Emma-Lee Moss, AKA singer-songwriter Emmy the Great, has written a memoir rooted in her love of Hong Kong\u2019s east-meets-west pop. She picks her favourite tracks<\/p>\n
Emma-Lee Moss, a singer-songwriter who released four albums as Emmy the Great, was born in Hong Kong to an English father and Hongkonger mother. She lived there until she was 11, when her family moved to England, one of many who left Hong Kong before its transfer of sovereignty from the UK to China in 1997.<\/p>\n
Even as a child, Moss understood the significance of the handover, which returned Hong Kong to Chinese control after 156 years as a British colony. \u201cThanks to our British passports, we would avoid the greatest schism our city had ever known \u2013 and its consequences, which were unwritten,\u201d Moss writes in her memoir, My Cantopop Nights<\/a>. Later, as a touring musician, Moss played gigs in Hong Kong, where she reconnected with her childhood love of Cantopop \u2013 predominantly Hong Kong music that blended Chinese and western pop sensibilities. In 2017, she moved back there to write her fourth album<\/a>. That year, which marked 20 years since the handover, saw thousands of pro-democracy protesters on the streets after activists including Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow were imprisoned. Amid the unrest, Moss sought to capture Hong Kong\u2019s sound and spirit through her music.<\/p>\n
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