NSTHE KWONG WAH YIT POH NATIONAL CHINESE

OLDIES SINGING COMPETITION IN MALAYSIA

NAME: LIOW SWEE KEONG

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
CULTURAL CENTRE

UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA
KUALA LUMPUR

2020
 THE KWONG WAH YIT POH NATIONAL CHINESE OLDIES SINGING

COMPETITION IN MALAYSIA

ABSTRACT

The Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition (1994 -
2017) was organised by Kwong Wah Yit Poh, a local Chinese newspaper. This study
attempts to historicise the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing
Competition as a development of shidaiqu activity in Malaysia, examine and analyse
the re-contextualised shidaiqu in the form of a competition, and discuss how the cultural
and musical meaning have strengthened the Malaysian Chinese identity and culture.
Several scholars have conducted shidaiqu research in Mainland China and Taiwan and
focused on its origins and East-West hybridity. However, there has been a lack of
studies looking into shidaiqu in the context of a competition. The Kwong Wah Yit Poh
National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition has been the longest-running singing
competition in Malaysia. Therefore, this research intends to examine how the Kwong
Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition has played an important
role in promoting shidaiqu and sustaining the Malaysian Chinese identity and culture, to
analyse the changes of the re-contextualised shidaiqu in the form of a competition, and
to discuss the cultural and musical meaning of  shidaiqu in the Kwong Wah Yit Poh
National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition.
Using ethnographic and documentary research methods, this study is based on
the qualitative analysis of primary and secondary data, semi-structured interviews,
published and unpublished materials from the Kwong Wah Yit Poh archives and
personal memorabilia, and audio and video recordings.

Keywords: shidaiqu, competition, re-contextualised, transformation, cultural

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The proposed research is based on a case study of the Kwong Wah Yit Poh

National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition (光华日报全国旧区重温华语歌唱比赛)

that focused on shidaiqu (时代曲). This chapter covers a Background to the Study, a

Lterature Review on the Origin and Development of Shidaiqu and The Importance of

Singing Competitions in Creating and Maintaining Cultural Identity, Sustaining Culture

– the result of holding a long term cultural event e.g. a festival, Problem Statement,

Research Objectives, Research Questions, Conceptual Framework, Significance of the

Study, Delimitations and Limitations, Methodology, and Research Timeline.

1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Shidaiqu (Jiuqu/laoge) refers to Chinese popular music from the 30s to the 60s.

Its origin dates back to Shanghai in the 1930s when Western influence reached this busy

port. Shidaiqu reflects a fusion of Tin Pan Alley jazz and Chinese pentatonic melodies.

Shidaiqu was also termed as ‘yellow music’ by Jones (2001) and has a historical

background that is deeply associated with prostitution in its stigmatized role of a ‘song-

selling’ (mai chang) business. Loo and Loo (2014) posit that the popularity of shidaiqu

may be due to the nostalgic reminiscence of the diasporic Chinese community that

remains a minority in Malaysia. This genre remains a favourite today among the

Malaysian Chinese, in particular among those in their fifties and older. Past recordings

of shidaiqu with Pathé and in movies between the 30s to the 50s are still popular among

those of this age group.

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 In Malaysia, compared to other countries in the East Asian region, a bigger

effort was seen in sustaining shidaiqu in the form of musical theatre, ko-tai, private

events and competitions. For example, Loo and Loo (2014) mentioned that Dama

Orchestra’s re-contextualisation of shidaiqu using more Chinese instrumentation in an

amplified theatre, with an educational approach in performing arts, has created elitism,

resulting in a higher demand and an increase in patronage. Tan (2000) also mentioned

Dama Orchestra tries to popularize shidaiqu to English-educated Chinese who do not

speak Mandarin and to non-Chinese upper and middle-class audiences, For example, the

Dama-produced show, “Spring Kisses Lover’s Tears” at Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur in

1998, had a full shidaiqu repertoire devoted to famous actresses such as Lin Dai, Li

Xiang Lan, Zhou Xuan, Jing Ting, Cui Ping and Pan Xin Qiong.

