Choreographing Emigration: Japanese Tango Musicians in Shanghai, 1920-1945

ended

Between 1920-1945, many Japanese tango musicians migrated to work at the Shanghai dancehalls. The cosmopolitan city of Shanghai was considered by the Japan musicians as the authentic place to work and to polish their skills as tango performers. There is evidence, however, that upon their return to Japan such musicians came to participate in the Japanese government's pro-emigration politics of this time. During 1920-1945, tango music and its eroticised visual images were used by the Japanese government for their pro-emigration campaigns to further encourage Japanese immigration to South America. Tango was used as representing South American-ness, and this propaganda motivated the Japanese immense fascination for the continent resulting in increased number of migrants, encouraged by the images of 'ideal gender relations' of the continent. This concept was produced through tango's visual images, and sexualised narratives in popular magazines, and through tango song lyrics in the newly established 'Japanese tango song' genre. Japanese popular musicologists, migration and gender studies specialists, Japanese and Latin American studies scholars have studied the political organisation of the Japanese fascination for South America, as well as China, using historical analyses and under the lens of modernity. The ER will use these methods in innovative ways to study the role of music in the orchestration of Japanese immigration to South America, 1920-1945. This project will contribute new knowledge on the Japanese tango musicians' activities in Shanghai and their roles as musicians and composers in the pro-emigration politics of this time. Through this project the ER will develop new skills in archival research, Chinese language skills, data analysis, publication preparation, presentation, dissemination, and social media communication skills. The ER will undertale fieldwork and archival work in 4 cities, publish 2 papers, present at 2 conferences, and organise a conference.