This course introduces students to Cantopop, the most iconic form of popular cultural heritage in Hong Kong. While the course examines Cantopop’s relationship with Hong Kong’s past and present, its aims are fourfold: 1/ acquaint students with critical skills to appreciate, analyze, and discourse on Cantopop; 2/ introduce students to different types of sources pertinent to Cantopop, so as to increase their awareness of how they can interpret the soundscape of the past in relationship to the city’s socio-political development; 3/ engage students with issues important to the local society; 4/ cultivate students’ creativity and self-expression through active musical engagement with the re-production and remediation of Cantopop.

Students will first be introduced to Cantopop’s musical and textual elements through analysing oral and visual examples. Students will then be introduced to the close relationship between music and society through theoretical models on sociology and sociality of music, and they will apply the theories to the local context through analysing sources and songs from different eras. Students will also be introduced to the connections of current issues with the local music industry and songs produced in recent times. Students will work in groups and be guided to produce a music video of a cover song that they take part in re-writing the lyrics and singing it as their final project as a way to demonstrate creativity, self-expression, and skills and values learned in class. Students are expected to participate in various types of in-class activities, namely class discussion, short quiz, worksheet, and group presentation, etc.