Hosokawa (2000) has shown how amateur singing competitions (nodojiman)

helped to build the Japanese-Brazilian identity during the post-WWII era while

Richards and Ryan (2004) have established that long-running music and singing

competitions like the Aotearoa Traditional Maori Performing Arts Festival (1972 –

2000) obtained sponsorship and an audience more easily compared to short term

festivals, and promoted the culture and cultural identity involved.

Shidaiqu has played a very important role in establishing the cultural identity of

the migrant Chinese population in Malaysia. Kwong Wah Yit Poh (光华日报) is a local

Penang-based Malaysian Chinese newspaper which caters to the Mandarin-speaking

public. This newspaper ran the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing

Competition from 1994 to 2017. The first competition was held in Penang, in the north

of Malaysia and grew to cover four Regions - namely, the Northern, Central, Southern,

and East Malaysian Regions. As the competition focused on the Mandarin-speaking

market, local Malaysian Chinese-owned companies stepped up to offer sponsorship,

first for prizes, and later for other costs, such as venues, accommodation, and transport

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as they were attracted by the publicity and exposure through the free full page

advertisements and yearlong coverage given to competition sponsors in the Kwong Wah

Yit Poh. The Competition immediately attracted a lot of attention in its first year by

giving away a RM5,000 sound system for the first prize, sponsored by Pioneer, while

famous shidaiqu artists from mainland China and Hong Kong such as Liu Yun ( 刘韵)

and Jin Ting (静婷) became the final round judges. From the second year onwards, due

to its popularity, increasing participants, growing focus of attention and rising

patronage, there was sponsorship from more Tier One local Chinese companies such as

EcoBrown, Boon Siew Group and Hai-O. The first prize rose to a RM20,000 cash prize

in 2014.

The competition was halted in 2017, apparently due to sponsorship problems.

The cost of organizing the Competition, including the prize money, had become

prohibitively expensive for one main sponsor to bear. Since the Kwong Wah Yit Poh

National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition was held, its impact has been significant

in Malaysian Chinese culture because it influenced many other similar singing

competitions. This could be seen in the copying of the name of the competition, the use

of a song list, focus on shidaiqu, and similar rules and regulations. Thus, this study aims

to continue the development in Malaysian shidaiqu research and establish why an effort

was made by the local Chinese community to sustain this genre through a competition

context.

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1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW

A literature review is a systematic, explicit, and reproducible method for

identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing the existing body of completed and recorded

work produced by researchers, scholars, and practitioners. It can be divided into seven

tasks: selecting research questions, selecting article databases, websites, and other

sources, choosing search terms (key words), applying practical screening criteria,

applying methodological screening criteria, doing the reviews, and synthesizing the

results (Fink, 2019).

The 3 categories of literature review covered in this section are the origin and

development of shidaiqu, the importance of singing competitions in creating and

maintaining cultural identity (via an international case study), and the results of holding

a long term cultural event e.g. a festival (via another international case study).

1.3.1 The Origin and Development of Shidaiqu

Based on Brace (1991), shidaiqu is the result of recasting rural folk styles into a

form more compatible with the Communist Party’s modernistic, scientific,

propagandistic, and didactic aims. e.g. professionally sung with the vocal production

described as “the middle way”, with harmony from Chinese instruments. In the

Malaysian context, according to Loo and Loo (2014), shidaiqu (时代曲,) or “song of

the times”, is a song genre of the Southern Chinese and originated from Taiwan from a

genre of modern popular music named guoyu laoge, or “Old Song” in Mandarin. It was

popular in Malaya/Malaysia from the 1920s to the 1950s (p.558) and is part of the

musical revolution of Chinese pentatonic music and folk songs. It remains the desired

song genre of matured Malaysian listeners (p. 561).

