Introduction to 'Colonial Modernity and East Asian Musics'

In most writings about music history, East Asia is framed as a patchwork of a few major nation-states that are presently recognized in international terms. Most conventionally, it is represented by three major countries: China, Japan and, increasingly, South Korea, as they have successfully made their presence felt in the international community. The most important example of this three-country scheme would he the structure of the path-breaking work 'Garland Encyclopedia of World Music', Vol 7: 'East Asia' (Province et al., eds. 2002). This massive volume presents China, Japan and Korea as East Asia, coupled with Mongolia and Siberia as Inner Asia. This is the case with other examples such as Grove Music On line's 'East Asia - entry (by David W. Hughes and Stephen Jones), which begins: 'East Asia will here he defined mainly as CHINA (both the People's Republic and the Republic of China on TAIWAN), JAPAN and KOREA. This survey seeks to outline some general similarities and differences within this broad area, restricting itself for practical reasons to the majority cultures of each country' (original capitalization). Such country-based historiographical framing for these huge collaborative volumes understandably is a practical strategy. We should nevertheless be mindful of regional politics at work behind the seemingly peaceful coexistence of national musics and their subcategories within such a compartmentalized conception of history, framed largely according to existing and shifting power structures in the region.