by terebikun

What do university teachers need to know besides teaching, researching, grant writing, and organizing conferences? How about throwing good socials? To make a good social, you will most definitely need help from enthusiastic and talented young people.

On October 29, 2010, students from the Graduate Institute of Mass Communication at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) took over the terrace just outside the entrance of the College of Education Building. With posters, flyers, candles, and projected video on the wall, they made a cozy nook for the Happy Hour social following the conference, “Becoming Mobilized and Networked! Technology, Gender, and Inter-Asia Popular Culture in the South.”

In the corner, a medium-built, bespectacled young man in a blue “N.Y.C.” sweatshirt was connecting a laptop, a digital mixer, speakers and cables. Meet DJ Miracle (Yen Cheng-ling), the sonic man awaiting to transform the brief dusk-hour social as soon as the last session let out. A recent graduate who wrote a M.A thesis on the use and invention of “Asianized” sounds by Taiwanese electronic music producers, he first revealed his specialized interest in a required course. A bedroom DJ for years, he said he was coming out that day.

A week after the conference, I met with DJ Miracle at a café near the university. Listening (again) to his set, entitled “Trajectory 8,” we talked about his debut experience and the work behind his set.

Note: It’s taken me a while to do this piece. And I learned a lot about what my student can do and how they listen to pop music! Some of you were there (e.g., Tunghung, Ubonrat, Viriya, Hyunjoon). Perhaps the piece can serve as a memento.

Download the PDF file of the complete interview Brit-Pop DJ for One Night.