How Cantomania is leading Hong Kong’s Cantopop revival

Disco lights flash as young, colourfully dressed revellers dance to retro pop, shouting Cantonese lyrics across the dance floor. The room lifts each time a new hook drops. At Cantomania club nights, some of the hottest nightlife events in town, it’s not unusual to see Hong Kong pop stars themselves drop by to join the throng. But the music never stops.

Sammi Cheng and Joey Yung are among the legendary artists who’ve been spotted at events this year. “One of my friends loves Sammi and shouted, ‘Pete, get this DVD signed for me!’ And I was like, ‘I gotta deejay!’” says Pete Sabine, aka DJ Fabsabs, with a laugh.

It’s this focus that has carried Hong Kong DJ collective Cantomania from small rooms and intimate parties to a run of major stages – performing in London, opening for Black Eyed Peas, playing to a sold-out crowd of 4,000 at M+ Museum and supporting DJ Snake at Central Harbourfront, all within the last year.

When Cantomania started playing Cantonese pop songs at club nights across the city, they didn’t expect their parties would take off in the way they have. A wider cultural mood has since gathered behind them, as renewed interest in Hong Kong’s past has fed into everything from film and fashion to TV and music.

The evolution of “Canton Disco”

We meet Sabine alongside fellow core members Stephane Wong (DJ Steffunn) and Joshua Wolper (VJ Josh) in a Yau Tong industrial unit filled with vinyl records and memorabilia from Cantopop legends: Danny Chan, Paula Tsui, Leslie Cheung. Wong arrives late, fresh from a run of concerts drumming for Cantopop group Grasshopper. Having long worked as a session artist, he regularly plays for major names.

The trio are too young to have experienced the 1980s scene firsthand, yet their original moniker, Canton Disco, was a nod to the famed ’80s Tsim Sha Tsui club of the same name. “That was the biggest club where all the celebrities went back in the day,” Wong says, citing Anita Mui and Roman Tam, whose cultural legacies loom large. Kylie Minogue played her first ever live show at the venue, while Sylvester Stallone hosted a Rambo III afterparty there. But the name confused some audiences: “Aunties would turn up thinking we were doing a revival. They’d say, ‘Why are you guys playing Cantonese music instead of Cyndi Lauper?’”

This reflected a wider issue: “Clubs won’t play Cantonese music – no way, never,” Wong says.

Why Cantopop is returning to Hong Kong nightlife

Cantomania set out to change that. Born and raised in Hong Kong, the trio champion local pop culture, sliding from English into Cantonese with ease – unwitting poster boys for the city’s multicultural milieu. Are they trying to make Cantopop cool again? “I don’t care what’s cool or not – it’s just music I like,” says Sabine. “But I think you can listen to Cantopop and hear all types of genres within it, from punk to drum’n’bass to hip-hop.”

Their reach extended beyond the city after a reel from one of their nights in Causeway Bay went viral in early 2025. “Not just in Hong Kong, but across the diaspora,” Wolper says. Invitations followed, and Cantomania played their first overseas show in Manchester last year. The gigs also double as reunions. “I always run into friends from Hong Kong at these shows,” Sabine adds.

Jackie, a tech worker in her 30s, is an avowed Cantomania fan, having attended three events over the past year. “People say the music you grew up listening to leaves the deepest impression on you,” she says.

Crowds respond to songs they grew up with, such as Nicholas Tse’s Viva , Cookies’ Impatient or slower tracks from Beyond. Wolper believes the group’s popularity speaks to a desire for slowness and familiarity in a fast-paced world. Yet while nostalgia plays a part in Cantomania’s success, it isn’t the whole story. “We play a lot of new stuff as well,” Sabine says, name-checking contemporary punk group NYPD and boy band Kolor . “I don’t like this nostalgia trap thing. We’re living in 2026, right? We’re playing classics, just like you’d play some Wu-Tang Clan in a hip-hop set.”

In March, Wong was invited to deejay in the UK as part of the promotion for Night King , a film about a Hong Kong nightclub on its last legs. Wong arrived in London after a long flight to learn that the show had sold out. “I nearly cried,” he says. The crowd extended beyond Cantonese speakers to curious Londoners: “They were like, ‘Who are all these people dancing like crazy?’’’

Moments like these, bringing a sense of unity and collective release, are what keep fans coming back, night after night. “Everyone is singing karaoke together with you,” Jackie says. “It’s exhilarating to be there.”

Cantomania performs regularly around Hong Kong, with upcoming events announced on Instagram .