Screaming and crying androids: voice and presence in Chinese popular music

Jeroen GROENEWEGEN

ABSTRACT  The voice is, next to the face, a defining aspect of the persona of popular music stars. This article seeks to understand the voice prior to lyrical content and genre convention. How does the voice relate to a singer and his or her body? Is the singing voice a sign of an individual? Does it rather embody a tradition, a nation or a generation? Or are the voices of Chinese popular music radically disembodied and phony?

Author’s biography

Jeroen Groenewegen (MA) is currently working on his Ph.D. thesis, The Performance of Identity in Chinese Popular Music, at Leiden University, the Netherlands, supported by a grant from the Hulsewé-Wazniewski Foundation. For more information see www.keepmakingsense.com.