Great points. I gotta say, I love Al Green, Jimi Hendrix, Jose Gonzalez for their soulfulness. In HK, I think MC Jin got lots of soul in his rap, you should take a listen to his Canto album. He's one soulful righteous guy.

btw, my friend Kevin So in the states has got some great soulful music too, not sure if you met him in the states?

In think traditionally in Chinese culture "soul" was expressed in poetry. It comes out in a sudden flash, a crack in the smooth veneer and you are blinded by the lightening bolt. Then, it is gone and you wonder if it was there to begin with. At least, that is the impression I get reading classic Chinese poetry (sadly in translation). The "soul" is there, but it is covered up. I was just watching In the Mood For Love the other day and was struck with how emotionally powerful that film is--and everything is repressed to the point that you have to ask yourself--Is there any feeling there at all? The feeling is so strong that it cannot be expressed, or everything will ignite in a terrible conflagration. I love "soul" in music. I grew up listening to James Brown in the 60s (before I knew who he was, I was just a kid and was mesmerized by his music) and a whole host of other artists. I was a disciple of funk in the 70s. In the 90s, I discovered flamenco, one of the most soulful expressions on the planet. Then I discovered Leslie Cheung, who took me into the world of Cantopop. Leslie is Leslie and was such a good performer that I would listen to anything he sang, and be hopelessly seduced, often not by the song (that is obvious when I hear others sing covers of some of his songs) but by the force of Leslie's personality. Really, the only HK singer that I like, apart from Leslie, who is a special case, is Anthony Wong Yiu Ming. I am blown away by almost everything Anthony does (and there aren't many artists I can say that about). He gets if right just about every time. He sings with an emotional engagement that may appear restrained in comparison to many Western artists, but there is so much emotion inside of that man when he sings that I sometimes wonder why he doesn't just break apart in the middle of a song, especially when he sings live. So, yes, HK has soul, but you have to hunt for it, and sometimes it appears in a quite Chinese guise. When I need a dose of bone-rattling soul, I know where to turn, it just isn't Cantopop.