There are some scholars who have conducted research on shidaiqu and its

transformation to make the genre current. Scholars such as Brace (1992) and Jones

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(2001) provided an in-depth study of the formation of shidaiqu, its character, texture,

and its hybridisation of Chinese folk melodies and Western jazz. Jones also focused on

the profession of a genu (female singer) and social issues behind the role of mai chang

and prostitution, by calling the genre ‘yellow music’ or huangse yinyue, indicating

“pornography” and “unhealthy” music. Stock (1995) wrote on the transformation of

shidaiqu from the 1930s and how synthesized sound was added in, modernizing these

older genres.

A paper by Loo and Loo (2014) examined Dama Orchestra’s transformation of

shidaiqu and how the genre’s focus has now been reversed with a heavier emphasis on a

Chinese flavour through including more Chinese traditional instruments instead of

Western ones. The two authors also explained Dama Orchestra’s innovative efforts in

re-contextualizing the genre in a new musical theatre context. Their methodology was to

require participants to report on their observation of how the orchestration of shidaiqu

was re-Sinicized by Dama musicians and merged with theatrical components to draw

the attention of Malaysia’s Chinese community. They concluded that the re-

contextualized shidaiqu has been made contemporary and appealing through the work

of Dama Orchestra as it can be described as hybridized, with higher demand, increased

investment, greater Chinese instrumentation and an educational approach. Defined as

performing arts, their performances are electronically amplified, held in big theatres

and, most importantly, shidaiqu has been upgraded to an elite interest (Loo & Loo,

2014).

Stock (1995) conducted research on re-evaluating Zhou Xuan’s contribution to

the restoration of popular music from the early twentieth century, i.e. shidaiqu. Stock's

fieldwork was focused more on local instrumentals and traditions in opera instead of

Chinese popular music. Moreover, comments and analyses in Chinese were collected

using informal and unscheduled discussions with students and colleagues at the

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university and through discussions with other Chinese, whether they were musicians or

not.

As a result of the study, there are two major concerns. Firstly, there was

corruption with the use of local capitalism in Shanghai during the 1930s. This led to a

lack of appreciation, as the music can only be appreciated through an electronic filter of

the accompaniment of the period. Secondly, during the 1930s, there was a national

movement to oppose “unhealthy” popular music, but the sound of Zhou Xuan and her

accompaniment gained a historic role in expressing regional sentiments as it was proven

to be strongly bonded to the identity of the people, time and place (Stock, 1995).

According to Mittler (2003), when the Veteran composer Du Ming-xin was

interviewed in a Dutch documentary dealing with contemporary Chinese music, he said

that there was "no music” (and therefore, no shidaiqu) during the Cultural Revolution as

musical repertoire was highly regulated then. All the musical productions and

performances were politically dictated and could not be debated; they had to follow the

framework set, in terms of theory, form, content or even performance practice.

Brace (1991) found that popular music from Hong Kong and Taiwan presented a

growing threat to the development of Chinese culture in China, especially with regards

to Chinese music. A few alternate styles arising from strong international elements in

popular music such as Xibei Feng (a folksong style from China’s North West) and

Yaogun Yinyue (Beijing Rock n’ Roll) have reduced the popularity of Chinese classical

music. This is contrary to the Malaysian experience, where the re-contextualisation of

shidaiqu with an emphasis on more Chinese instead of Western instruments and

amplification in a musical theatre setting has sustained the popularity of Chinese music

and strengthened Chinese identity and culture.

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1.3.2 The importance of music competitions in creating and maintaining cultural

identity

Hosokawa (2000) stated that some music contests function as the hub of folk

revival movements, while others serve to promote new hits and singers (as cited in

Goertzen 1997, chapters 4 and 8; Herd 1984). Based on Hosokawa (2000), music

competitions are stimulating performance activities in many cultures – from close-knit

village festivities to large international spectacles broadcast on satellite television.

