From the Editor

Aloha kākou! I am delighted to greet our members, readers, and other supporters in my new position as incoming editor for Asian Music. Although Volume 42, Number 1 is my debut issue, it is in fact a collaboration with the immediate past editor, Stephen Slawek of the University of Texas at Austin. The articles were reviewed, selected, and revised under his editorship so that my transition into the vagaries of editing and formatting was relatively stress- ree, for which I personally thank Stephen. The Society for Asian Music owes our outgoing editor for regularizing the publication, arranging two thematically-oriented issues on commercial music (39:1) and on music of the Asian diaspora (40:1), and putting the publication on a steady financial footing. After my initial plunge into this task beginning November 2009, I am even more appreciative of what the editorship entails and what Stephen has accomplished in his seven years of service. Many thanks, Stephen!

My vision for Asian Music includes maintaining its reputation as “the leading journal devoted to ethnomusicology in Asian music . . .” (Project MUSE, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/asian_music/) and further expanding the journal’s readership. To that end, I have asked each author of a major article to provide an abstract as a “hook” for the potential general reader and as an aid to our specialist colleagues. I am exploring ways to make our journal more accessible to an international readership and particularly to those whose culture is the focus of a particular article. For this issue, T-H Lin has graciously provided a Chinese-language abstract in addition to an English one for his article on Hakka musicians. The bilingual abstract is an experiment. As our technical capabilities allow, I anticipate more bilingual abstracts in future issues. I hope to hear from the readership concerning the usefulness of such an undertaking. Asian Music is primarily an Anglophone publication, but I want to make it as “user friendly” as possible for all who have an interest in or a commitment to the musics of Asia and their study.

Some self-reflexivity about ourselves as the Society for Asian Music is an important and (hopefully) productive exercise. Thus it is both appropriate and auspicious to open this issue and my term as journal editor with Stephen Blum’s provocative piece “A Society and Its Journal: Stories of Hybridity.” The spoken version was the keynote address for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Society for Asian Music that was held November 21, 2009 in Mexico City as part of the 54th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology. We felt Stephen’s insights and message were valuable for an audience beyond those who were present that evening at the National Museum of Cultures in the Zócalo. I hope you find the written version as engaging as we found the spoken one to be. We hope to provide other opportunities for such self-reflection in the future.

I regard the stewardship of this journal as an adventure as well as a challenge; I look forward to both. My ability to be an effective steward is not a solitary task. Therefore, I ask for your contributions, suggestions, and assistance in continuing and expanding the impact, relevance, and value of Asian Music to the musical scholarship of, about, and in Asia.