How this Cantopop drummer is helping revive Hong Kong music with his nostalgic DJ sets

Mixing Cantopop into DJ sets comes naturally to Hong Kong drummer Stephane Wong. Going by the moniker Steffunn when spinning disco tunes, the 40-something learned to play the drums at age eight and has been DJing for two decades. But that instinct comes mostly from Wong playing the drums for many 2000s Cantopop hits – on stage and in the studio – and working with industry behemoths like Joey Yung Cho-yee, Grasshopper and Eason Chan Yick-shun. “Cantopop from that era seems to be more representative of the genre. Karaoke was such a big thing back then,” Wong says. “As a concert musician, I used to have to fly every week in the 2000s.” Since around 2018, however, he has mainly worked on Yung’s tours, citing a close friendship and working relationship as the singer’s preferred concert drummer. The award-winning diva even made an appearance at Wong’s Cantopop disco party in July 2025, which he co-hosted with fellow DJ Fabsabs. Both are core members of the party organising collective known as Cantomania. “My boss [Joey Yung] wanted to come with her friends – Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin was also there – so we boarded up a VIP area with black cloth for them. But unexpectedly, she ran onto the stage,” Wong tells the Post in his Sai Ying Pun studio, on Hong Kong Island. Videos of Yung dancing and vibing to his set subsequently went viral on social media, and the city learned about Cantomania’s nostalgic parties. This month, there are eight gigs scheduled for the Cantomania crew, including a chic ’60s-themed affair loosely inspired by Ang Lee’s 2007 romance thriller, Lust, Caution, at Maggie Choo’s bar in Central. Thanks to Cantopop veterans like Wong, the genre is having a resurgence as classic tunes get remixed with electronic dance music. It did not happen overnight. For Wong, the seeds were first planted in 2012 when a DJ friend invited him to spin at a local private ’80s disco-themed party. At this point, Cantopop was on a steady decline in popularity. Feeling adventurous, the DJs sneaked in a couple of ’80s Cantopop songs to see how they would be received. “Surprisingly, people loved it and asked for more. In the 2010s, people were nostalgic for music from 20 years ago,” Wong says. “We immediately went to our laptops and picked up tunes by Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing and the like to mix in the set.” That night, he realised there was a gap in the nightlife scene and a demand for the kind of music he grew up with. Over the next decade or so, he slowly built momentum for Cantopop disco, which has taken off in recent years. For Wong, this double identity – seasoned Cantopop drummer and revivalist DJ – has been an unexpected full-circle moment. He does not “want to say I witnessed the rise and fall” of the genre but feels “fortunate to have caught the high tide in the 2000s”. “Around 2003 or 2004, I became really active. I did a lot in the Y2K era. I drummed for Eason Chan, Grasshopper, Joey Yung, Softhard, Miriam Yeung … the list goes on,” he says, throwing up his hands. Inspired by the rock band Beyond, Wong learned the drums from his dad, who was a part-time drummer in his youth. “In high school, I also played the guitar and the bass. But I think my love for music began at birth,” Wong says, laughing. “My dad played vinyl records a lot from when I was very young.” Wong became known in the Cantopop industry as a drummer who also sometimes composed and produced. When he was 24, he decided to try his hand at DJing. “From when I was 17 or 18, I would go to parties and stand next to my DJ friends, watching closely what they were doing on the decks. Aside from playing in bands, another format that I really liked was vinyl DJing. I had a great curiosity for it,” he says. It took just one week for him to become sufficiently acquainted with the decks. In the following years, he ventured into the nightlife scene playing drum and bass, then a bit of dubstep and reggae, at various venues including the Buddha Lounge in Central. In the 2010s, he combined the two main facets of his music passion: Cantopop and electronic dance music. It started in live houses with small audiences and slowly expanded to, recently, performances at Freespace in the West Kowloon Cultural District. Throughout the 2010s, Wong saw the Cantopop party crowd grow and transform. At first, it was all older millennials who yearned to relive their youth and the golden era of Hong Kong pop music. Towards the end of the decade, it was mostly younger millennials, even some Gen Zers, who wanted to reminisce about the music they grew up listening to. In 2023, he reunited with an old friend, Fabsabs, whom he had known since his teens. The two began playing together under the collective Cantomania. He also sometimes joined forces with Hong Kong Cantopop DJs Beat Friday when the timing worked out. Since then, he has played at Cantomania parties every one to two months, and even worked three gigs every weekend this past summer. Every event sold out. While he has been busy with Cantomania, Wong says he will be drumming in concerts again soon for some of Cantopop’s biggest names. His heart lies with Hong Kong music, which extends far beyond nightlife. “Although Cantopop disco started as just something fun for me, it has become a cultural phenomenon. I don’t know how long this trend will last, but ultimately, I hope Cantopop and the Hong Kong music scene can soar internationally again.” Lust, Caution: Cantomania Night, Maggie Choo’s, Chinachem Hollywood Centre, 1 Hollywood Road, Central. November 15, 10pm to 3am. For more information, visit Maggie Choo’s online platforms.

How this Cantopop drummer is helping revive Hong Kong music with his nostalgic DJ sets

Stephane Wong drummed for Cantopop stars Eason Chan and Joey Yung in the 2000s. Now, his DJ discos are helping Hongkongers reminisce