Amateur singing competitions (nodojiman or “throat boasts”) have played a very

important role for Japanese immigrants and Brazilians of Japanese descent in building

their Japanese-Brazilian identity during the post-war era when they realized that they

would live permanently in Brazil. The singing competitions operated through a highly

structured hierarchical network, which linked Japanese-Brazilians together into a

broadly-based ethnic enclosure. The competitions promoted the preservation of the

Japanese language, the expression of Japanese sentiments and the cultivation of

Japanese virtues through the use of exclusively Japanese repertoire. Nadojiman has been

replaced by karaoke since the early 1980s (Hosokawa, 1998).

Yano (1996) translated taikai as “contest’ even though it means more generally

a “meet or tournament”, and mentioned that karaoke singing competitions (karaoke

taikai) were spreading throughout Japan in the 1990s, rewarding quality and giving

recognition to people who sang well. Usually, many additional prizes were awarded,

with nearly everyone getting a prize. Yano (1996) stated that among 228 surveyed in

1986 who participated in a song contest, 31% claimed that singing makes life worth

living (uta ga ikigai) because they live to sing (as cited in Ogawa, "Karaoke-ron Joron"

1989, p.3).

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 Li (2014) noted that there are many different types of Hakka popular music

performances in Taiwan, which use their mother tongue to convey local culture, and

many of the performances are adapted from traditional operas, nursery rhymes or

integrated by the elements of western music. The Taiwan government has developed

Hakka culture through holding singing competitions with rewards and subsidies, hoping

to attract young people to appreciate Hakka music and establish their Hakka identity.

This research focused on documenting or portraying the experiences of individuals

through observing and interviewing young people in Taiwan to explore the particularity

and generational awareness of Hakka popular music that they prefer and how they affect

Hakka cultural identity.

Tsai (2017) stated karaoke is a very popular social activity of Indonesian

Chinese communities in Java. After President Wahid terminated the anti-Chinese laws

in 2000, Chinese culture could be presented in public and Mandarin became a symbol of

ethnic identity. Accordingly, Chinese karaoke activities such as family gatherings, night

markets and singing competitions became an important way to construct a socio-

economical network and self-identity. Indonesian Chinese communities, institutions and

organisations vigorously held a lot of Chinese karaoke singing competitions to promote

the development of Chinese karaoke. Chinese karaoke singing competitions in Java

began in 1990, one of the most popular Chinese karaoke activities held annually in the

main cities in Java.

Francmanis (2000) pointed out that close to the end of the 19th Century, a lot of

newly-created national musics made the English aware of a lack of their own national

musical identity. Composition and performance were both monopolised by foreigners at

that time in England, and were viewed as a foreign activity. However, as folk songs

were taken as the basis for characteristic national music, the Folk-Song Society was

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formed as a remedy to this national problem. The Competitive Music Movement was

founded by Mary Wakefield, a well-connected and Italian-trained singer, in order to

achieve widespread musical proficiency in England through the promotion of

international standards of performance. Miss Wakefield and the committee of the Folk

Song Society were the first to introduce the Folk Song Competition as part of the

Westmorland Music Festival, thus forming the basis for English national musical

identity.

Yair and Maman (1996), noted that the Eurovision Song Contest is an

international contest sponsored by the European Broadcasting Association (EBA) and

more than one billion are estimated to watch it on TV. The Eurovision Song Contest is

popular as it reflects national taste and cultural prowess, beauty and glamour, and

language, ethnicity and sexuality. The song is usually selected by each nation’s

broadcasting association usually based on the nation’s or the elite’s taste, combining

universal pop culture with indigenous national and culture components. The contest

emphasizes cultural evaluation, which causes bias, cultural preferences, and political

commitments. The two dominant influences on foreign songs are cultural and political

(Yair 1995) and can result from a cultural match between the evaluator and the

evaluated.  Songs are appreciated based on national and cultural tastes and might be

political, as a result of long-term commitments and mutual exchange relations.

1.3.3 Sustaining Culture - the results of holding a long term cultural event e.g. a

festival

Yair and Maman (1996) noted that the seven-decade long Eurovision Song

Contest started in 1946 and is a celebration of each competing nation’s culture. It

emphasizes cultural evaluation which causes bias, cultural preferences, and political

commitments. The two dominant influences on foreign songs are cultural and political

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(Yair 1995) and can result from a cultural match between the evaluator and the

evaluated.  Songs are appreciated based on national and cultural tastes and might be

political, as a result of long-term commitments and mutual exchange relations.

