There's no better way to gauge the mood of the times than music. The emotions and feelings of popular songs reveal much about culture and history. I'm in no way an expert on the offerings of Hong Kong's musical talent, but I am well aware that what's played on the radio or chirped by a bored salesgirl is more or less reflective of how people on the streets feel. Based on a clutch of hits from the late 1970s through to the mid-1980s, I sense that this city is not as happy or positive a place as it once was.
Let's start with a caveat: Canto-pop music is not my style. The insipid, syrupy crooning that often permeates the airwaves makes me rush for the earthier-sounding jackhammers of the streets. My sounds of choice are lyrics that make me think, grinding guitar riffs and no-holds-barred rock, rhythm and blues. This gives me energy and gets me moving; bland radio makes me sleep.
That said, the rash of Cantonese songs about Hong Kong that were hits three decades ago got me thinking. Agnes Chan's Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1982, The Night of Hong Kong from four years earlier by the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng and Pearl of the Orient, by Jenny Tseng - best known to Cantonese audiences as Yan Nei - in 1981, were unadulterated gifts of love for a place that these three women clearly adored. They sang of hope, vibrancy, happiness and beauty. If they spoke for the people of Hong Kong, as cultural anthropologists, historians and musicologists would contend, this was, at the time, a special place cherished in the hearts of the majority. There haven't been songs like these wafting from radio and concert speakers in Hong Kong for some time. Perhaps it's because the concept is perceived by today's lyricists as cheesy; music has become more sophisticated would be another explanation. But I don't buy these - no matter whether times are good or bad, music reveals what the population in general is feeling. I offer that the reason is that people don't love and cherish Hong Kong as they once did.
To wit, some translated lyrics from Chan's song:
'There are so many good things about Hong Kong
That I can't name them all