Warning--this long and it rambles Dan, I'm not sitting over in HK, China or anywhere else in Asia, so I cannot speak from any experience on the question of "regional" music and what you do. I can, however, offer a few off-the-cuff comments just for the hell of it, and with some experience with regional music in other parts of the world. First off, I think there is a need for "regional" expressions of popular music, whatever the genre, around the world. Societies are different in different places around the world. One of the large functions of popular music is to express the feelings, aspirations, situations, whatever, of people where they are in space and time. A part of that is the culture in which they live. HK has a very specific culture that harmonizes in most ways with greater Chinese culture, and then there is a broader Asian sensibility that is different from that of Western societies. So, yes, I might expect the music of a region with a strong cultural and historical tradition that was different from the West to produce popular music that is somehow different from the West, even using many of the same elements. I think you know all of this, being right there in HK and could probably teach me a thing or two about how to achieve this delicate balance between the local and the imported, and how to keep it real, but still have it sound like it is part of the international music scene. This isn't a guy scraping away on an erhu and singing folk songs, we are definitely clear on that. So, once we eliminate folk music (does anybody in China even make folk music anymore), Chinese classical music (again, who is making it and listening to it?--I certainly have no idea--does it even matter anymore in China?), and Western classical music (Lang Lang and the millions of Lang Lang wannabes the music conservatories are churning out like an assembly line in China), what are we left with? Mandopop, Cantopop, rock, and urban. Mando and Canto have a distinctive sound just by virtue of the languages they are sung in. Things get trickier with rock and urban varieties when they are performed in English. But, still, there is a different vibe, a different feel, a different texture, whatever. The musicians and producers are immersed in an environment that is a mix of so many things musically, socially, whatever. If you started producing clones of Western music, I would accuse you of selling out, frankly. So don't shun the regional label. I mean, over half of the world's population lives in this region. I would also say look at popular music in Africa. It always sounds African. It always mines its roots, but it also always takes the new and the imported and grafts it onto the existing traditions. No matter where the music is from, you know its from Africa, even if you can't tell Guinea Bissau from Angola on a map. it is regional music, but what vital regional music. The continent holds the seeds of about 80% of what we call popular music in the West (the rest being the Scottish-Irish-English folk traditions), so perhaps it easier to graft Western elements that come out of the African diaspora back into the current musical traditions. But it is something to think about, nonetheless, over there in Asia. There are so many ways to relate to Western musical elements, and developing "regional" music is sometimes where the real creativity and relevance can lie. If you made it this far, and any of this makes sense to you, you are to be congratulated. My brain is fried this morning, and I'm not sure how much sense I'm making at the moment. Maybe its time to just go put on the Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" and be done with it!

If there were gold medals for epic blog comments you'd certainly be in the running! Regional variation & influences are a slightly different issue to what I was trying to point out. Why does Asian contemporary music follow and not lead. Europe, the UK and North America can all boast an equal claim to the development of contemporary, underground and even new forms music; many of which have [eventual] world-wide appeal. Rock'n'roll came out of the west, punk, hip-hop, jungle, techno, disco, r'n'b, dub, ska, new wave, grunge ... whatever... then take the more experimental stuff like glitch, IDM, industrial - you name - all of it has roots outside of this part of the world. This was more my point I guess. What spurs and nurtures new forms of music in the west seems to be lacking here. Why.

Something interesting to notice, Dan, is that all of the genres you mention are outgrowths of the African Diaspora and the roots it put down in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in the Caribbean. This African derived music is at the heart of popular music worldwide. The reasons the Americans are typically the leaders and not the followers is because it is our "folk" music in a very real sense since the beginning of recorded music. Europe was a johnnie-come-lately to the party, but in certain genres (like techno) is making up for lost time. If you think about it, Asia has been totally outside of this development until very, very recently. Their music is devoid of these deep, mutable African Diaspora roots that continue to feed popular Western music like an inexhaustible wellspring. I reached musical consciousness in the mid-60s, and was grooving on James Brown before I even knew who he was (I'm White). Soul, funk, Black gospel, blues, jazz: it was all part of the soundscape that I took totally for granted in the 60s and 70s as I was growing up. I know I'm hardly alone. This also explained the musical divide between my generation and my parents--they were in their early 20s when rock and roll came on the scene, and it was classified as "nigger" music so, in the bad old days of racial segregation that was 1950s America, they shunned the music, along with every other African Diaspora influenced popular music. Let's just say I didn't get the funk from my parents. :-)

I had thought about the connection between most of the genres I listed plus the direct African roots ... but dinner got in the way! Correct - the US owes a huge debt to Africa for it's musical heritage ... The Afro-Caribbean influence on UK music in the 50-70's is just as massive. I cannot speak for the rest of Europe but colonies being what they were I can assume similar parallels. As the human species originated in Ethiopia / Kenya or thereabouts, therefore human music must have got started there shortly after: It only makes sense then, that all the best musical ideas distilled out over the aeons, and were being enjoyed for what they were ... until some white-boy figured out a way to make money from it. Following on my blog: It seems lack of contemporary musical invention in this region could be purely down to isolation from the roots of the human race! :') China has been operating as a controlled environment - politically and culturally - for a number of centuries. This allowed for great technological advancements & invention in many other areas but at the cost of what ... creative diversity, embracing influence and a sense of rhythm!? Huge subject. I didn't need to earn an income for a living I would definitely take this topic up for study. Techno is an odd one. Much electronic music lacks soul purely as its creation can be treated as a technical exercise. Banging sticks on a drum is less about 'how' and more about 'what'.

typo: If I didn't*

It's not really about breaking out - I think I really phrased my blog badly :) I'm talking more about pioneers ... innovators ... people who eat envelopes for breakfast ... bad metaphor.