Noise in G uangzhou: the cultural politics of underground popular music in contemporary G uangzhou

Popular music in G uangzhou can be considered as a noise that applies social and political power to challenge the mainstream aesthetics and ideologies, rather than a low culture that lacks aesthetics. The main purpose of this article is to examine the cultural politics of underground popular music in contemporary G uangzhou, drawing on the analysis of its lyrical and sonic meanings through three genres: campus rock/pop, C anton‐rock and urban folk songs. Different types of underground popular music in G uangzhou engender different spaces/places through the lyrical and sonic power, and map out the non‐commercial popular music in south C hina. These findings not only respond to the previous music geographical studies on lyrics and sounds/voices, but also extend the research areas of C hinese popular music.