Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Samia Dinkelaker, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Music, much like food, “follows” migrations. This presentation is based on ongoing research on the popular musical flows and routes across borders, following and situated within the contexts of major social changes, migrations and shifts of diverse populations during the 1950s – 1980s, between regions in East and Southeast Asia, within Nusantara Southeast Asia and between Southeast Asia and the West. It shows the centrality and dynamism of popular music in the cultural lives of migrants, new settlers and locals in myriad forms, such as through original compositions, multiple linguistic versions and (re)interpretations of original pieces, development of musical genres, combined use of various musical instruments, varied cultural props and variety of presentations and performances. With wide ranging themes such as love, life, belonging, culture and nation, and often with iconic songs performed by famous singers, actors and bands, this period of popular musical phenomena and journeys reflects tremendous diversity, interculturalism, hybridity and cultural identity. 

The presentation will illustrate this significant historical period through the following: 1) tracing selected popular/iconic songs by place origin and their intercultural versions through their routes of migration and spread; 2) situating them in the social contexts of their popularity; 3) exploring their varied expressions and meanings; 4) exploring the backgrounds of selected performers within their lived historical and social contexts; and 5) identifying some issues and contestations over some songs’ national and cultural ownership.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ah Eng Lai (DPhil, Cantab) is currently an associate with the Migration and Mobilities Cluster at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS). She recently retired as Adjunct Senior Fellow at the NUS College (NUSC), where she had taught two modules “Multiculturalism and Its Contested Meanings” and “Religious Issues in the Contemporary World” since 2014. She received her training in economics, development studies and social anthropology, and has worked in various research capacities in Malaysia and mainly Singapore (Housing Development Board, National Archives of Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Institute of Policy Studies, ARI, NUS University Scholars Programme and NUSC), as well as acted as project consultant (local, international) on race, religion and heritage issues. She has also published various books, chapters and articles on women, family, ethnicity, religion, multiculturalism and heritage, chief among them Peasants, Proletarians and Prostitutes: An Investigation of Chinese Women in Colonial Malaya (1986), Meanings of Multiethncity: A Study of Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations in Singapore (1995), Beyond Race and Riots: Ethnic Pluralism and Social Cohesion in Singapore (2006) and Religious Diversity in Singapore (2008). She has sat on various national Ministry-level committees (on race, religion and family) and Boards (Malay Heritage Foundation, National Heritage Board). At ARI, she is compiling a book of short essays on self, belonging and multiculturalism by her former students.