Reily (2000) found that musical construction is very important for creating

cultural identity. Emblems of hybridity e.g. samba, which originated in Rio de Janeiro,

were featured in the first Rio Carnival held in 1723. Samba was forcefully promoted as

a symbol of Brazilian national identity by the Vargas propaganda machine in the 1930s,

with music playing a central role in the definitions of what would be taken for national

culture. Now in the twenty-first century, the Brazilian canonical narrative is samba,

bossa nova and Musica Popular Brasiliera (MPB). Nowadays, samba is synonymous

with Brazil and Brazilian culture and is the basis for the Rio Carnival which celebrates

samba and is the last chance to party and feast before the start of fasting during Lent in

the Roman Catholic Church calendar. People come from all over the world to watch and

participate in the carnival.

Richards and Ryan (2004) highlight cultural event maturation through the case

study of the Aotearoa Traditional Maori Performing Arts Festival (1972 - 2000). It

shows how this successful and important festival manages to attract increasing numbers

of participants and is a dynamic component of Maori culture in contemporary New

Zealand. Both authors make clear that the newer types of festivals are associated with

more professional organisations that have more explicit economic objectives. While

planning takes longer, well established events may attract sponsorship from both the

government and the private business sectors.

Zakic and Lajic-Mihajlovic (2012) examined the issue of the treatment of

traditional music at the long-running Dragačevo Trumpet Festival, one of the most

important folk music festivals in Serbia. The Festival has developed from a local event

into an international festival in just over 50 years, with a growing multicultural

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programme that relates to and underscores the national folk music tradition. The 50th

contest (2010), is examined as a paradigm of the modern treatment of the folk music

tradition at the Festival and the complex roles of the musicians, organisers, jury and

audience are studied in recreating tradition.

1.3.4 Conclusion

While there has been research conducted on the origins, development and impact

of shidaiqu on Chinese identity and culture in China, there has not been any similar

research on the significance and impact of shidaiqu on Malaysian Chinese identity and

culture. In the Malaysian context, the only research on shidaiqu has been on how it has

been successfully re-contextualised and modernized to sustain its popularity (Loo and

Loo 2014).

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1.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT

As yet, there has not been any research conducted on the importance of singing

competitions in promoting shidaiqu and Chinese culture in Malaysia. This study will

examine how shidaiqu was developed within the format of the Kwong Wah Yit Poh

National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition, and in what way it affects the

authenticity of shidaiqu. in the competition context. What started as a solo singing

competition based on a single song sung in one round, grew to two songs (one fast and

one slow) and then was expanded to include an assigned group singing challenge in the

form of a duet or trio, with choreography. Later, a musical theatre segment with acting,

singing and dancing was added for groups of two and three contestants. In what way the

competition played a role to promote and sustain shidaiqu and how it became a cultural

marker of the minority Chinese in Malaysia are questions that have yet to be answered.

1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

- To historicize the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing

Competition, from its inception in 1994 to the time it ended in 2017.

- To analyze the changes of the re-contextualized shidaiqu in the form of a

competition.

- To discuss the cultural and musical meaning of shidaiqu in the Kwong Wah Yit

Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition.

1.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following 3 research questions were established as guidelines for this research:

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1. What was the role of the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing

Competition in promoting shidaiqu and therefore in sustaining Malaysian Chinese

identity and culture?

2. How was shidaiqu developed within the competition format?

3. What was the significance of shidaiqu in establishing and sustaining Malaysian

Chinese identity and culture?

