Ethnomusicologist Talks About Mongolian Music During Asian Studies Speaker Event Feb. 10

The Department of Music and the Asian Studies Program in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences welcome Charlotte D'Evelyn for a two-day residency at the University of Arkansas.

D'Evelyn is assistant professor of music at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. Her visit to campus will include a free public talk, "The Hu Effect: Mongol Music on the Global Stage," at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10 in Hillside Auditorium room 206, and visits with U of A students and faculty. D'Evelyn's talk is part of the 2019-2020 Asian Studies Speaker Series.

This talk investigates the sudden worldwide popularity of the Mongolian folk rock band The Hu, whose song "Yuve Yuve Yu" reached over a million hits on YouTube less than a month after its release. What was it that made this song so popular and what can we learn about Mongolian traditional music by studying The Hu?

D'Evelyn's talk introduces The Hu and their breakout success firstly, to illustrate the new ways that global media circulate in today's world, and secondly, as a gateway for understanding traditional and contemporary Mongolian music cultures.

D'Evelyn, who earned a Ph.D. at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in 2013, is an ethnomusicologist and specialist in heritage politics, ethnic identity, and regional music cultures of Inner Mongolia, China. Her career as an ethnomusicologist began in 2002 when she first visited China for language study and began studies of the Chinese erhu, a two-string fiddle. Her curiosity for this music launched her into a life-long interest in silk road fiddles and music cultures of East Asia.

She is working on a book manuscript entitled Musicians at the Crossroads: Mongol Music and Ethnic Heritage in China (University of Hawai'i Press, anticipated publication in 2021) and continues to be an active as a performer and student of the Chinese erhu, viola (four-string European fiddle), morin khuur (two-string Mongolian horse-head fiddle), and most recently xöömei (Mongolian throat singing).

Her teaching specialties in the popular culture of East Asia – including K-pop, J-pop, anime, Chinese film music, and Asian hip hop – draw on her interests in globalization and transnationalism, as well as her (limited but sincere) enthusiasm as a fan of fantasy/scifi media and Japanese anime.

About the Asian Studies Program: The Asian Studies Program at the U of A draws on the strength of our faculty both in the Fulbright College and in other colleges on campus to provide resources and training in Asian languages, cultures, history, politics and economics.

In addition to offering a minor in Asian Studies, the program supports research initiatives, study abroad, and extra-curricular activities of faculty, students, and the local community. The program strives to provide students with a well-rounded education essential for careers in which knowledge of Asia is vital, promote interdisciplinary research on the Pacific region, and serve as a source of knowledge and expertise for the community.