Exploración del carácter absoluto y relativo de la pobreza

This chapter analysed two China Wind pop songs in order to illustrate the genres and cultural elements merged in its musical and textual content. Thus, the combined aspects of Chinese music instruments using pop, hip-hop, rock or R&B styles in China Wind songs are

inevitably a product of fusion as highlighted by the latter’s inherent intertextuality. However, these two songs are not meant to serve as examples that distinguish Jay Chou and Wang Leehom’s musical styles, instead they reflect some identifiable traits in China Wind pop as well as underlining how ‘the musical channel’ (Tagg, 2000) in their creative practices affects how ‘Chineseness’ is communicated in popular music.

Apart from ballads such as ‘Blue and White Porcelain’, Jay Chou sings hip-hop and rap songs with a strong beat, such as ‘Fearless’ (霍元甲) (2006) while ‘Chinese Herbal Manual’ (本草 綱目) (2006) is another of his rap songs that follows a series of genre conventions, such as sampled electronic drumbeats, repeated bass patterns, a catchy chorus with varied rap verses. It also features a more explicit message honouring Chinese culture with the opening line, ‘If Hua Tuo was reincarnated, the disease of xenophilia will be cured; foreigners come to learn the Han Chinese language, our national consciousness is on the rise’ (如果華陀再世/崇洋都 被醫治/外邦來學漢字/激發我民族意識).

Wang Leehom’s ‘Chinked-out’ songs, such as ‘Descendants of the Dragon’ (龍的傳人) (2000), ‘Viva Huaren’ (華人萬 ) (2007) and ‘Open Fire’ (火力全開) (2011), make

unambiguous statements about his intention to ‘create a new [musical] vibe the whole world can identify as being Chinese’ (Wang, 2012, p.12). But Wang Leehom also has R&B ballads featuring Sizhu string instruments, which in terms of its orchestration is similar to Jay Chou’s China Wind songs such as ‘Sun and Moon of My Heart’ (心中的日月) (2004), ‘Error in A Flower Field’ (花田錯) (2005), and ‘Bo-ya Cuts the Strings’ (伯牙 弦) (2010).

The above are examples of different types of China Wind pop songs by Jay Chou and Wang Leehom. Even though there are similarities in terms of textual and musical content evident when cross-referencing their songs, there are still element that highlight musical and linguistic authenticity. For instance, Wang Leehom’s songs often include lyrics partly in English (e.g. ‘Heroes of the Earth’ and ‘Open Fire’) as well as Cantonese or occasional dialects, while Jay Chou mostly sings in Mandarin with occasional terms in various dialects (e.g. ‘The Nunchucks’).

Wang’s transnationality, as an Asian American, is not only articulated in his fluent English, but also in the personal and ideological motivations evident in his songs. Meanwhile his efforts to incorporate Chineseness has a clear goal, which is to reverse the negative connotations of ‘Chink’ while ‘creating a sound that is both international and Chinese’ (Wang, 2012, p.11). In this process, he positions himself through lyrics by disclosing his own story as a second-generation Asian immigrant in New York (‘Descendants of the Dragon’), embracing Chinked-Out as a genre (‘Heroes of the Earth’ and ‘Viva Huaren’), and his goal to ‘let the Chinese be heard’. In his own words, his motivation is to be ‘an ambassador for Chinese culture’ (Oxford Union, 2013)11_{, an ambition he has clearly defined.}

In contrast, Jay Chou’s song lyrics – mostly written by Fang Wen-Shan – do not usually project his own role or position. Even the songs praising Chinese culture usually refer to stories of famous figures in Chinese history, such as martial artists Huo Yuanjia and Bruce Lee, or the physician Hua Tuo. Fang Wen-Shan’s lyrics are known for portraying fictional scenes with detailed references to objects, whether based in the past or more contemporary

11 _{In April 2013, Wang Leehom gave a talk about Chinese pop music and how pop culture can strengthen the}

relationship between the East and West in Oxford University. This event was organised by Oxford Union. See:

scenarios. Their sophisticated choice of words, as Chung (2011) argues, serves to gather de- contextualized elements while constructing a re-contextualized ‘collage’ of Chineseness, surrounded by a nostalgia that channels an imagined past.

