Foreign places, hybrid spaces

Abstract

Acknowledging the often-noted efficacy of music in identity construction, I propose that music in the Chinese-Australian Catholic and Buddhist communities of Sydney is as much a tool in aid of social adhesion and personal identification as it is affected and constantly transformed by the trials of migrant life. The musical product, then, is something undeniably syncretic, hybrid, and malleable, with undercurrents of sub-cultural hegemony in the highly ‘multi-national’ demography of the Sydney Chinese diaspora. Although mainly a contemporary study, this discourse extends back to the year 1954, a particular turning period in Chinese-Australian history due to two significant events: the beginning of the end of the White Australia Policy, and the start of the gradual change in the Chinese population with the admittance of Chinese background migrants from various parts of Asia.

Notes

 1. I acknowledge the possibility that my informants may move on later in life to other countries, or even return to their home countries, but focused on those who have chosen to stay in Australia during the time of my fieldwork.

 2. Amanda Scott (1994) observed that not all attendees at a Chinese church in Hawaii attended for the sake of worship. Several in the congregation attended church to meet people of the same ethnicity, and to take part in the social activities organized by the church community.

 3. Otherwise known in Sanskrit as the Prajñāpāramitā Hrdaya Sūtra or the Prajna-Paramita Sutra.

 4. A ritual slit drum or wood block stylistically carved in the shape of a fish. The fish, which has lidless eyes and therefore sleeps with its eyes open, symbolizes the ‘ever present wakefulness and awareness’ of the Buddhist student (Woodenfish Program 2008).

 5. Otherwise known as ‘temple bowl’. The Chinese Buddhist temple bowl is designed to be struck rather than rubbed, unlike the singing bowl used in Tibetan Buddhism.

 6. Father Chang has been with the sub-community since its establishment in 1954.

 7. This ecumenical movement allowed for Gregorian plainchant and hymns, and the entire liturgy of the Roman Catholic Mass to be translated into the vernacular.

 8. Both sub-communities have, in recent years, come to accept the preference for English in the younger generation. Vocal repertories are now specially composed to be sung in English with some bilingual leeway for the older generation, who prefer to sing in Cantonese or Mandarin. English has come to be used during major events and feasts that are attended by non-Chinese in the recitation of special Buddhist prayers, and in certain parts of the Roman Catholic liturgy.

 9. Fieldwork transcription.

10. Also known as the Agnus Dei.

11. I would argue that it is more than a bifocal situation amongst the Australian Chinese I have observed – it could be triple or quadruple consciousness at play depending on the many selves that an individual chooses to assume. This is especially so in instances where community members as ethnic actors may belong to one or more cultural organizations in addition to a religious one.

12. See Haggis (2004) for a contextualized reading of Ien Ang's theory on hybridized identities, particularly in regard to ‘double inbetweenness’, a concept beyond the scope of this paper.

13. First premiered on April 2004 at St Christopher's Cathedral, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn and awarded equal first prize.

14. Also known as Exultet or Proemium Paschale.

15. There are several versions of this hymn, which is traditionally sung by the deacon over the Easter candle after it has been lit during the first half of the liturgy on Easter Vigil, which takes place on Holy Saturday (the eve of Easter).

16. I have, however, encountered certain Chinese who feel that one's culture survives in the language. For them, it is essential for a Chinese to speak his or her native tongue in order to consider him or herself Chinese.