The rise and generic features of Shanghai popular songs in the 1930s and 1940s

Bibliographic Data

ID4305374
AuthorsSzu-Wei Chen, Szu‐wei Chen (0000-0002-9630-0934, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume24
Issue1
Pages107-125
Publication date2005-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0261143004000297
OpenAlexW2127396034
LanguageEN
Citations received5

In the 1930s and 1940s, musicians and artists from different cultures and varied backgrounds joined and made the golden age of Shanghai popular songs which suggests the beginnings of Chinese popular music in modern times. The present article gives a historical description of the rise of Shanghai popular songs and examines their generic features according to Franco Fabbri's five groups of genre rules. Through gramophone recordings, radio broadcasts and films these musical products enjoyed great popularity despite severe criticisms from certain sectors of society. The diversity of musical elements, lyrical contents and forms of performance of these popular songs reflects a collective style of the participating artists and institutions and past audience tastes in a metropolis different from other major cities in the world at that time

Aesthetics · Art · Diversity (politics · Literature · Musical · Political science · Popular music · Popularity · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Visual arts · Anthropology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law

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