and the modified versions in karaoke boxes.
A veteran lyrics rewriter (a 17-year-old high school student) explains his
motivations for rewriting lyrics thus: ‘‘We create a strong centrifugal force [in
the dance club] when a whole group of friends sing our own rewritten lyrics.
It’s like we’re creating a turf of our own. Moreover, as we dance and sing our
own lyrics, other people would follow us along’’ [Man 2002b].
The most significant improvement of this generation of rewritten lyrics is their
variety. They explored a variety of socially subversive themes without relying
exclusively on sexual innuendo and expletives. An example is the lyrics rewritten
for Kelly Chan’s ‘‘Blessed’’ (Zhufu). The original lyrics, which talk about lost love
in the conventional Cantopop k-song style, are emotionally contrived and sexu-
ally repressed. Local clubbers replaced the chorus part with a comical description
of how a gambler is frustrated by getting a wrong card in a local card game that
ruins his whole hand. These rewritten lyrics were enthusiastically received by lis-
teners and commentators alike because they hilariously ‘‘turn the very sentimen-
talist original lyrics into a description of a card game situation’’ [Man 2002a]. The
lyric rewriters probably would not care to learn about ‘‘deconstruction’’ but they
were effectively deconstructing the conservative ideologies represented in the
discourses of Cantopop k-songs. Rewritten lyrics are an example that demon-
strates how intelligently local clubbers can contribute to music reproduction
despite their limited economic and cultural capital.

CONCLUSION

The reason that Cantopop electronic dance music has been completely ignored by
academics can be inferred from my previous analyses. This dance music is
constituted by transient clubbing practices, and sometimes packaged in vulgar
language, distributed only through underground channels, and reproduced by
the least educated local party crowds. It is constituted by different musical
sub-genres and practices that do not obviously form an integral whole. And it
 150 M. M. Chew

does not appear to be much more than a commercialized smorgasbord of local

and global musical material.
But cultural hybrids often look like that. As I have illustrated, Cantopop elec-
tronic dance music is a hybrid mix that contributes to musical innovation, local
audience empowerment and sociocultural critique. It may not have faithfully
transplanted the liberating elements of global electronic dance music in local con-
texts but it has successfully opened an in-between cultural space that musically
enriches the electronic dance genre while concretely empowering local audiences.

NOTES
1. From the lyrics of LazyMuthurFucker’s track ‘‘The Cow Dung Tribe’’ (Niushi yizu).
2. While the writing of lyrics with high literary value may be equally difficult in any lan-
guage, the writing of decent lyrics to popular songs is more difficult in the Cantonese
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dialect than many other languages. The difficulty is due to the need to perfectly match
the numerous intonations of Cantonese characters to the pitches of musical notes in a
pre-given melody. The difficulty increases further when the lyrics have to be rhymed
and tell a coherent story. The majority of local clubbers’ rewritten lyrics aim at these
as the minimal goal and successfully fulfill them.
3. Strictly speaking, some of these lyrics do not belong to the category ‘‘rewritten’’ because
the original tracks do not have vocals and lyrics in them. But I discuss them together
with rewritten lyrics because both appropriate the music of dance tracks through
making lyrics for them.

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