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SUMMARY:Argentine Tango in between China and Japan\, 1910s-1940s: Transoce
 anic Fragments of Musical Exchange - Yuiko Asaba (Lecturer in Music\, SOAS
  University of London)
DTSTART:20260225T170000Z
DTEND:20260225T180000Z
UID:TALK243472@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lindsay Friday
DESCRIPTION:The bandoneón has been considered the “star” instrument o
 f Argentine tango since the early twentieth century. An instrument of the 
 concertina family\, the sounds and performance mechanisms of the instrumen
 t have become central in shaping the aesthetics of tango and the iconic im
 age of Argentina. This central instrument of tango\, the bandoneón\, reac
 hed China in the early twentieth century through various transoceanic rout
 es\, brought in by travelling musicians of diverse backgrounds and through
  importation. Performed at the modern Chinese dance halls in the first hal
 f of the 20th century\, it was at these dance venues in the cosmopolitan c
 ities of China that many Japanese musicians encountered and learnt to play
  the bandoneón and engaged with tango scores from Buenos Aires for the ve
 ry first time. The China-Japan tango nexus\, thus\, brought about one of t
 he first exposures of this instrument and tango scores in Japan at this th
 is time\, as returnee Japanese tango musicians not only brought back the i
 nstrument but became critical figures in cultivating the transpacific imag
 ination\, contributing to the Japanese fascination for the distant contine
 nt: “Latin America”. Through the lens of colonial modernity and musica
 l exchange\, this paper seeks to go beyond the sonic and visual representa
 tions of the much-debated maritime and politicalnotion of “the Continent
 s” (tairiku) in Japan at this time\, to reveal the ways in which human i
 nteractions through musical commodities became central to the Japanese mig
 ration to some of the Latin American countries.
LOCATION:Lecture Room 2\, Faculty of Music\, West Road
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