Hong Kong protest songs: 7 anthems of the anti-extradition movement – do you hear the people sing?
- From Christian hymns to Canto-pop hits, Hong Kong protesters have been expressing their frustration and solidarity through song
- Lyrics like ‘Still I am still free/ Still I am independent/ Forever loudly singing my song’ embody a movement that shows no signs of slowing down
Music has emerged as a potent force over the nearly three months that Hong Kong has been gripped by unrest.
Protesters have turned to song to express both their frustration and solidarity and to literally sing out their identity as Hongkongers.
These songs have run the gamut from Broadway anthems and Christian hymns to television themes and hits from the golden era of Canto-pop. And now, artists in Hong Kong have begun crafting their own anthems to the city.
Do you hear the people sing?
Glory to Hong Kong
Called the Hong Kong national anthem, Glory to Hong Kong is the most recent and most popular of the movement’s protest songs.
Not much is known about the composer, “Thomas”, a full-time musician in his mid-20s who asked to be identified only by his first name.
A video of this song put together by “young creatives” and attributed to the “Black Blorchestra” shows musicians clad in black and wearing gas masks playing as clouds of tear gas roll through their ranks.
Sing Hallelujah to the Lord
This Christian hymn, composed in 1975 by Linda Stassen-Benjamin from the US, has become one of the movement’s most popular and most ethereal anthems.
When sung by thousands of protesters, the song turns the city into a kind of cathedral and inspires silent awe in onlookers wherever it is performed.
Spiritual songs have been a mainstay of protest movements for centuries and most famously provided the soundtrack for the American civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Do You Hear the People Sing
Do You Hear the People Sing, the centrepiece of the 1987 Broadway smash hit Les Misérables, gained notoriety as a Hong Kong protest song when videos of it being sung at the first major airport sit-in were broadcast all over the world.
The song references the French Revolution, but its lyrics – “Do you hear the people sing?/ Singing a song of angry men/ It is the music of a people/ Who will not be slaves again” – as well as its bombast and theatricality have made it a rousing protest anthem for a whole new generation of Hongkongers.
Below The Lion Rock
Before the composer of Glory to Hong Kong was even born, Hong Kong had an unofficial anthem in Below The Lion Rock, the theme song of the television show of the same name.
The song made famous by Hong Kong singer Roman Tam continues to unite Hongkongers – especially those of certain age – in admiration for the “the Lion Rock spirit”, the specifically Hong Kong can-do attitude that is said to set this city apart from others around the world.
Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies
This power ballad from legendary hitmakers Beyond took on a greater poignancy when the group’s lead singer died in 1993. In that time, the song has become something of a unifying call to arms for Hongkongers and has been present at every demonstration, protest and commemoration of the bloody Tiananmen crackdown since.
With lyrics like “Many times I’ve faced the cold shoulder and ridicule / But I’ve never given up the hopes or ideals in my heart”, and “Still I am still free/ Still I am independent/ Forever loudly singing my song”, it is the perfect fit for pro-democracy demonstrations of all kinds. Think of the song as Below the Lion Rock for a younger crowd.
Raise the Umbrellas
In the early days of the Umbrella Movement, the city’s famous entertainers stayed relatively quiet. That changed with Raise the Umbrellas, a song penned by activist Lo Hiu-pan and composer Lin Xi – who also wrote the theme song for the Beijing Olympics – and performed by stars Denise Ho, Anthony Wong Yiu-ming and Deanie Ip.
For many Hong Kong youngsters, that song represented their first exposure to peaceful civil disobedience and still manages to inspire to this day.
Add Oil
The most recent pop song to address – cynics would say “capitalise” – on the anti-extradition movement is Add Oil by Hong Kong DJ, singer and comedian Jan Lamb.
The bouncy, almost frothy, pop trinket still manages to inspire as it extols Lamb’s countrymen to “add oil”, the defining phrase and ethos of the movement.
The release of Add Oil coincides with Lamb’s new tour, so depending on how that goes, we may see more new “protest hits” coming down the pipe.
