Presented by the NYU Rethinking Materialism Working Group & Chinatown Records. Co-sponsored by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, NYU Department of Music, and The Urban Democracy Lab at NYU Gallatin.

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What is the soundtrack to your living room? From our favorites on the radio to the conversations woven over them, our living rooms ring with the sounds and stories of our families.

Presented by Chinatown Records 華埠錄音, this intimate living room listening brings together music and oral history through the music we love and the histories behind them. Pulling from the ever-growing Chinatown Records archive of 30+ record collections inherited from family and neighbors, we listen together to songs that have long filled Chinatown living rooms – and the histories and memories that come with them.

Rooted in the belief that we can all be DJs and oral historians, we invite you to bring a favorite song of your own to share and soundtrack our living room with us, whether on a vinyl record or online. Come step into these musical portals with us, back to a time – whether 50 years ago while dancing in our youth or to our childhood singing along at family karaoke parties – that etched every word and beat into our memory.

This special listening event will be co-led by Chinatown Records resident DJ’s yiuyiu 瑶瑶 (Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan) and Buckley Yung 翁百里, who have soundtracked countless Chinatown Block Parties and living room listenings together ever since yiuyiu taught Buckley to DJ in 2023.

Photograph by @cindytrinh.photo.