摘要：In March and April 2019, a total of 12 focus groups were conducted in Kota
Kinabalu, Kuching and Klang Valley. The study interviewed informants about
their everyday experiences and preferences in consuming popular music. It also
sought to determine specific popular and patriotic songs, made and circulated
within Malaysia from the 1960s to 2000s, that garnered a wide appeal and fostered
a sense of collective Malaysian identity amongst the informants. The informants
were divided into four demographic groups in each location: (1) youths (aged
19 to 39), (2) business owners or entrepreneurs (any age), (3) professionals (any
age), and (4) arts practitioners and musicians. This research note provides a brief
review of the existing studies on Malaysian popular music that inform the study.
However, despite the significant amount of research on Malaysian popular music
from the 1980s until the present day, there has yet to be a study that considers the
responses and attitudes of Malaysian citizens – as music listeners and consumers
– toward Malaysian popular music. More so, the study hopes to move beyond
critical approaches that only focus on contestations between music producers
and performers with the authority-defined structures and policies of the nationstate.
We propose an epistemological shift to focus on the musical preferences and
everyday experiences of Malaysians as well as music producers and performers
to determine if consuming popular music provides an unofficial and everyday experienced space for social cohesion, integration and collective flourishing
amidst a diverse multicultural nation.
关键词：Malaysia; popular music; nationalism; integration; social cohesion;
flourishing
