Even in the Rain

Chuen-Fung Wong is associate professor of music at Macalester College. Frederick Lau is the chair and professor of ethnomusicology and director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

“The book is the result of successful combination of fieldwork (no longer possible recently), sound understanding of world music, and profound studies on music traditions relevant to Central Asia. Not only is the book important for the studies of Uyghur music, but also in the merging of studies in various closely related but distinct traditions (Turkic, Persian and Arabic), against the predominant backdrop of Han-Chinese music and its Westernization. The book would be of interest to ethnomusicologists, certainly a must-read item for those who are interested in Central Asian music, Uyghur music, Xinjiang, musical instruments, and particularly relevant to political scientists.” - Yu Siu Wah, The Chinese University of Hong Kong“This is beautifully written, engaging, and richly detailed ethnography of Uyghur musical practices in Northwest China. The reader comes away with a nuanced understanding of musical change in Xinjiang through the last century, as musical modernism and the complexities of being an ethnic minority in China collide. Wong carefully dissects his own positioning as an ethnomusicologist from Hong Kong and writes with vulnerability about his ethnographic process. As careful as Wong is with his interlocutors’ voices, one can get a feel for the lives of the Uyghur musicians Wong works with. The stories, scenes of life in different parts of Xinjiang, and the descriptions of the music come through with vivid detail.” - Margarethe Adams, Stony Brook University“In Even in the Rain Wong combines a fine grasp of theoretical approaches in ethnomusicology, relevant literature in Uyghur, Chinese and English, good ethnographic research, and sure-footed musical transcription and analysis. His analysis brings original material, careful research, and an authoritative voice to the topics of popular music and voice, and musical instruments and modernity. The book picks up the approaches of earlier scholarship and extends it into the twentieth-first century, bringing together engagement with Uyghur national canons and staged performance, popular and folk music.” - Rachel Harris, SOAS, University of London“Chuen-Fung Wong’s Even in the Rain offers a compelling examination of the dynamic interplay between tradition and modernity, national identity and global influences, and musical innovation and cultural preservation in the context of Uyghur music. With his insightful analysis, extensive fieldwork, and expertise in the Uyghur language and culture, Wong delivers a must-read book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between music, society, and identity in contemporary inner Asia.” - Gülnar Eziz, Harvard University