Photo by Cindy Trinh (@cindytrinh.photo)
We’re back with our final Chinatown Block Party 夏日傾情 of the summer at the historic newsstand at Mott & Mosco Streets! To close out our summer season, we’re diving into the Chinese & Latin music crossover that filled the dancefloors of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan with mambo and cha-cha-cha between the 1930s-60s.
Pulling from the ever-growing archive of the Chinatown Records project, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 is back with some of her favorite Latin-influenced Canto- and Mandopop records and CDs inherited from her family and neighbors. To fill the streets of Chinatown again with her, she invites Gia of Canton Mambo 曼波 to share the decks and bring the heat of mambo, cha-cha-cha, and salsa music that have swept dancefloors from Shanghai to Cuba to Hong Kong to NYC.
The DJs will be in a box filled with colorful and transparent acrylic tiles by Prisca Choe 최하연, featuring dancheong (literally translated to “red and blue/green”) patterns in the style that was solidified in Korea's Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897) to adorn and physically protect important buildings. As the light filters through the tiles, we want the box to glow with the colorful patterns as a wish for all of our protection and safety!
This is a block party for the whole family! Rain or shine~ meet you at the box 💃🕺
Sponsored by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs with support from NYC Dept of Small Businesses. Thank you to our community safety partner, Nonviolent Peaceforce.
YiuYiu 瑶瑶 (aka Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan) is a cultural organizer, oral history educator, and DJ based on Lenape land in NYC's Manhattan Chinatown. She takes on her childhood name YiuYiu 瑶瑶 as an artist and DJ for Chinatown Records, a community effort to celebrate the richness of music and history that comes with inherited family record collections. Alongside her family and neighbors, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 produces Chinatown block parties, sonic family histories, and listening sessions to foster intergenerational dancefloors and memories as powerful acts of resistance and resilience. @rochellehkwan
Chinatown Records is a homegrown community effort to celebrate the richness of music, memory, and history that comes with inherited family collections. From Chinatown block parties to sonic family histories to endless listening and research, Chinatown Records is an ever-growing record of the people we love who bring all this music back to life with us.
Canton Mambo 曼波 is a project and party based in Hong Kong dedicated to bridging cultural gaps and embracing diversity through Salsa and and Afro-Latin music. Through extensive research and study of the history and influences between different cultures, Canton Mambo aims to create an inclusive space where cultural blends harmoniously foster unity through music. @cantonmambo
Prisca Choe 최하연 is a multidisciplinary artist and production designer based in NYC’s Chinatown. Through plexiglass installations, film, and photography, her work explores the tension between conservation and transformation of culture especially for those who have the difficult task of navigating intersecting identities in the Asian Diaspora. @priscachoe | priscachoe.com