Curators Hua Hsu, Herb Tam, and Andrew Rebatta have structured the show so viewers can first disperse, and then reconnect, as they relate unexpected strands of history in sections like “Source Materials: Opera, Chinatown Sounds, and Hip-Hop” and “Movements: Beijing Rock, Asian American Folk, and Songs of Revolution.” The exhibition left me feeling daunted, but also proud and hopeful. Your eyes and ears should wander through The Moon Represents My Heart, though, before following the text. Photo collage wall of Hong Kong and Taiwan pop stars (Jay Chou at center bottom, Teresa Teng at center left)Ī horizontal banner printed with explanatory texts spans the length of the gallery. Hearing Broadway actor and folk singer Stephen Cheng waver and croon in Taiwanese over a 1960s Rocksteady beat on “Always Together (A Chinese Love Song)” reminded me of understanding what my grandparents were saying over the phone growing up, but having to respond partly in English. Seeing a 2003 profile of rapper MC Jin in Elle Girl’s “Our New Crush” column made me think of trying - and failing - to convince my white friends that Jay Chou was as cool as Justin Timberlake. Filled with photographs, ephemera, and listening stations covering music from the 1850s to the present, parts of the exhibition felt curiously familiar - as if I knew this culture but I wasn’t sure who told me about it. That tingling realization that so much remains untold between my parents and me about ourselves and my heritage lingered among my memories as I made my way through The Moon Represents My Heart: Music, Memory and Belonging at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), which highlights immigrant Chinese relationships with and contributions to music across genres. Later I learned that my mom was something of a choir star growing up, representing Fengyuan in traveling competitions. But a rare excitement still hung in her voice as she’d sing songs by the pop stars of her generation - Tsai Chin of course, and Fei Yu-ching. My Mandarin wasn’t good enough to understand his lyrics, but, thinking that his odes to unrequited love were more relatable than those of an American pop star, I’d ask my mom to translate - at least until our conversations became unbearable lectures on etymology, proper enunciation, and somehow, always, my character. When I was in middle school I discovered the music of Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou. Installation view of The Moon Represents My Heart: Music, Memory and Belonging at the Museum of Chinese in America, New York (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)
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