I was never aware of the glitz and the glamour of the Hong Kong pop scene, and I didn't know what they were saying in their songs, but I fell in love with Cantopop all the same. As a middle-aged lady from St. Paul, Minn., it was hard to find my way to the Hong Kong pop music world, but I discovered a completely new genre of music that changed my life.

It began when I was feeling the brain drain you usually get when you've been working mindless jobs for too long - so I decided that learning some Mandarin would be a good mental workout for me. After I found a book, some language tapes, and a tutor, I hunkered down to do me some learning. Because I've always liked to study with music in the background, I went to the local secondhand CD store to look for some Chinese music; by one of those amazing little twists of fate, I found a 1994 Best of album by some guy named Jacky Cheung.

I took it home and plopped the little silver disc onto my player, expecting (at best) to hear some fun, little pop tunes. But my ears were not prepared for what I was about to hear and my heart was not ready for what the songs would make me feel. I quickly found myself transported to that place of musical nirvana that only the occasional artist can take us. This singer made me feel joyful and sad, without the benefit of understanding his words - only with the truth of his voice. The next day, I found myself back at the store looking for more music by this singer; I was delighted to find a second CD that was even more beautiful than the first one.

Now that my interest had been piqued, I really wanted to find out everything I could about this singer, but how? I don't read Chinese, and I don' live near a Chinatown; I scoured all the Asian markets in Minneapolis and St. Paul, looking for his picture, and finding nothing. I asked the clerks at those shops if they carried his music, but mostly they didn't know what I was talking about because of my poor pronunciation. I e-mailed everyone I could find online who had a mention of Jacky Cheung and an e-mail address. Every time I went to a Chinese restaurant where they were playing Chinese pop music, I asked, "Who is singing? What is the name of this CD?" I heard lots of names I didn't know, so I asked them about Cheung Hok Yau, only to find that no one was able to help me much. At home, and at work, I was getting worried that I would wear out my two treasured CDs and never hear anything more about Jacky Cheung.

While on my hunt for all things Jacky, I was trying hard to find more Cantopop performers - any Cantopop performers; from watching Hong Kong movies and surfing the Internet, I had learned about the four Heavenly Kings and Faye Wong, but I was still trying to find their music. Then I discovered that Jackie Chan was schedule to make an appearance in Chicago's Chinatown, promoting his movie Rumble in the Bronx. My adventuresome friend, JP, decided to accompany me on a spur-of-the-moment, seven-hour drive to Chicago for the event. While we were in Chinatown, we shopped for Cantopop CDs and posters. While I found a CD by Leslie Cheung and a couple more by Jacky Cheung, my friend picked up one by Aaron Kwok; we listened in the car the whole seven hours back to St. Paul. Leslie's songs were so full of passion, Aaron's music made me want to dance, and Jacky's music was just as good as I had on the other CDs. I couldn't listen to them enough.

When my birthday came around that year, I decided that I would go to Hong Kong to search within the place where Cantopop had originated. One of the first things I did when I got there was to buy and listen to some music, including a Faye Wong. After I popped the tape into my little tape player and started listening, all I could think was, "Oh, my." I had heard good things about her from the Internet, but to actually hear her voice, and the color, the depth, and the challenge of the songs; she had something that went beyond special for me, and that had the same impact on me as Jacky's voice.

Out on the streets, fan magazines dominated the corner newsstands, and there were pictures, key rings, and photo albums with beautiful smiling faces of singers, both bad and good, everywhere. I wandered into tiny shops filled with CDs and posters and photos, old and new, crowded with customers, while other shops with slashed prices appeared to be selling bootlegged copies of music. I found pogs with photos of stars whose lights had dimmed years before, and everywhere the music sifted out into the streets from shops, cars idling at a stoplight, apartment windows. Concert posters smiled from every available space, as the royalty of Cantopop was everywhere in Hong Kong. This city embraced its singing idols like no other place I'd ever been.

After shopping in all the tiny little stores, and listening all the while trying to find more artists whose tunes moved me, how would I decide what to get with so many CDs to choose? I bought every Jacky CD I could find, some Faye tapes, and I even had a Chow Yun-Fat in my hand at one point, but I let it go. I chose several CDs just for their covers, but once I'd heard them, I wished I had based my choice on the quality of music, rather then the appearance of the album.

Amazingly, just before I was about to leave, a fellow I'd met gave me a big stack of old CDs from a DJ friend of his - CDs by Eric Mu, Emil Chow, Karen Mok, lot more Jacky and several other artists! Each album created a different ambience that was all their own.

Now that I've found place online to buy Cantopop albums, and a friend from Hong Kong who travels back and forth bringing me new music with each trip, my CD collection is growing at a steady rate. I find my appreciation of this unique pop style growing right along with my collection, though I am now choosier with what I buy, and base my choices on the quality of music - not on the looks of the CD.

Jacky Cheung and all the other stars have made an indelible impact upon my life; now, I've met Hong Kong stars and many other different people that have the same interest in Cantopop as I do. I feel more fulfilled from this genre of music than I ever did, and listening to Cantopop has given voice to a part of my soul that used to be silent.