Listening session: Chinatown Records & friends

Chinatown Records lovingly invites first time DJ Alice Liu 劉凱儀 to soundtrack the Ace Hotel Brooklyn lobby with the 1980’s-2000’s Canto/Mandopop heartthrobs she grew up with. Both 90’s kids whose love for music kicked into hyperdrive with the rise of the internet, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 and Alice Liu 劉凱儀 transport us back to their childhood of scouring Limewire and swapping homemade CD’s for the latest 90’s/00’s Canto/Mandopop hits that still make us feel like teenagers to this day.

ABOUT:

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 March: YiuYiu 瑶瑶 invites Alice Liu of Grand Tea Imports!!

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. 

Alice Liu 劉凱儀 is a longtime resident, intergenerational small business owner, and community organizer born and bred in NYC’s Chinatown, who loves to hang out with and learn from neighborhood aunties and uncles. She is a 90’s kid who grew up alongside Mandarin and Cantonese hits that spanned from the 80’s to whatever is on the radio at the moment. As an adult, whenever these songs pop back into her life, they feel like a visit from an old friend. In recent years, she has been centering this feeling when she makes playlists for family gatherings, smiling whenever she catches stoic aunties and uncles unknowingly humming along. She is currently vibing on 90’s Mandarin folksongs from South East Asian songstresses.

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Flyers by YiuYiu 瑶瑶 from the Chinatown Records archive