Amateur songwriters give Occupy movement a soundtrack on YouTube
With lyrics and music - instead of chants and speeches - amateur songwriters have lent their talent to the pro-democracy protests.
With lyrics and music - instead of chants and speeches - amateur songwriters have lent their talent to the pro-democracy protests.
The Cantonese songs, posted on YouTube, have attracted tens of thousands of views. Most were uploaded in the days since the protests started.
The most shared and discussed song has an unwieldy title in English: . It was penned and recorded by amateur songwriter David Cheang, who makes a living in advertising.
Two videos of the song - one showing Cheang singing the ballad while playing a guitar and one using anime - have attracted about 100,000 views in the past three days on YouTube. The lyrics, printed online, read:
"Whether you oppose or support the movement, you have to buttress your point with solid evidence, not the biased coverage of a certain broadcaster," Cheang said.
Another song, titled , was composed and recorded by a group of pupils from various secondary schools. It has attracted more than 27,400 views since it was uploaded on the video-sharing site on September 29.
The chorus tells listeners:
Another song had once been used to praise the city's police, but has become the object of attacks since Occupy started.
Singer-songwriter Felix Poon King-cho said he co-wrote the lyrics to months ago. Then it was used as theme song by a pro-police group, which put it on YouTube.
After the protests started, people made parody videos and posted them, ridiculing the song and the police.
Poon said he was sad to see his tribute being used as a tool to mock police officers. "It is not helpful [for the two sides] to attack each other," he said.
