Among the most remarkable images were the innumerable young protesters waiving illuminated cell phones. In many instances, this was accompanied by the singing of protest songs. No question, these pictures have helped form a favourable world opinion and global admiration for the UM. Singing is not only a peaceful protest tactic but clearly one of the most widespread ones.
Furthermore, songs provide popular singers with a chance to demonstrate their support for a protest movement, which secures public attention and helps strengthen social movements. On a very general basis, Jeremy Gilbert has argued:. Sound vibrations are registered by parts of the body which do not register changes in vibrations of light.
Music has physical effects which can be identified, described and discussed but which are not the same thing as it having meanings, and any attempt to understand how music works in culture must, as many commentators over the years have acknowledged, be able to say something about those effects without trying to collapse them into meanings.
Songs are more than intellectually stimulating texts; they help to create emotions stimulating an atmosphere of community and solidarity that very often draws on the power of utopia and stimulates people to dream. Among structural factors are the tempo, mode, loudness, melody, and rhythm of music, which contribute to the induction of different emotions.
From their point of view, music has enormous manipulative force which might be used for both the good and the immoral essentially because of its emotional dimension, which withstands an easy, straightforward, and predictable rational analysis. In this sense, music is more than a cultural representation because as an integral and inseparable part of social movements, music exerts its own force toward social and political change.
By means of performing protest, political values and political legacy are transferred into political action, which not only helps to sustain contentious politics, but also significantly shapes the character of the demonstrations and how they are perceived.
It is the cultural effects that often live on; it is through songs, art, and literature — and as ritualized practices and evaluative criteria — that social movements retain their presence in the collective memory in the absence of the particular political platforms and struggles that first brought them into being. Furthermore, I do not neglect the political meaning verbalised in the lyrics, but carry out a content analysis of them.
It is difficult to calculate how many citizens took part in the protest, but estimates put the number at 1. This challenges the trust in traditional media and creates its own imagery of the protests for example through video footage from mobile phone cameras uploaded to YouTube.
I approached my interviewees a by way of different groups and organisations that supported the protest, b by contacting people on Facebook who had been active at least digitally during the occupation, and c by talking to students on university campuses.
In order to avoid a narrow and biased perspective, I ensured that my interviewees had demonstrated at different protest sites Admiralty, Mong Kok, Causeway Bay and took different perspectives on the most contentiously discussed issues such as growing anti-mainland Chinese xenophobia. However, it became a striking feature that many interviewees introduced me to music videos. Although I firmly believe that I have covered a wide spectrum of perspectives from the movement, I cannot claim representativeness of either the selected music videos 52 or the meanings attributed to the music videos by my interviewees.
Consequently, these universal values are closely attached to what Hong Kong stands for. Its melodies are composed outside Hong Kong, being mainly imported from Japan, Korea, Taiwan or the Euroamerican countries. The lyrics are rewritten locally, and the arrangement may also be reworked, although sometimes the record company uses the original one.
The use of cover versions has been a common practice in Hong Kong since the s. This form of political communication ties in with Hong Kong and mainland communicative cultures. At the same time, the example of Gau wu Every Day represents xenophobic jokes that remind us that the usage of a certain artistic style has to be separated from its actual content.
These young activists considering more forceful protests openly reject singing and the promotion of non-violence embedded in the songs. In the musical, student revolutionaries sing the song on a barricade in early nineteenth-century Paris. Prior to the UM, the Cantonese version was performed at least once in a flash mob on 1 July, resulting in the song being censored in mainland China. We should all carry the responsibility to defend our city We have inborn rights and our own mind to make decisions.
Interestingly, some of my interviewees told me that they were aware of the fact that the song is popular in European protest movements as well. The following is a typical quotation from a year old female protestor:. I am quite aware that the song is popular internationally. But I think the Cantonese version is kind of different, so it does not provide me with a strong sense of transnationality.
This makes the song, which is also taught in many Hong Kong schools, 63 simple, catchy, and easy to remember. At the same time, the marching tempo is suitable for serious occasions such as ceremonial processions. The video shows a young anonymous girl performing the song.
This is due to the fact that well-known artists were not willing to sing the Cantonese version of Do You Hear the People sing? Her childishness is highlighted by the teddy bear she holds in her arms.
Her young age, smallness, short-winded singing, and childish facial features create the impression of weakness and loneliness.
It demonstrates not only which city the song is talking about but also that vitality would leave the city if people go silent. In other words, the video depicts a silenced, functioning, but bloodless Hong Kong. Musically, the heightened expectations created by means of the break are fulfilled by adding further instruments, mainly strings, to the orchestra. But at the same time she has not lost her hope: as the first refrain starts, she looks up and smiles, full of hope, and at the end of the video she jumps around childishly, plays and dances.
This seems to emphasise the vitality and energy of her dreams. Ever since then, the song has gained a tragic aura that distinguishes it from other political songs in Hong Kong.
Under the Vast Sky is spiritually composed and its lyrics successfully recall the traumatic personal stories and memories of Hong Kong. When I hear the song I think of the long-term inequality and stifling of social mobility. This song really bridges generational differences: I sang it last year during the Occupy movement and I found that all of us, regardless of age, were familiar with the same song.
This really raised our spirits. It mentions the mockery the narrator has faced over the years and that makes him think about his situation:. All these years confronted by jeers and mockery Never have I abandoned the dream in my heart A sudden hesitation and the fear of getting lost Slowly cool down the love in my heart. Forgive me for being wild and yearning for freedom Yet fearing someday I might fall down… oh no.
The band induces emotions by starting without a bass and with only very basic accompaniment that intensifies over the course of the song, providing more volume and bass. In fact, the song is very popular on the mainland as well, though it most likely carries very different meanings for mainland and Hong Kong audiences. This combination of collective and individual depictions might reflect the wish for a collective solidarity and maintenance of dreams of freedom.
Apart from the official music video analysed here, many others can be found on YouTube, as individual Internet users uploaded the song and added different images to it. However, it is beyond the scope of this paper to analyse them. It describes the Umbrella protesters outside day and night withstanding pepper spray and tear gas, hoping for change in order to fulfil the will of the people sustaining their basic rights. The refrain calls on the occupiers to stay committed and expresses optimism that one day the protests will achieve success.
However, in order to protect its rights, Hong Kong has reached a defining moment in time, and the UM needs to take this opportunity. Furthermore, many photos depict police violence while the protest camp is shown as civilised and orderly. At the same time, it carries a peaceful message: the need for strong commitment to the cause is highlighted, but the English version contrasts the pictures of brutal pro-China security forces with the peaceful behaviour of the UM as an idealistic fight against a seemingly all-powerful enemy.
The song picks up the topic of fear and solidarity:. The harmonious polyphonic chorus creates a sense of community. In order to underline the peaceful character of the song, its pace is slow. Visually, this slowness is reflected in the depiction of scenes from Admiralty in slow motion.
Hence, its peaceful intention is celebrated by means of its calmness, focus on a transparent and simple melody, and slow pace. The imagery mainly draws attention to the peaceful young people protesting in contrast to the police using violence and tear gas. The young people are shown sleeping and working with transparent wrap covering their faces to protect themselves. This is accompanied by many different scenes of solidarity among the protesters. At the end of the video, many young people lift their umbrellas, which in the final sequence are turned upwards like flowers.
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