Chinese Street Music: Complicating Musical Community

Horlor, Samuel

doi:10.1017/9781108913232

Chinese Street Music: Complicating Musical Community

Horlor, Samuel

Authors

Dr Samuel Horlor s.p.horlor@durham.ac.uk
Lecturer

Abstract

Musical community is a notion commonly evoked in situations of intensive collective activity and fervent negotiation of identities. Passion Square shows, the daily singing of Chinese pop classics in parks and on street corners in the city of Wuhan, have an ambivalent relationship with these ideas. They inspire modest outward signs of engagement and are guided by apparently individualistic concerns; singers are primarily motivated by making a living through the relationships they build with patrons, and reflection on group belonging is of lesser concern. How do these orientations help complicate the foundations of typical musical community discourses? I address community as a quality rather than as an entity to which people belong, exploring its ebbs and flows as associations between people, other bodies and the wider street music environment intersect with its various theoretical implications. A de-idealised picture of musical community better acknowledges the complexities of everyday musical experiences.

Citation

Horlor, S. (2021). Chinese Street Music: Complicating Musical Community. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913232

Book Type	Authored Book
Acceptance Date	Jan 12, 2021
Online Publication Date	Apr 9, 2021
Publication Date	Apr 9, 2021
Deposit Date	Apr 9, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Oct 9, 2021
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Series Title	Elements in Twenty-First Century Music Practice
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913232

Files

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Copyright Statement
Sample Chapter - Chapter 1 This material has been published in Chinese Street Music: Complicating Musical Community by Samuel Horlor. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Samuel Horlor 2021.