Musics can generate shared spaces by ambiguating boundaries among people of diverse classes, ethnicities, and nationalities ‘helping to hear’ centres and peripheries. This paper analyzes physical and virtual spaces where Indonesian migrant workers, local Taiwanese and other stakeholders encounter each other while exchanging music playlists in Keelung, Taiwan. Indonesian migrant workers gather in spaces to provide a mental anchor, spiritual sanctuary and political arena from their otherwise structured and dictated study and work environments. Migrants from the same country but of different ethnicities re-draw their group boundaries along regional and religious lines (Winarnita 2014:232) through singing Indonesian songs. However, it is not only migrant workers in Taiwan who need to adapt to new customs, environments, and new ways of listening and hearing each other. Taiwanese society is also adapting to unfamiliar cultural practices in physical, virtual and malleable soundscapes where connections are created with compatriots, host society, and the larger world.
As a multilingual researcher, I have collected data by integrating available resources to mediate the needs of Indonesian migrant workers and Keelung residents in the research design from 2019 to 2025. Data in this qualitative study was triangulated in Keelung and cities in Indonesia by using multi-sited ethnography, semi-structured interviews, and participatory action research in order to understand the trajectories of migrant workers. Case studies between Keelung Fishermen Caring Event, a top-down perspective of a bureaucrat-sponsored staged event, and Domestic Caregiver Music Recordings, a bottom-up perspective of a grassroots event were analyzed. The results show that music functioned as an essential bridge to initiate interaction as well as a medium that assisted migrants and locals temporarily remixing their lived soundscapes, crossing social classes and national borders to ‘hear each other’ in the here and now.

Keywords: Indonesian migrant worker, shared space, music playlists, hearing through boundaries

Singaporean Mandopop singer A-do (阿杜, 杜成义) is seldom considered when discussing Mandarin Chinese migrant workers’ poetry, partly due to his stardom, which marginalizes him from the social group of migrant workers. This paper aims to argue the significance of A-do and his Mandopop songs in fostering solidarity among migrant workers not only from South Asian countries but also from mainland China.

I begin with a biographical sketch of A-do, outlining his insecure childhood and early experiences of taking on various jobs before eventually working as a construction worker. I then move on to the beginning of his career, starting with his victory in a singing contest and subsequent record deal. In 2002, his record label employed established composers and lyricists to write songs for his debut album Night Fall and his sophomore album Persevering, both released in the same year. I specifically focus on selected songs from these two albums, such as “Night Fall (天黑),” “Tear the Night (撕夜),” and “Punishment (惩罚).” Through a close reading of the lyrics, I argue that these songs employ the poetics of Chinese Misty poetry from the 1980s. A-do’s former experience as a construction worker and other biographical elements are embedded in these songs, which, I contend, qualify as migrant worker poetry. However, due to A-do’s commercial success and popularity, his hit songs are often mistakenly perceived as simply love songs, and the references to his construction worker background are overlooked in the dissemination of these songs.

I conclude by suggesting the importance of re-appreciating A-do’s Mandopop songs with a clear understanding of his former identity as a construction worker. This perspective helps foster a broader societal understanding of the hardships faced by migrant workers and promotes solidarity among migrant workers, both within and beyond their communities.

This paper examines the intersection of Chinese music performance and Hong Kong’s pop music industry through an autoethnographic lens. While many Chinese music instrumentalists struggle to access the pop industry, and those who succeed seldom articulate their experiences, my dual role as a conservatory-trained soloist and session player for Cantopop acts offers a unique vantage point to dissect this underexplored cultural intersection. As a dizi (bamboo flute) player navigating both realms, I contrast the pop industry’s professionalized workflows with Chinese-music’s communal ethos, where music-making emphasizes enjoyment over commercial imperatives. Framed by Bourdieu’s theory of cultural “fields,” I argue these differences reflect distinct valuations of time, labor, and artistry.

Hong Kong’s hybrid identity amplifies these tensions: while pop collaborations risk reducing dizi to a commodified “ethnic accent,” they also expose “Chinese music” to new audiences. Conversely, traditional practices resist pop’s efficiency-driven demands, raising questions about cultural sustainability.

My insider-outsider position reveals pragmatic lessons: pop’s rigorous time management could alleviate traditional music’s underpayment issues, while Chinese-music’s emphasis on ensemble empathy might humanize professionalized workflows. Beyond practicality, this study challenges the myth of cultural “purity,” suggesting that tradition survives not through isolation, but strategic adaptation. As Hong Kong renegotiates its global identity, this account urges traditional musicians to claim space in commercial arenas—not as traditional ornaments, but as equal collaborators shaping soundscapes of the future.