From Handover to Leftover: Tatming, Umbrellas, and the Postcolonial Ruins of Hong Kong

In September 2014, thousands of people started occupying different areas of Hong Kong, demanding “true democracy,” ushering in what was known as the “Umbrella Movement.” Two years earlier, Tatming Pair, an influential electronic formation, in a series of concerts, vented their worries, frustrations, and anger over the future of the city, giving voice to a deafening sense of disquiet. This article reads this performance as foreboding these upcoming political protests, attesting to the close alliance between the cultural and the political. It shows how popular music, in word, sound and image, both reflects, as well as impacts on, the city of Hong Kong.