He'd like the world to sing … in Cantonese
Former music boss Alex Chan says Canto-pop can move beyond Hong Kong and find millions of new fans around the mainland and the globe
For Canto-pop, there is no better time than the present if Hongkongers can look beyond the city, according to music industry veteran Alex Chan Siu-po.
"Right now is the best time for Canto-pop, but it's not going to be generated only in Hong Kong," says the former music boss who discovered Canto-pop stars like Faye Wong and rock band Beyond.
He says the needs of an estimated 300 million Cantonese-speaking people around the world, including those in the Guangdong area, have been largely ignored. "After getting one or two hit [Canto-pop] songs, artists started to think, 'Oh, the market for Mandarin songs is so much bigger'," Chan said.
And because of a seemingly lucrative market, he says that the over-emphasis on Mando-pop (sung in Mandarin) over the past decade contributed to the stagnation of Canto-pop. But the former president of Universal Music Hong Kong says this is wrong.
"Of course [the Mando-pop market] is so much bigger. But how can you fight with people in Taiwan or Beijing? They have their own [Mandarin-speaking] culture and their own music. Why do something you are not good at and forget about what you are good at? You are good at making Canto-pop," Chan said.
He is in talks with musicians and record companies in Guangzhou to forge a new alliance: "Forget Mandarin songs."