Both Jay Chou and Wang Leehom are artists with high levels of creative autonomy in

relation to writing and producing their own music compared to other singers in the Mandopop industry, where most of the songs are produced in a singer-songwriter system (Moskowitz, 2010). Analysing Jay Chou and Wang Leehom’s China Wind songs provides not only an insight into their musical and textual contents, but also illustrates how the Chineseness in their music is fashioned by ‘extra-musical meaning’ (Tagg, 2000, p. 81) and conventions that define a genre (Fabbri, 2012). These two cases reflect how a style of pop music is marked by cultural pride can be created in a given political and economic context while the musicians simultaneously emphasise, articulate, and construct new cultural meanings (Stokes, 1994). This chapter has investigated the ‘national’ cultural characteristics in China Wind songs and two artists’ discourses on various occasions in order to explore how Chineseness is

constructed and mediated in popular music. Jay Chou’s China Wind songs usually praise Chinese culture subtly using allusions to famous Chinese figures, while Fang’s lyrics collect de-contextualized elements and reconstruct a sense of nostalgic Chineseness channelling an imagined past. Many of Wang Leehom’s China Wind songs, apart from looking at the past, more explicitly addresses the present, thus reflecting his desire to bring Chinese music to the West. In their songs, Wang reveals where he situates himself in the cultural context as a self- identified Chinese American while Chou usually remains more ambiguous.

The construction and perceptions of Chineseness in popular music requires a

multidimensional understanding. Other than the music, which the audience experiences as a sounding object that constitutes one important dimension of Chineseness, there are at least three other dimensions to be considered. Firstly, in relation to the political dimension, official and popular discourses have impacted on the formation of placeness. Emerging out of the complex histories of the PRC and ROC, dissimilar rhetorics and historical understandings regarding the essence and presentations of Chinese culture were developed across the straits. The rising anti-Mainland sentiments in Hong Kong in recent years, and the political dynamic in the Chinese diaspora after the rise of China, have both contributed to the formation of different types of discourse. How these discourses are informed by local or international

politics influence the way Chineseness is performed in popular culture, and are an important aspect for the understanding of Chineseness in relation to the political dimension.

Secondly, the economic dimension determines the structure and pop culture flows within the music industries. As Chua (2001) argues, the production of Chineseness is centre-less. However, product flows heavily influence how Chineseness is disseminated and from where. Jay Chou’s China Wind style is a good example of how Taiwan took advantage of the

existing Mandopop industry and authorised a certain Chineseness in popular culture. However, the wave of music originating in Taiwan’s Mandopop industry should not be interpreted as presenting a ‘Taiwanese Chineseness’, as if essentialist cultural meanings can be traced back to the music’s point of origin. The popularity of Taiwan’s China Wind pop reflects a form of economic/popular culture flow in a specific period of time, which reflects how Chineseness in popular music is authorised and by whom. In recent years, music reality TV shows such as The Voice of China and I Am a Singer have attracted many viewers from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan have also performed on these shows. Any studies of these shows need to take the political economy of the entertainment industries into consideration. Chapter 7 on China will continue the discussion of how the political economy of these shows influence the performance of Chineseness.

Finally, the identity dimension whereby self/other identifications are articulated by the artists, is also a crucial aspect of this multidimensional understanding. Chineseness in pop music is plural, but when it is constructed in a multi-dimensional space, it becomes an unsettling and chameleon-like resource, which was – and may still be – adopted in diverse social-political contexts to facilitate the creation of pop music. Although China Wind music pop might be a stylistic passing fad with little identity investment as Chua (2001) argues, Chineseness in China Wind pop – at times reaching beyond the intentions of its producers – functions as an ‘open signifier’ (Ang, 1998) to its intended or unintended audiences. In Wang Leehom’s case, his voice calling for a new sense of Chinese cultural nationalism was heard more clearly than his criticism of US racism. This reveals that an understanding of artists’ identities is

important, as are the identities of the audience. Experiences and interpretations derived from the audience’s perspective will be presented in the following chapters.

Part Three: Case Studies

Chapter Five: Taiwan

This chapter illustrates how Chineseness in popular music, particularly in relation to China Wind pop music, was perceived by a young audience in Taiwan. It will also unpack how Chineseness is constructed in Jay Chou’s China Wind music by interviewing JR Yang, the co-founder of his production company, JVR Music. Beginning with a brief introduction to the political history of Taiwan, the chapter will then examine several generic streams of popular music in Taiwan that are broadly categorised by linguistic communities due to their specific cultural and political histories. These streams include Taiyupop, Hakka music, Mandopop, indigenous music, indie, and independent music labels. The chapter will then investigate Chineseness in terms of music production and consumption, emphasising how school

education in Taiwan has encouraged familiarity with the Chineseness evident in China Wind songs, and how a sense of ambivalence, disturbance and disconnectedness can be triggered simultaneously. Through a case study on the indie band Fire Ex’s song ‘Island’s Sunrise’ (2014), the chapter highlights how Taiwaneseness is constantly reshaped and negotiated as a competing narrative in Taiwanese identities, with this process embodied in the audience’s experience of popular music.