1.7 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Fraenkel and Wallen

Beech and Broad

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 Collate Li (2014)
additional Analyse
reference data
The Kwong Primary data: materials
Wah Yit Poh Conduct promote
National literature shidaiqu
Chinese Oldies review and Conduct and
Singing construct record competition
Competition interview Interviews format
(1994 -2017) questions
significance
Analyse video & of shidaiqu
audio
competition
recordings

Based on Beech and Broad (2018), ethnographic fieldwork based on

observation, recording and collation of musical performances should be applied in

ethnomusicology research. Fraenkel and Wallen (2009) indicated that ethnographic

research methods use a range of approaches to gather information in an all-inclusive

way which focuses on documenting or portraying the experiences of individuals through

observing and interviewing them or others that are related to the study, so that the whole

big picture can be seen (p.501). Therefore, the whole process of the study is based on

qualitative analysis of primary and secondary data through conducting and recording

interviews, analysing video and audio competition recordings, and collating additional

reference materials.

1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The Chinese in Malaysia are a minority, making up 20.6% (6.55m) of the

population in 2017. This dissertation will attempt to examine the significance and

impact of the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition on

Malaysian Chinese culture and identity, with respect to the cultural elements involved.

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Based on Loo and Loo (2014) shidaiqu is a southern Chinese song genre popular from

1920 to 1950 and typically performed in Malaysia during Phor Tor (Hungry Ghost

Festival). It is the foundation of Chinese popular music today, and has remained popular

with mature Chinese Malaysian audiences at ko-tai, pubs, and karaoke bars. Malaysia is

unique as the Chinese are a small but significant minority in a Malay Muslim majority

population, and the Chinese are allowed to practice their faith and culture without

restriction, unlike in Indonesia and Thailand up to recent times. Tan (2000) pointed out

that there are a lot of Chinese performing arts alive in Malaysia. These include the

Chinese opera and percussion-dominated orchestras which performed to honour various

Chinee Gods, then transformed in the eighties and nineties to ko-tai where pretty girls

sang shidaiqu, and nowadays to pretty girls dressed sexily and singing remixed versions

of shidaiqu and noisy disco songs. There are also dedicated local and foreign Chinese

radio and TV networks and stations available locally, that broadcast news, movies, TV

serials and pop music in Mandarin and regional dialects on a daily basis. Therefore,

most of the Malaysian Chinese (whether Chinese or English educated) have grown up

listening to shidaiqu and watching Shaw Brothers’ films, which popularized shidaiqu in

their movies. The research will also examine how the continuing popularity of shidaiqu

in the Malaysian Chinese singing competition circuit has become a cultural emblem that

has led to the strengthening of the Malaysian Chinese identity and culture. The Kwong

Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition ran for 23 years from 1994

– 2017 and promoted keeping to the original style and performance of shidaiqu, thereby

preserving the original form. The impact of its transformation as the basis for the said

competition in judging the singing prowess and performance of the contestants is

obvious on Malaysian Chinese culture because shidaiqu continues to appear in the

Chinese singing competition circuit after 2017.

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1.9 DELIMITATIONS AND LIMITATIONS

This study only focuses on the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies

Singing Competition (1994 - 2017) and does not cover other competitions. As it is one

of the longest-held Chinese singing competitions in Malaysia, it is expected to furnish

the depth and range of data required for the basis of this research. Therefore, primary

data will be obtained through interviews with the organisers, judges, sponsors,

participants, and anyone else deemed relevant to the Competition. Secondary data will

comprise reports of the Competition in the media e.g. newspaper and magazine articles

and video and audio recordings.

According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2009), as this study may not be able to

provide much numerical data to validate the research findings, observer bias would be

almost impossible to eliminate as the conclusions drawn may be highly dependent on

the researcher's observations and interpretations (p.514). As the research is heavily

dependent on the archives kept by the Kwong Wah Yit Poh itself, there may be a

shortfall in data. Also due to the passage of time, the organisers, judges, participants and

sponsors may prove difficult/impossible to reach as, e.g. in the case of the organisers,

they may have ceased to be employees of Kwong Wah Yit Poh, emigrated or passed

away.

