Ravin' in Hong Kong: Electro's Politics and Performance with Pauline Mornet

Welcome Back to Music and Global Politics. Please like, rate subscribe, share with a friend and support us on Patreon at musicandpoliticspod.com

Today we explore with nuance ravin in Hong Kong. Amongst the 5th most densely populated cities in the world, along with falling 5 straight years on the World Happiness Index, high stress and some classic grump infuse the Special Administrative Region's image. Its no shock that the psychic abandonment of ravin' and euphoric release would hold special appeal. Home to no Pattaya Beach Trance party or Beatforest Festivals as in Thailand or World DJ in Seoul, ravin' in Hong Kong is about finding well enshrouded GPS coordinates, on small islands buried in the trees.

Stanford researcher Pauline Mornet gathers a number of different cases of ravin' in Hong Kong deftly marshaling thought provoking theory to explain the politics of its performance. Pauline explains given the territory's recent traditions its all about hybrid/ambivalent performance and the complicated oritentation to the music and dance movements of the former British colonial overlord. Further complicating matters are state attempts to coopt dance music alongside grassroots collectives.

We frame this discussion by listening to a news story about the "last saturday night out in British HK," the so-called handover rave that featured Grace Jones in 1997. Stay tuned until the end for an excerpt of Faye Wong's "Chanel," a Hong Kong pop icon heavily influenced by jungle, on this Drum and Bass track from the year 2000.

And check out these links for a collective and festival we discuss in the episode:

https://www.instagram.com/ba___oi___ba/ bà queer collective mentioned and https://www.shifumiz.com/ Shi Fu Miz festival with next event March 21 2026

Merry Listening ahead.