WRITINGS
ZHOU Jinmin
New Wave Music in China
Edition: Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland, 327p.
Date: 1993
Region: CHINA
Origin: UNITED STATES
Type of media: Grey
Language: English
Editor:
Comment: Available on ProQuest (University Microfilms International, 1993)
Abstract:
In the early 1980's, a number of young composers, known as the "New Wave," emerged from several cities in China as a group representing a new trend in musical composition. Their works largely reflected the social, economic, and political changes at the time, and revealed the impact of these changes on music. From a historic point of view, the "New Wave" represented a quantum leap in the sense that it was the first time in which Chinese music was fundamentally influenced by both contemporary Western music and by the elements of traditional Chinese music.
The research presented in this dissertation attempts to examine the music by "New Wave" composers, and the elements that had important influences on those composers. From the parameters of contemporary music composition, the study takes some considerations of the tradition in a new perspective, so as to re-recognize the true value of the tradition and its influences on "New Wave" music. Because "New Wave" composers were regarded as representatives of a unique generation that was the product of a unique social environment, some biographical accounts are given to those composers, in order to offer some supplementary information for a better understanding of their music and of their being the carriers of such social and cultural phenomenon.