1.10 METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this research is to study a popular music genre that becomes a

cultural emblem, in addition to its transformation in a competition context. This study

employs ethnomusicological and documentary research methods to study the history,

musical and cultural meaning, and role of shidaiqu in the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National

Chinese Oldies Singing Competition. Rice (2013) claimed that ethnomusicologists

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appeared to have two assumptions: first, gathering information about a culture’s music

was an ethically unproblematic search for objective knowledge about humankind;

second, they were unbiased, robotic data collectors. However, these assumptions have

been abandoned. Based on Beech and Broad (2018), ethnomusicology should employ

ethnographic fieldwork. Fraenkel and Wallen (2009) indicated that the ethnographic

research method uses a range of approaches to gather information in an all-inclusive

way which focuses on documenting or portraying the experiences of individuals through

observing and interviewing them or others that are related to the study, so that the whole

big picture can be seen (p.501).

Therefore, this study will be based on qualitative analysis of primary and

secondary data obtained via the following methods - fieldwork, semi-structured

interview, video analysis, printed materials (newspaper cuttings, etc.) and any other data

sources available. The main source of information will probably come from interviews

as the documents related to the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing

Competition may be insufficient and incomplete.

1.10.1 Primary and Secondary Data

Hox and Boeije (2005) stated that primary data are raw and unpublished data

collected by the researcher specifically for the research in question, using the most

suitable techniques. In this study. primary data will be obtained through records kept by

Kwong Wah Yit Poh regarding the organisers, judges, sponsors and participants (not

finalists), Ten (or more) selected informants from each group will be interviewed in

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depth. Also, detailed interviews will be conducted with five (5) winners still successful

in the music industry and five (5) winners who are no longer in the music industry The

successful winners must still be actively involved in the music industry, locally and/or

internationally, and recognised as recording artistes, judges, producers, music company

executives, composers and/or lyricists, etc. These interviews will provide in-depth data

for this research. In addition to this, the researcher is a singer who has participated in the

Kwong Wah Yik Poh Chinese Oldies Singing Competition six times, knows the field

first-hand and will provide an emic perspective.

This collected data, when made available to other researchers, becomes

secondary data for re-use by the research community to describe contemporary and

historical attributes, conduct comparative or replicative research, for re-analysis, for

research and methodology, or education (Hox and Boeije (2005). In this study,

secondary data would cover press articles, published scores and audio and video

recordings, and academic resources.

The duration of data collection and qualitative analysis is expected to cover two

years, provided the information at Kwong Wah Yit Poh is easily available and the

organisers, sponsors, judges and competitors are easily accessible. If not, the process

will require more time.

1.10.2 Documentary Research

This sections covers all secondary data which have been published i.e. press

articles, audio and video recordings, souvenir programmes posters, fliers, and official

correspondence.

Video Analysis

Kwong Wah Yit Poh documented the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese

Oldies Singing Competition through the yearly Grand Final videos which were sold to

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the public. There may also be private recordings of the competition by the competitors

and members of the audience. This research will analyse these recordings from 1994 -

2017 based on how the competition has evolved through the years in terms of:

(i) How society’s perception of Chinese singers has changed since the 1980s till

now, from negative to positive and even desirable and glamourous.

(ii) How the competition has become more difficult and demanding over the

years, from requiring just one song, to two songs, to including a duet, and

then a dancing and singing solo performance for the Top 4.

Printed Materials and Any Other Sources Available

This research will compile secondary data which have not yet been analysed,

such as published (i.e. newspaper cuttings from Kwong Wah Yit Poh) and unpublished

materials (posters, souvenir programmes, and official letters, etc.) and any other

materials available. Kwong Wah Yit Poh have kindly agreed to make all their resources

and records available, and facilitate introductions to judges, sponsors and participants.

1.10.3 Participation Observation

Clarke and Cook (2004) believe that it is best for the researcher to be a

performance participant to gain access for investigation through direct interaction with

musicians, fans and others, providing new perspectives not fully addressed yet.

