chinatown records
華埠錄音

Elodie Kwan

Chinatown Records 華埠錄音 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.

From my dad’s records, CD’s, and tapes to now close to 30 different collections spanning 1920’s-2000’s Chinese music and beyond from family, friends, and neighbors, Chinatown Records continues to grow as a community-powered, living archive. Beyond the home archive, I take on my childhood name YiuYiu 瑶瑶 to plant the musical seeds for people to listen, learn, and create memories together with their loved ones. Rooted in deep listening and relationships, Chinatown Records imagines music as a familiar entrypoint and bridge for opening up conversation, sparking memories, and building connections across generations – starting right here at home with our loved ones.

Cindy Trinh

Chinatown Block Party
夏日傾情

A neighborhood block party for the whole family at the historic newsstand at Mott & Mosco Streets. 

Holding close the memories of Corky in a Box on Mosco Street with Think!Chinatown and friends, all the way back to jam parties with Basement Workshop and fellow Lower East Side arts groups of the 70’s and 80’s, Chinatown Block Party 夏日傾情 invites us to reimagine the places where music can bring us together, across borders and generations.

Loreto "Still1" Jamlig

Research & DJ

I spend hella hours listening and researching  1920’s-2000’s Chinese music and history – especially how it overlaps across communities and borders. Right now, I'm working on some fun projects on 1920's-60's Shanghai and 90's Chinese CDs.

I also DJ live events, listening sessions, radio shows, and custom playlists to bring all this Chinatown music and history back out into the neighborhood and beyond. I especially love working with community groups to walk y'all through / be creative about how to bring my DJing to you!

  

Sonic Histories & Workshops

This project started and will always be rooted with my family and neighbors – and our shared love for music. Together, we make musical oral histories.

Bringing together art, music, and oral history, Chinatown Records is both a home archive of Chinatown music and an ever-growing record of the people who bring all this music back to life with us.

And I want you to have these special conversations with your loved ones too! So I teach workshops about how to use music to start these conversations and get to know your family and neighbors. 


coming up

Wed. 4/24, 12:30p ET - On Air w/ All of It ☆ WNYC

Wed. 5/1, 9:00a ET - On Air w/ Pushing Boundaries ☆ KEXP

Sat. 5/4, 9:00p ET - First Saturday: In Bloom ☆ Brooklyn Museum

Sun. 5/5 - Tues. 5/7 - Chinatown Storytelling Festival ☆ Think!Chinatown

Sun. 5/12, 8-11:00p ET - 壹 Celebrating One Year ☆ 929 

Wed. 5/15, 5:00p ET - Aural Notes from the Margins: On Radical Memory Work, Community Relationships, and Other Ways of Knowing ☆ Beyond Best Practices Working Group

on the record