Repression and Healing During COVID-19 Pandemic: Reflections from a Case Study of Guqin Pop Music “Lonely Warrior” (68475)

Session Information: Theatre & the Performing Arts
Session Chair: Maria Lucina De Santos

Saturday, 27 May 2023 11:25
Session: Session 2
Room: Room 708
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation

All presentation times are UTC + 9 (Asia/Tokyo)

Facing the ceaseless lockdown and the economic downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tension that music can generate is once again talked about. Is the power of music a cure for loneliness, for the fear of the unknown, for the insecurity of one’s situation? Or can it instead be a repression that can be exploited by power, as an attempt to soothe a state of mind and body under the influence of isolation, lockdown, and involution, thus dissolving the confrontational and conflictual nature and allowing the negative state of mind and body to accumulate without fundamental resolution? From its origins as the theme song for the game League of Legends, to becoming a government-promoted song celebrating the medical and health workers or the police, “Lonely Warrior” became a popular song across China, especially among children. This study attempts to show how “Lonely Warrior”, transplanted into a version of Guqin Pop Music, is a reflection of loneliness and courage through the special history interpretation of Guqin, and how it conveys a sense of humanism. Through a fieldwork of this phenomenon, it also highlights the paradoxical process of repression and healing in the context of epidemics. Loneliness and courage are an inner strength, an awakening and a struggle from the darkness of depression. Whether aspiring to be like a hero who can save the world or transforming into an ordinary man’s self-redemption, the effect of Guqin Pop Music’s “Lonely Warrior” undoubtedly epitomizes the musical repression and healing of China’s lockdown era.

Authors:
Yuhan Wang, National Taiwan University, Taiwan


About the Presenter(s)
Yuhan Wang is a graduate student at National Taiwan University, Graduate Institute of Musicology. Yuhan pays attention to the intangible cultural heritage, Guqin music and its culture.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuhan-wang-8713b4133/

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Posted by Clive Staples Lewis

Last updated: 2023-02-23 23:45:00