An Ethnomusicological Understanding of the Street Performance of Cantonese Opera 街檔 (Jie Dang) in Hong Kong

Abstract

ABSTRACTCantonese opera is a regional Chinese operatic genre, which because of its flexible and adaptive nature can be performed in diverse venues. Street performances of Cantonese opera occur in parks, community plazas, open-air car parks, and indoor shopping malls, with audiences usually composed of people from the immediate neighborhood. These performances are smaller in scale than Cantonese opera being performed in theaters and are termed 街檔 (Jie Dang), or “street booth,” reflecting the circumstances of their staging. Like many other types of street music, Jie Dang has a long history in Hong Kong, where Cantonese is a dominant social dialect. In the last ten years, Jie Dang has secured a position on the list of District Free Entertainment Programmes provided by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region. Observations of live performances, interviews with artists and professionals in Cantonese opera, and government reports document the phenomenon of Jie Dang from four perspectives: sociological context; performance practice; geographical context; and logistics.