International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD)

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Author: search.filters.author.Chih, Samuel Tan Hsien

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    Malaysian Chinese Art Song Competitions: An Invented Tradition Bridging Past and Future
    (Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Chih, Samuel Tan Hsien
    The Malaysian Chinese art song has its past as a transnational "variant" of the European art song and a lineage from both the Chinese art song and revolutionary song. The genre combines musical realms from the West and the East, while also engaging with the local cultural practices where it is produced. The emergence of this local art song in the 1950s, pioneered by the first generation of Malaysian Chinese composers, reflected a desire to reform and hybridise cultural identity in diasporic Chinese communities. In comparison, the recent generation of composers has been redefining the genre to reflect the evolving cosmopolitan Malaysian Chinese culture. However, the literary and musical components of the art song are not the only sites that reflect and negotiate a hybridised identity; rather, through the dynamic forces of social, cultural, political, and economic functions of art song competitions, the genre becomes one of the participating signifiers that exuberantly express Malaysian Chineseness. By examining extensive archives of competition and festival booklets dating back to the 1960s, this study seeks to uncover socio-cultural facts about how the art song genre is disseminated and preserved through the singing competitions. Moreover, I argue that these singing competitions contributed to the creation of an "invented tradition" across West and East Malaysia, which collectively shaped the performativity of Malaysian Chineseness.
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    Identities of Diaspora and Translocality: Music and Minorities in Malaysia
    (Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Santaella, Mayco A.; Nithyanandan, Jotsna; Chih, Samuel Tan Hsien; Shah, Abdul Azeem
    Malaysia is a multicultural nation located at the nexus of “mainland” and “island” Southeast Asia. Through maritime links, communities from the region, Asia, and Europe participated in mercantile activities and eventually settled in British Malaya. Despite the cultural diversity, the British developed racial classifications that were institutionalized after independence in 1957. Thus, Malaysia was increasingly divided into racial categories of Malay, Chinese, and Indian and agglomerated numerous cultural groups under the category of “other”. Revisiting governmental regulations and national cultural policies, this panel examines diaspora, ethnic vis-à-vis national identities, and translocality in relation to music and minorities in Malaysia. In the first presentation, Santaella examines a Javanese performance heritage in Johor, Malaysia as an early diaspora and contemporary translocality. In the second presentation, Nithyanandan looks at the cultural intersections of Malaysian composers of diverse backgrounds and the ways in which they navigate personal identities within national categorizations. In the third presentation, Samuel Tan investigates the Malaysian Chinese art song as a genre that is product of multiple diasporas and reflects alternative forms of translocality. Finally, Azeem Shah discusses the dabus heritage as a genre that emerged from an earlier diaspora and was adopted by the Malay national majority to celebrate state cultures. The panel addresses all Malaysian racial categorizations and discusses the production of (trans)locality through the performing arts in the 21st century.