Life.Culture.Discovery.

Chinese and Latin music – an unlikely perfect match?

Hong Kong DJ Gia Fu first discovered Latin music in Chinese culture while working for Wong Kar-wai’s production company – since then, she’s played Glastonbury and opened for Marc Anthony

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===Extended for lead image==== DJ and founder of Canton Mambo Gia Fu. Photo: Kim Lo

Published: 6:15pm, 26 Feb 2025Updated: 12:57pm, 27 Feb 2025

Gia Fu first came across the classic 1957 film Mambo Girl during her short tenure at director Wong Kar-wai’s production company, Jet Tone Films, where she managed the company’s social media. This inspired Fu to rewatch Wong’s films, and she discovered Latin songs the auteur director had featured in soundtracks for Happy Together (1997) and In the Mood for Love (2000).

“I was curious why he used Spanish songs,” says the Hong Kong DJ and founder of Latin event series Canton Mambo. Through a 2001 interview with Wong in IndieWire, Fu learned that during Wong’s youth, most Hong Kong restaurants and nightclubs would have Filipino musicians playing Latin music.

Gia Fu’s music and performances also challenge stereotypes about Chinese music in Latin America. Photo: Kim Lo

“It sent me down a rabbit hole of research,” says Fu. “I googled ‘Shanghai’ [because that’s where Wong lived until he was five] ‘Hong Kong’ and ‘cha-cha’. Mambo Girl came up, and I spent the whole night discovering Latin music in Chinese culture.”

Fu decided to start Canton Mambo – a project that began from simple curiosity, evolved into a party and eventually culminated in an album. It also includes a series of events where she spins salsa, Afro-Latin beats, and a mix of Latin and East Asian music.

“I’ll play a set of old Chinese ballads, change to Spanish bolero, go back to some Chinese mambo, then some cha-cha,” she says. “Basically I just blend everything I love together.”

What started as a hobby has amassed Fu a large following on Instagram and YouTube. Now based between Hong Kong and New York, she’s been invited to play gigs all over the world including Colombia, Mexico, Britain, Europe and the Big Apple. She has performed at Britain’s Glastonbury Festival, opened for Marc Anthony at his November 2023 concert in Miami and played at Puerto Rican star Rauw Alejandro’s album release parties in Tokyo and Miami last autumn. The DJ performed at EDC Mexico on Friday and she has a European tour coming up this summer.