Eric Hung is a musicologist/ethnomusicologist who focuses on Asian American music, recent Chinese music, music and new media, contemporary music inspired by Balinese gamelan, and public musicology. Current projects include a book on cultural trauma in Asian American music, and articles on parody videos of “Gangnam Style” and Tan Dun’s The Map. Hung has presented his research throughout North America, Europe, East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. His writings have been published in such journals as Asian Music, American Music and MusiCultures, and in several edited volumes. An active pianist, erhu player and Balinese gamelan musician, Hung was the Executive Director of New York’s Gamelan Dharma Swara, and founder of the Westminster Chinese Instrument Orchestra.
Selected Recent Publications, Performances, Invited Lectures and Conference Presentations by Eric Hung:
- The Sounds of Asian American Trauma (book in progress)
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“The Shanghai Quartet’s Chinasong: A Musical Counterpart to English-Language Cultural Revolution Memoirs?” In East Meets West, edited by Hon-Lun Yang and Michael Saffle. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, forthcoming.
- “Sounds of Asian American Trauma and Cultural Trauma: Jazz Reflections on the Japanese Internment.” MusiCultures 39.2 (Fall 2013)
- “Tan Dun Through the Lens of Western Media” Notes–Part 1: 67/3 (March 2011), pp. 601-618, Part 2: 68/2 (March 2012), pp. 659-666.
- “The Irony of Shen Yun’s Anti-Communist Propaganda.” University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ, March 2011
- “Reviving ‘Yellow Music’: Salacious Shanghai Songs in 21st-century America,” University of South Florida, January 2011
- “The Use of ‘World Music’ in Joss Whedon’s Firefly: Just the Same Old Thing?” In Music in the Whedonverse, edited by Kendra Leonard. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011, pp. 249-268.
- “Deconstructing the ‘Music as Universal Language’ Myth,” University of Tulsa and Minnesota State University Moorhead, September 2010
- Solo Piano Recital (works by Chopin, Bax, Chabrier and Liszt),” University of Tulsa and Minnesota State University Moorhead, September 2010
- “Bringing the “Chinese National Music” Debate to America: Wu Man’s Contributions to Carnegie Hall’s 2009 Chinese Festival,” International Council for Traditional Music—Music of East Asia Study Group, Seoul, South Korea, August 2010
- Gamelan Dharma Swara Bali Tour (including a performance at the main stage of the Bali Arts Festival), June-July 2010
- “Performing ‘Chineseness’ on the Western Concert Stage: Youths in the Music from China Youth Orchestra in New Jersey,” Association for Asian American Studies, Austin, TX, April 2010
- “Martial Arts Heroes and Their Ever-changing Music,” Princeton University, April 2010
- “Performing ‘Chineseness’ on the Western Concert Stage: The Case of Lang Lang.” Asian Music 40/1 (Winter/Spring 2009), pp. 131-148.