Evolution and Influence of Rap Music in Taiwan

Zoom Webinar

After World War II, the Nationalist Party in Taiwan declared a 38-year-long martial law which was lifted July 15, 1987.  

Since that time, Taiwan has seen a cultural explosion.  As a society of a multicultural, multilingual citizens with a complex history of migration and colonization, the people of Taiwan entered a moment of transformation eager to tell their stories and grapple with their identities.

In Renegade Rhymes, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Emory University, Meredith Schweig shows how rap music has become a powerful tool for exploring and producing new knowledge about the ethnic, cultural, and socio-political history of that period.  She draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, taking readers to concert venues and music video sets to demonstrate how early MCs from marginalized ethnic groups infused rap with important aspects of their own local languages, music, and narrative traditions.

In this program, Professor Philip Bohlman, Ludwig Rosenberger Distinguished Service Professor in Jewish History, Music and the Humanities of the University of Chicago, will host Professor Schweig and Professor Fredrick Lau, Chairman of the Department of Music and Director of the Centre for Chinese Music Studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong to take a close look at how Taiwan musicians use rap music as a creative outlet to explore, reconcile and preserve their identity and history.

November 3, 2022
9:30 pm    Japan | South Korea
8:30 pm    Hong Kong | Beijing | Singapore
6:00 pm    Delhi
1:30 pm     Paris
12:30 pm   London
7:30 am    Chicago

Speakers:

Meredith Schweig
Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology
Department of Music
Emory University

Frederick Lau
Professor of Ethnomusicology
Chairman, Department of Music
Director, Centre for Chinese Music Studies
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Moderator:

Philip V. Bohlman
Ludwig Rosenberger Distinguished Service Professor in Jewish History, Music and the Humanities in the College
Associate Faculty, Divinity School
The University of Chicago

About /pɒp/Asia

The UChicago Yuen Campus /pɒp/Asia series will address topics that originate, revolve around and affect the Asia-Pacific Region. From music and anime to tattoos and the exploding interest in crypto currencies, we’ll explore the cultural goings-on in deep corners around the region and how they are influencing the rest of the world. Read more.