廖聖捷為國立臺灣大學音樂學研究所博士生，研究興趣關注二十世紀中葉的華語流行音樂史、華樂團、東南亞音樂文化、以及音樂的跨國流動。他的研究重訪「國語歌曲」的形成與擴散，指出新馬地區並非港台歌壇的附屬，而是以多語混血、美學共生與文化自主性為特徵的獨立文化場域。
他的研究透過唱片、報章、歷史錄音等資料，重新描繪 1950–60 年代新馬華語歌曲的文化脈絡。他關注翻唱文化中的混種現象、暹羅歌曲帶出的跨地域音樂風格、以及愛國歌曲在流行文化裡形成的身分想像與情感倫理，並提出「星馬脈絡」應被視為華語流行音樂史中具主體性的文化力量。透過音樂分析與史料爬梳，使「國語歌曲」的研究跳脫單一文化視角，重回多語、多源、多脈絡的歷史場景。 他曾於 IASPM–SEA（國際流行音樂學會–東南亞分會）、ICTMD（國際傳統樂舞學會）、臺灣音樂學論壇、東南亞文史會議等國際與區域研討會發表，是少數能以嚴謹學術方法處理新馬華語音樂史的研究者之一。
許多馬來（西）亞華人熟悉的華語歌曲、歌台現象與翻唱文化，其實從未被放回音樂史的位置去討論。這座曾經的東方之珠，蘊含著無數的寶藏待學者去爬梳與論述。希望透過聖捷的研究分享，觀眾能重新理解這些歌曲背後的文化動力——多語交匯、美學交換、族群政治與文化想像。這場分享能讓我們重新思考馬來西亞的聲音文化與邊陲的關係，以及是否有潛力成為另一個亞洲現代性的中心。
主題方向： - 前言：為何重訪「國語歌曲」？ - 翻唱歌曲與歌台文化：混血的「國語歌曲」 - 暹羅歌曲：新馬歌壇的多元與跨地域性 - 愛國歌曲：流行化與身分想像的形成 - 結語：重新理解「國語歌曲」的主體性
Sanjay Liou is a Ph.D. student at the Graduate Institute of Musicology, National Taiwan University. His research focuses on the history of 20th-century Chinese popular music, Chinese orchestras, Southeast Asian musical cultures, and the transnational circulation of music. His work revisits the formation and dissemination of "Mandarin songs" (國語歌曲), arguing that the Malaya and Singapore region was not a mere appendage to the music scenes of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Instead, it was an independent cultural field characterized by multilingual hybridization, aesthetic symbiosis, and cultural autonomy.
Through the analysis of records, newspapers, historical recordings, and archival materials, his research re-maps the cultural context of 1950s–60s Chinese songs in Malaya and Singapore. He examines the hybridity in "cover culture," the trans-regional styles brought by Siamese (Thai) songs, and the identity construction and emotional ethics formed by patriotic songs within popular culture. He proposes that the "Malaya-Singapore context" should be recognized as a subjective cultural force in the history of Chinese popular music. By combining musical analysis with historical inquiry, his work moves the study of "Mandarin songs" beyond a monolithic cultural perspective, returning it to a historical scene of multiple languages, sources, and lineages.
Sanjay has presented his work at various international and regional conferences, including IASPM–SEA (International Association for the Study of Popular Music – South East Asia), ICTMD (International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance), and the Taiwan Musicology Forum. He is one of the few researchers capable of approaching the Chinese music history of Malaya and Singapore with rigorous academic methodology.
Many (Mandarin) songs, stage-show traditions, and cover cultures familiar to Malaysians have rarely been situated properly within music history. This former ‘Pearl of the Orient’ holds countless sonic treasures that remain understudied and under-theorised. Through Sanjay’s research, this sharing session invites audiences to re-engage with these songs by examining the cultural forces behind them — multilingual intersections, aesthetic exchanges, ethnic politics, and cultural imagination. It also encourages us to rethink Malaysia’s sonic culture in relation to the margins, and to ask whether it might hold the potential to emerge as another centre of Asian modernity.
Outline: - Introduction: Why revisit “Mandarin songs”? - Cover Songs & Songstage Culture: Hybrid Mandarin soundscapes - Siamese Songs: Cross-regional musical aesthetics - Patriotic Songs: Popularization and identity imagination - Conclusion: Reclaiming subjectivity in the Singapore–Malaya musical context
*Sharing will be conducted in Mandarin.
18 January 2026 (Sunday) | 7:30pm - 10:30pm