Cantopop Hong Kong is a modern Hong Kong music aimed at a young audience. It is a mix of traditional Chinese music with modern musical forms like western pop music, rock and roll, and jazz among others. Cantopop Hong Kong is also known as HK-pop.
HK-pop is the shorter form of Hong Kong popular music. This type of music has its origin in the 1920's. The first recorded form of this genre was sung by Zhou Xuan. The establishment of the communist government in the Chinese mainland led to the exodus of many talented singers from the country in the 1950's. Many musicians immigrated to the British Overseas Territory of Hong Kong.
The first of the many versions of Cantopop was regarded as 'cheap' music by the then Hong Kong populace. This view was largely the result of the Anglicization of the territory.
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The 1960's saw Cantopop remain in the musical sidelines.
The 1970's heralded the rise of Cantopop Hong Kong. The break came through the title music played in the soap operas which were regularly broadcast through Hong Kong television. Sandra Lang sung the first widely popular Cantopop song. Singers like Roman Tam and Samuel Hui popularized the genre further. The 1980's and 90's saw the Cantopop Hong Kong musical genre gain widespread popularity. Cantopop even swamped out other popular music like English Pop Rock.
The millennium saw Cantopop slowly losing its wide appeal. This is mostly due to the rising popularity of modern Mandarin songs from the Chinese mainland. The stricture of the Chinese government on the imposition of the Chinese Mandarin language as the principal language of communication has also led to the decline of Cantopop.
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