Buch, Englisch, 284 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 454 g
Connecting People, Places, and Past in Contemporary China
Buch, Englisch, 284 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 454 g
Reihe: Music and Performing Arts of Asia and the Pacific
ISBN: 978-0-8248-6991-5
Verlag: University of Hawaii Press
Born in a small mountain village near the intersection of the Great Wall and the Yellow River in a border region with a rich history of migration, Wang Xiangrong was exposed to a wide range of songs as a child. The songs of Wang’s youth prepared him to create a repertoire of region-representing pieces and mediate between regions, nations, and multinational corporations in national and international performances. During the course of a career that included meeting Deng Xiaoping in 1980 and running with the Olympic torch in 2008, Wang’s life, songs, and performances have come to highlight various facets of social identity in contemporary China. Drawing on extensive fieldwork with Wang and other professional folksingers from northern Shaanxi province at weddings, Chinese New Year galas, business openings, and Christmas concerts, Song King argues that songs act as public conversations people can join in on. As song kings and queens fuse personal and collective narratives in performances of iconic songs, they provide audiences with compelling models for socializing personal experience, negotiating a sense of self and group in an ever-changing world.