I participated in the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing

Competition in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2013. Even though the competition

has ended, my experience as a participant enables me to be familiar with the whole

process, from how to get the registration form, getting the song lists, obtaining the

music, dealing with the organizer after getting through to the final round, practicing

with the musicians, and interacting with the audience. The organisation of the Kwong

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Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing Competition was clearly of a higher

standard compared with similar competitions I have participated in, both locally and

overseas. For example, the competition song list for Kwong Wah Yit Poh was

thoroughly researched and every song belonged in the category it was assigned to,

unlike in other competitions where some songs were categorized wrongly.

1.10.4 Semi-structured Interview

Ethnomusicologists conduct formal or casual interviews to determine oral

histories, collect cultural knowledge on musical traditions, and keep in touch (Rice

2013, p. 31). Semi-structured interviews were selected because they were determined to

be the most appropriate format, as informants would not be giving ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers

but instead would be detailing memories of their experience in the Competition and

giving opinions. Semi-structured interviews are formal, verbal questionnaires designed

to elicit specific information that can later be compared and contrasted (Frankel &

Wallen. 2009, p.446).

In this study, semi-structured interviews will be conducted based on a prepared

questionnaire through face-to-face, video call or telephone interviews (depending on

accessibility) in order to try to get informants to recall and then reconstruct from

memory what happened during the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies

Singing Competition. Interviews will be conducted with selected informants such as

organisers as a group, and individually with sponsors, judges and competitors.

There are three stages in conducting the interviews, which are pre-field, field

and post-field.

22
 In the pre-field stage, a literature review will be conducted and interview

questions will be created and adapted to this study to trigger participant opinions and

suggestions. In the field stage, participants will go through an interview session. In the

post-field stage, the recordings of the interview sessions will be transcribed into

documents and the data collected will be analysed through crystallization, which is the

effort to conclude the qualitative data altogether (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009, p.512).

1.10.5 Fieldwork

Rice (2013) highlighted that recording observations and experiences in the field

provide the opportunity to think through possible interpretations of what one has

experienced earlier and to list new questions that flow from observation.

During fieldwork, field practices will vary according to the field, from virtual to

conventional. The Competition will be studied through all data available and ten (10 or

more) selected informants will be interviewed. Five (5) winners still successful in the

music industry and five (5) winners who are no longer in the music industry will be

interviewed in-depth. The successful winners must still be actively involved in the

music industry, locally and/or internationally, and recognised as recording artistes,

judges, producers, music company executives, composers and lyricists, etc.

These participant interviews will provide in-depth data to this research. In addition to

this, the researcher is a singer who knows the field first-hand and will provide an emic

perspective.

The post-field stage would involve analysing data and writing-up the

dissertation.

23
Secondary data researched will include press articles, scores, audio and video

recordings, correspondence, and available academic resources related to the Kwong

Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Singing Competition.

The duration of data collection and qualitative analysis is expected to cover two

year, provided the information at Kwong Wah Yit Poh is easily available and the

organisers, sponsors, judges and competitors are easily accessible. If not, the process

will require more time.

1.10.6 Conclusion

In conclusion, this study investigates the cultural elements, especially the history

of using shidaiqu in the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese Oldies Singing

Competition in the Malaysian context. The methodology used involves interviewing

three categories of people who are related to the Kwong Wah Yit Poh National Chinese

Oldies Singing Competition, namely the organisers and employees involved in the

competition, the judges - whether local or overseas, and the competitors. In addition to

that, secondary studies will be explored through multiple available resources.

1.11 RESEARCH TIMELINE

Table 1: Timeline of Research

Date Task
March – August 2020 - Reading period
- Refine thesis topic, compile and
read existing literature, identify
relevant primary data sources

August – November 2020 - Rethink thesis topic and validate

24
 - Conduct research, identify
additional primary data sources
- Work on thesis outline and
chapter structure

December – February 2021

March – May 2020 - Finalise chapter structure

June – August 2021 - Draft Chapter Two

September – November 2021 - Draft Chapter Three

December 2021 – February 2022 - Draft Chapter Four

March 2022 - Revise and submit

25
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