Uccelli [née Pazzini], Carolina Uccellini, Marco

(ii) East Asian.

(a) Chinese.

The history of Chinese American music began in the 1850s, when the original wave of contract railroad labourers and gold miners came to California from the south-east coast of Guangdong province in China. In 1943 the Chinese exclusion laws were repealed, and in 1965 the annual quota of Chinese immigrants was raised to equal that of other countries; the demographic changes brought changes in the musical scene. This current has intensified since the 1978 normalization of diplomatic relations between China and the USA as more people have emigrated from mainland China.

The 1895 Exclusion Law restricted all Chinese residents to living in Chinatowns. Without families and homes, these labourers formed a bachelor society. Listening to Cantonese opera, the favourite music from their homeland, was their main pastime. The first Cantonese opera was staged in San Francisco in 1852, and from 1870 to 1890 this tradition enjoyed a golden era: San Francisco supported four theatres with nightly performances. Until the 1940s, the touring opera troupes from Canton and Hong Kong were vital links among the scattered Chinese communities in the USA. The opera theatre was a ‘community centre’, and opera was an educational experience, used to related ancient legends and history. The heroes and heroines served as role models for Chinatown dwellers during the dark years of exclusion.

Besides professional operas there was also amateur music-making: instrumental playing in one's apartment was an after-hours activity, and performers held forth in gambling houses, at restaurants and banquets, and during Chinese festivals, New Year's parades and funerals. The words of songs and chants inscribed on Angel Island cabin walls bear witness to the music culture of immigration detention centres.

There were also integrated music styles. Formed in 1911, the oldest music club in San Francisco's Chinatown – the Cathay Club – had a marching band with a Western repertory but Chinese traditional instruments such as erhu bowed fiddles, di bamboo flutes and sanxian plucked lutes; Chinese percussion was added later, and the repertory expanded to include a few Chinese pieces. In the 1930s Chinese American nightclubs were opened as part of a booming nightlife business in San Francisco. The most famous, Forbidden City, featured Chinese performers, attracted tourists internationally and inspired the establishment of similar clubs on the east coast. This business, however, came to a halt with the postwar recession and the advent of television.

After World War II new waves of immigrants comprised mostly students and intellectuals, whose origin, backgrounds and goals were different from those of their predecessors. The growth of a family society, a new variety of occupations and differing degrees of assimilation all helped to generate a more diverse musical culture within the Chinese community.

Cantonese opera experienced a long decline due to events such as the exclusion laws, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and, later, competition from new forms of entertainment. Despite the disappearance of regular performances by professional companies in the 1960s, Cantonese opera singing is still alive in amateur clubs, whose headquarters are not only a place for weekly singing but also for social gathering. The nucleus of the club consists of veteran professionals who give lessons to pass on the tradition. Each club has its own collection of instruments, and most singers also play in the ensemble. No regular performances are given, but artists or groups from mainland China or Hong Kong are periodically invited to perform with club members.

Younger Chinese Americans seem to prefer instrumental ensemble music: Chinese traditional classical music, Chinese and Western pop music, Chinese and American dance band music and Western classical music. Traditional and contemporary instrumental ensembles such as San Francisco's Flowing Stream Melody of China (fig.20), and New York's Music from China give concerts in cultural centres and other venues. Virtuoso performers of Pipa and Zheng find many students among the young and carry on the refined solo traditions. The study of Western classical music on piano, violin and flute is even more popular among young students, with many starting at five or six and continuing through high school. Chinese Americans are highly visible among winners of local competitions.

Choral singing is also practised. Chinese Protestant church choirs and congregations sing mainly Western hymns with Chinese texts but also include a few Chinese songs. Local choral groups aim to promote Chinese culture and often foster community participation; they perform Chinese art songs and folksongs, composed or arranged by musicians with Western training along with a selected repertory of European classics. In the San Francisco Bay Area alone there are nine choruses, and each holds an annual concert.

Beijing opera clubs, organized by generations of northern Chinese, became more common in the 1980s in major cities such as New York, Washington, DC, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. They tend to give annual performances by combining their resources with those of professionals, who perform the leading roles and instruct amateurs. A classical opera style, kunqu, is favoured by a small group of people but also has a national organization. One authentic folksong style, Taishan muyu song, has won recognition since singer Uncle Ng (b 1910) received a 1992 US National Heritage Fellowship.

Two new styles emerged during the 1980s: Chinese American jazz and new contemporary art music. From the late 1960s an indigenous drive to develop a distinct Chinese American identity as part of a broader Asian American movement followed the lead of the civil rights movement. Asian American jazz developed as its cultural wing and included Chinese American musicians Fred Ho (b 1957) and Jon Jang (b 1954). A new ethnic pride and consciousness inspired their fusion of black American jazz with Chinese musical elements, instruments, history and legends to create a new genre, with many artists joining their path. In the 1990s some first-generation immigrants with backgrounds in European classical and Chinese traditional music ventured into this art form. Contemporary classical composers trained in China and the USA, such as Tau Dun and Chen Yi, have drawn significant attention with new works blending Western techniques and themes based on a Chinese experience.

Other current trends include rap music, folksong and popular song contests, and karaoke singing of Chinese popular songs in Chinese nightclubs and restaurants. With the exception of a few Cantonese opera clubs, most musical activities, especially performances, are open to mainstream society and aim to promote mutual understanding through music. While most Chinese American musical styles preserve and maintain aspects of cultural heritage, interaction between the Chinese community and the society at large will produce more musical change in the years to come.