Chinatown Records Sonic Histories: Living Room Stories Workshop - Incite at Columbia University

Bringing together music and oral history, Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan (aka yiuyiu 瑶瑶) gathers us for an intimate living room listening through the Chinatown Records 華埠錄音 archive of over 30 record collections inherited from her family and neighbors. We’ll explore the ways that stories can live all around us and how you can tune in through song to get started remembering your own sonic histories with your loved ones.

Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan (aka yiuyiu 瑶瑶) is a DJ historian & educator for Chinatown Records 華埠錄音, homebased on Lenape land in NYC's Manhattan Chinatown. As a community-taught & -powered DJ historian, she has the most fun bringing the music and sonic histories out of the archive to the streets of Chinatown, into the living rooms we share, and back-to-back (b2b) with family & friends, who have taught her so much. Chosen to be a DJ by them, she especially loves training up our next generations of DJ historians of all ages to keep bringing the music to life with us. 

Chinatown Records 華埠錄音 is a homegrown community effort based in NYC’s Manhattan Chinatown. DJ historian yiuyiu 瑶瑶 takes on her childhood name to care for & activate the Chinatown Records archive of over 35 record/CD/tape collections inherited from her family & neighbors. All along the way, Chinatown Records 華埠錄音 evolves as an ever-growing record of the people we love, who bring all this music to life with us.

Think!Chinatown is a place-based intergenerational non-profit in Manhattan’s Chinatown, working at the intersection of storytelling, arts, neighborhood engagement, and creative placekeeping. T!C is the team powering the Chinatown Night Market, Chinatown Block Parties, Chinatown Arts Festival, and more.