Marching songs

This past Friday, the July 1 march, which has become the annual event of the hong kongers who want to express their discontent and frustration with their unelected government, has registered a record number of protestors since 2004. According to the organizer Civil Human Rights Front , more than 200,000 people turned out.

The show of people’s discontent is partly due to the controversial bill by the government to scrap by-election. Without consultation, the government wants to push through its enactment with the sure-fire support in the legislature from the pro-establishment elements. That angered hong kongers obviously. And a series of mishandlings of policies and affairs by the authority only add to the anger.

This government even set out to ban protestors from playing music, which was overruled only days prior to the march.

The march has exhibited the dynamic and energy of Hong Kong’s civil society. I was impressed by this song singer who, with his comrades, has adapted some of the canto pop songs in mocking the injustices in existence.

The following song is adapted from Sam Hui’s Half Catty (半斤八兩)。 Sam Hui is one of the greatest canto pop singers, if not the greatest. Half Catty is a song dedicated to the working class sung and expressed in a funny way. The song has been adapted to sing in the march to mock the government’s decision to privatize the management of the shopping malls in the public housing estates, leading to rise in rents and closing down of small shops.

The following song is adapted from a song of George Lam (林子祥) , who is one of the finest Hong Kong singers in history, mocking the secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam, who is responsible for promoting the aforementioned bill to scrap by-election. To kowtow for the sake of earning a high salary, the lyrics say.