Speaker
Dr. Boris Wong
Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, SOAS, University of London
Event Details
Using my doctoral research on the localisation of military and wind band practices in postcolonial Singapore as a point of departure, this talk reflects on my positionality as a researcher and a wind band musician from Hong Kong conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Singapore. In engaging with questions of coloniality and assumed universality in band practices, I adopt the position of a postcolonial insider (Irving 2010), employing a contrapuntal perspective that situates myself within the entangled dynamics between colonial legacies and local creative agency, and between universalist imaginaries and situated adaptations. To illustrate this positionality, the talk draws on two ethnographic moments from my fieldwork. The first emerged from observing school band rehearsals, where institutional histories, pedagogical technologies, and sound ideals intersected. The second arose from interviews with a Singaporean composer concerning his commissioned work for a national school concert band competition, foregrounding negotiations between creative subjectivity, state commissioning frameworks, and global band score publishing standards. In both cases, a contrapuntal perspective brought into focus how musical practices are shaped not by singular lineages of influence, but through overlapping and sometimes contradictory forces. These moments informed how I later approached analysis—one through an archival and historical lens, and the other through compositional and contemporary concerns—both engaging with issues of music circulation and cultural exchange. Together, they prompted me to reflect critically on how my personal experiences connect to broader postcolonial contexts, shaping the questions I ask and the interpretations I offer: How does my education and working experience in Hong Kong enable me to contribute to understanding the adaptation and localisation of military band practices in Singapore? And how might my position within these global exchanges and regional circulations allow me to perceive and interpret broader patterns in how band music—and music more generally—moves across and beyond East and Southeast Asia?
Enquires
Ms. Lily Yau (Tel.: 3943 6510)
