It’s My Party

This book is unique in focusing on just one band from one city – but the story of Tat Ming Pair, in so many ways, is the story of Hong Kong's recent decades, from the Handover to the Umbrella Movement to 2019's standoff.  A comprehensive, theoretically informed study of the sonic history and present of Hong Kong through the prism of Tat Ming Pair, this book will be of interest to cultural studies scholars, scholars of Hong Kong, and those who study the arts in East Asia.

This is an open access book.

“This extraordinary book is a fascinating account of legendary Hong Kong musical duo Tat Ming Pair, but it’s so much more than that too: it’s an analysis of political change in a postcolonial city, and of how much music can matter in situations where spaces for resistance are closed down. Elegantly drawing on cultural theory, it offers an exemplary model for versions of popular music studies that transcend Eurocentrism.” (David Hesmondhalgh, University of Leeds)

“Melding empirical data, critical analysis and theoretical discourse, this book contributes an important case which has vast implications for a deepened understanding of the intricate relationship between popular music and politics in not just Hong Kong but also the global context. A must-read for anyone interested in Hong Kong as well as Asian popular music, it has not only showcased the authors’ theoretical acumen, but also demonstrated their special commitment to the popular music of the city.” (Yiu-WaiChu, The University of Hong Kong)

Dr. Yiu Fai Chow received his PhD degree at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research,  University of Amsterdam. Currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities and  Creative Writing of Hong Kong Baptist University, Chow’s research fields include gender and  sexuality, creative practices and cultural studies at large. His monograph, titled Caring in Times of  Precarity: A Study of Single Women Doing Creative Work in Shanghai, is published by Palgrave- Macmillan, and a  Chinese edition is under preparation. His co-authored book Sonic  Multiplicities: Hong Kong Pop and the Global Circulation of Sound and Image (Intellect) is also  available in Chinese.  A songwriter, he wrote many songs for Tat Pair, and since 1989 he has penned some 1,000 lyrical works for a diversity of pop artists in Hong Kong, Taiwan and  mainland China. 

Prof. dr. ir. Jeroen de Kloet is Professor ofGlobalisation Studies and Chair of the Department of Media Studies (ACGS) at the University of Amsterdam. He is also affiliated to the Communication University China under the 1000 talent scheme. His work focuses on cultural globalisation, in particular in the context of East Asia. He is the principal investigator of a project funded by the European Grant Council (ERC), titled “From Made in China to Created in China. A Comparative Study of Creative Practice and Production in Contemporary China.” In 2010 he published China with a Cut - Globalisation, Urban Youth and Popular Music (Amsterdam UP). He wrote, together with Yiu Fai Chow, Sonic Multiplicities: Hong Kong Pop and the Global Circulation of Sound and Image (Intellect, 2013) and edited, together with Lena Scheen Spectacle and the City –Chinese Urbanities in Art and Popular Culture (Amsterdam UP, 2013). With Esther Peeren, Robin Celikates and Thomas Poell he edited Global Cultures of Contestation – Mobility, Sustainability, Aesthetics & Connectivity, London: Palgrave (2018). With Anthony Fung he published Youth Cultures in China (Polity 2017).

Dr. Leonie Schmidt is Assistant Professor in Media Studies in the Media Studies Department at the University of Amsterdam. She is the author of Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia: Exploring Indonesian Popular and Visual Culture (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). In her postdoctoral project, she analyses how, in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, an Islamic ‘counter-terror culture’ has emerged that negotiates and contests ‘Islamic’ radicalisation and terrorism.