Over the past three decades, popular music in China struggled for popularity as Chinese society went through the tremendous changes brought about by the reform and opening-up policy. [File Photo: image.google.cn]
Hello and welcome to another edition of China Beat here on China Radio International. This is Zhong Qiu. Popular music, or pop music, denotes a cultural object. It is a sign in itself as it has many facets and many uses. Within pop music industry, it is generally acknowledged that its primary appeal is to the emotions of a generation. The content of the music aims to evoke emotion within the listener.
It is true that the evolution of Chinese pop music has been shaped by the country's reform and opening-up. Over the past three decades, popular music in China has struggled for popularity as Chinese society went through tremendous changes brought about by the reform and opening-up policy. Starting this week, we will present a special series to chart the evolution of China's popular music; pay homage to the artists who help to shape the current Chinese pop scene, and find out how music, as an integral part, reflected the social reality of different times.
(The Moon Represents My Heart)
Until the 1970s, most Chinese music consisted of traditional folk melodies, Chinese opera, and Shanghai nightclub jazz. Popular music started to make its way in the 1970s with the rise of Canto-pop in Hong Kong, and later Mando-pop in Taiwan. Yet, the Chinese mainland remained on the sideline until the late 1970s after the reform and opening-up policy was introduced in China.
(The Moon Represents My Heart)
Among the C-pop trail-blazers, Teresa Teng, or邓丽君, sprung up and awoke the country's music passion with her mellow vocals and graceful performance.
(The Moon Represents My Heart)
The song we are hearing now is one of Teresa Teng's hits, 'The Moon Represents My Heart', 月亮代表我的心. With this song, the sentimental pop diva touched the depths of people's hearts.
(The Moon Represents My Heart) In terms of musical style, Teresa Teng bridges the gap between Chinese folk music and modern pop music, providing a mellow adult-oriented vocal approach. Inspired by Teresa Teng, songwriters and performers on the mainland started to incorporate pop elements in their work.
(乡恋)
Among the trailblazers was Li Guyi, (李谷一) a renowned singer. She experimented with a new vocal style of 'throaty' singing which later became her signature performing style and influenced a number of pop followers. The song we are listening to is one of Li Guyi's classic tunes, 乡恋, 'Yearning For Hometown'.
(乡恋)
Of the first generation of mainland pop singers, Cheng Lin (程林) was the youngest, as well as the epoch-beginning one, as before this young girl, there was no serious pop singer on the Chinese mainland. Singles by Cheng Lin include 'The Bassinet in My Childhood', 'New Shoes and Old Shoes', 'Good Boy' among others, which helped her gain fervent popularity. 'Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing', was the popular theme song to the Taiwan movie of the same name, which was originally performed by Julie Su, 苏芮. Cheng Lin had a hit with a Mandarin cover of this song, ensuring that both her name and that of the movie became better known on the mainland.
(Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing)
While the 1970s saw the beginning of experimentation in Chinese pop music, it was in the 1980s when things really got going: a period in which the music began to develop and mature, along with new singers whose popularity extended throughout the whole Chinese-speaking world.
(上海滩)
Stars who emerged in the early 80s were Francis Yip, 叶丽仪 with her songs 'Shanghai Beach', 'The Legend of Mulan', and 'Heroine'; heartthrob Danny Chan,陈百强 with his hits 'I Just Love You' and 'Take Care of Yourself'; and Paula Tsui, 徐小凤for her 'Great Wall' and 'Flowing in the Natural Direction'.
(上海滩) (I Just Love You) (Flowing in the Natural Direction)
As Canto-pop soared, Mando-pop also began to move forward. Artists from Taiwan showed their creativity and talent to the great mandarin-speaking population around the world. Singer and songwriters like Luo Da-you, (罗大佑) raised the scene to new heights, and many would credit him with the modernization of Mando-pop.
(Childhood)
Those talented musicians and their bodies of work not only made valuable contributions to the pop music scene in their respective regions, they also had a consequential impact on the development of popular music in the mainland. At the same time, western pop music was also found to be available on the Chinese market, and foreign artists like Karen Carpenter, Lionel Richie, and Beatles were introduced to Chinese listeners. With the introduction of more pop music from overseas, a group of mainland singers began to perform covers of hits from Hong Kong and Taiwan and some of them even covered western pop songs.
(Where Do I Begin)
This is a cover of 'Where Do I Begin' by Cheng Fang-yuan (成方园), a mainland songstress who is well-known for her covering foreign songs.
(Where Do I Begin)
By covering pop hits from their Hong Kong, Taiwan and western counterparts, many mainland singers were able to release recordings and make big names for themselves during the early 1980s. However, as pop music became increasingly popular among music lovers, musicians on the mainland began to think about writing and performing their own material.
(Fill the World with Love)
In 1986, Guo Feng, a renowned singer and songwriter wrote 'Fill the World with Love' which marked the maturity of mainland pop music. Later, two original music styles emerged on the Chinese pop scene. One was the folk-inspired 'Northwestern Wind', or 西北风, which featured fast tempo, strong beat and extremely aggressive bass lines. The other was Chinese rock, which took the pop industry on the mainland to new heights.
(Fill the World with Love)
With the song 'Fill the World with Love', we come to the end of this edition of China Beat. In tomorrow's program, we will continue to retrace the musical footsteps of the past 30 years. This is Zhong Qiu from Beijing. Bye for now.
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