FROM GRAMOPHONE TO SINOPHONE: EXPLORING CHINESE RECORDS IN SINGAPORE, 1900 - 1970

Abstract

This thesis presents a cultural history of the Singapore Chinese record industry from 1900 to 1970. At the turn of the 20th century, the emergence of gramophone companies in the United States and European countries, enabled Chinese music in different regional languages to be manufactured into records, and consumed by Chinese communities around the world. From the initial stage of the industry, Singapore was incorporated into the global network of the gramophone companies, facilitated by colonial maritime traffic. In the decades that followed, the Chinese record industry became increasingly embedded in the locality. When Singapore attained self-governance in 1959 and progressed towards independence, the production of local Chinese records and its surrounding discourses, captured the lived experiences of the local Chinese population, and their negotiations with the “Chinese” identities. This process of “localisation and creolisation”, is articulated by some scholars using the concept of the “Sinophone”.