Chuangzuo Music (创作音乐, original music) is a genre of original Chinese-language popular music developed by Malaysian Chinese youth musicians during the Baby Boomers generation. This generation of musicians were mainly influenced by Taiwan and Hong Kong popular music that was brought to Malaysia through the radio stations, vinyl, cassette tapes, compact discs, television programs, films, and live concerts between the 1980s. As the “Internet Generation”, the current Generation Z has grown up in a globalized digital musical ecosystem. The increasingly unrestricted music market has allowed the Gen-Z Chuangzuo Music groups of universities to expand beyond Hong Kong and Taiwan pop music. The incorporation of diverse musical elements and styles has resulted in a fluid musical style. This mobility of style embodies the continuously evolving concept of “Chineseness” or “Malaysian Chinese” identity. This study will explore the motivations and facts behind the musical style and choices of Gen-Z Chuangzuo musicians. It will also examine the integration of musical elements into the choices made by Gen-Z Chuangzuo music groups in university. This research uses a qualitative research approach that includes a literature review of Chuangzuo music, ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with the Flying High Creative Team at the New Era College University, and an analysis of the lyrics and music from their original music compositions.

Taiwanese Hokkien popular music has long been regarded as a culturally hybrid genre under the contexts of serial colonialism. In the late 1980s to 1990s, however, there’s a great amount of Latin-American (hereinafter referred to as Latin/x) dance musicality appearing in Taiwanese Hokkien popular music that change the aesthetics of this genre. This aesthetic change, along with the emergence of nightlife and dance hall cultures in that era, reshapes the bodily performances of Taiwaneseness embedded in popular musicscapes.

In this paper, I examine the emergence of Latin/x musicality in Taiwanese Hokkien popular music in the late 1980s to early 1990s, as well as how these songs are embodied in nightlife scenarios. I argue that such hemispheric musicality, particularly these Latin/x musicality of Cha-cha-cha, Samba and Tango dance elements, alongside the nightlife cultures at that time, liberates Taiwanese corporeality and vocality in the post-martial law period. Through the musical examples of Jody Chiang and Xiao-Yun Chen and more, I seek to discover how such Latin/x dance rhythms encourage different approaches of gendered performances and representations, which further reconstructs gender norms in Taiwan. Aside from musical analysis, I also explore nightlife scenarios in 1990s’ Taiwan, particularly on how these Latin/x-infused Taiwanese Hokkien dance music were presented on the dance floors. Under the framework of ethnomusicology, performance studies and critical gender studies, I unveil the possible cultural connotations between Taiwanese popular music and hemispheric regions, and how these connotations create political and theoretical potentials that may help redefine the notion of Taiwaneseness in our times.

Note: For the references on the usage of Latin/x instead of Latinidad or Latin-American, please see Alan Pelaez Lopez “The X in Latinx Is A Wound, Not A Trend” (2018): https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/university-of-wisconsin-whitewater/chicanx-history/the-x-in-latinx-is-a-wound-not-a-trend/42621450