Listening session: Chinatown Records & friends

Chinatown Records & friends brings together DJ historian YiuYiu 瑶瑶 and some of the Chinatown living room DJs who have taught her so much about the neighborhood’s favorite songs. Learning to DJ for the very first time through Chinatown Records, our guest DJs bring their love for music and favorite songs to play alongside Chinese records and CDs from the ever-growing Chinatown Records archive. From 1940s-2000s favorites, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 and our guest DJs will weave together like our iconic Canto/Mandopop duos to soundtrack the Ace Hotel Brooklyn living room – welcoming some of our brand new up-and-coming Chinatown DJs. And in February, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 invites Arlan Huang!

Arlan Huang 黄卓倫 has always had music streaming through his life. His father, an amateur audiophile and TV aficionado, soundtracked their home with their family’s first high fidelity soundsystem in the 1950’s, then in the 60’s with an upgraded stereophonic system. Music also filled their home through the TV, as he tuned in after school to The Kate Smith Show and especially Looney Tunes to hear his favorite theme songs. With his father, he tuned into Hawaii Calls live radio broadcasts. With his mother, he tuned into Your Hit Parade. In the late 50’s, Arlan had an early start as a living room DJ, as his mother instituted quiet time and the kids took turns playing calming music for each other. In 1961, he went to his first junior high gym dance – where Smokey Robinson and the Miracles changed his musical world forever. 

Chinatown Records 華埠錄音 is a homegrown community effort to celebrate the richness of music, memory, and history that comes with inherited family collections. Lovingly steered by YiuYiu 瑶瑶, Chinatown Records activates a community archive of 30+ collections spanning 1920’s-2000’s Chinese music and beyond inherited from her family, friends, and neighbors. From Chinatown block parties to living room listenings to sonic histories, Chinatown Records is an ever-growing record of the people we love, who bring all this music back to life with us. Learn more about Chinatown Records on our website & @chinatownrecordsproject. 

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Flyers by YiuYiu 瑶瑶 from the Chinatown Records archive