Assistant Professor Dr Ch'ng Xin Ying
Assistant Professor
Academic Qualifications
PhD Musicology
MMus Musicology
BMus Classical Music
Associate Diploma (Recital Piano) (ATCL)
Areas of Interest
Dr Ch’ng Xin Ying is an assistant professor of Music at UCSI University’s Institute of Music. Her research interests lie in the way how concepts of nationalism found in music can inform complex issues of identity especially in relation to race, nation and gender. Dr Ch’ng’s diverse research interests are demonstrated in the two recent articles that she co-authored. The first on the Malaysian artist Namewee in Popular Music and Society; the second on radio request cards that was popularized by Radio Malaya’s song request programmes in the 1950s and 60s. Her most recent project includes an examination of broadcasting and programming as colonial projects of the Malaya Broadcasting Corporation during the early to mid-twentieth century in British Malaya and Singapore.
Research
- Eluding the State, Reimagining Malaysia: Controversy and Multicultural Heteroglossia in Namewee’s Music Videos. Popular Music and Society Journal, 2025
- The Role of Radio Malaya in the Consumption of Popular Music through Radio Request Cards from 1950s to 1960s. Kajian Malaysia Journal, 2025
- Embodying Englishness: Alfred Deller, Purcell and the BBC in post-war England. Early Music Journal, 2025
- Rapping Racial Tension: Namewee’s Rap Songs and the Malaysian Education System. In Popular Music Climates. Proceedings from the XXI Biennial Conference of IASPM, Daegu South Korea, 5th – 9th July 2022, edited by Kimi Kärki. Turku: International Institute of Popular Culture. http://iipcblog.wordpress.com/publications/ , 2023
- Voicing the Muhibah spirit through Namewee’s Ali, Ahkao Dan Muthu. Currencies. In Santaella, M. (Ed.), Popular music in East and Southeast Asia: Sonic (under) currents and currencies, 2022
Workshops
- Documentation and Preservation of Malaysian Arts Heritage Workshop’. Moderated the ‘Industry Practitioner Sharing Forum’, 2024
- Guest speaker for Aureus Leading Educators of the World. Presentation on ‘Making Sense of Western Art Music History’, 2023
- Panellist under UKM-KITA Discourse Series. Presentation on ‘Policing Namewee: Ethnonational Contestations and Reconciliations of a Malaysian Chinese Rap Icon’, 2020
Seminars
- Presentation on ‘The Importance of Studying Music History’. Guest speaker for Anshan Normal University, 2023
- Symposium ‘Sustainability, Mobility and Nationalism in Malaysian Performing Arts and Culture’. Presenter in symposium organised by Penang House of Music, 2022
Others
- Music Panelist for the ‘Impact Study of the Effectiveness of a Decade of Implementing the PERMATA/GENIUS Seni Programme’. Impact Study for PERSIDAYA (Association for the Appreciation of Arts and Culture) c/o Department of Culture and Performing Arts Malaysia, 2020
Research Grants and Consultancies
- 30 June-2 July 2022: Invited as presenter in Symposium on Sustainability, Mobility and Nationalism in Malaysian Performing Arts and Culture, organised by Penang House of Music
- 07-09-2021 to 06-09-2023: Co-Researcher of a FRGS Grant entitled ‘A History of Integration, a Future of Unity: Developing a Framework on Interethnic Unisonance in Malaysian Patriotic Music’
- 18-19 January 2021: Invited as Music Panellist for the ‘Impact Study of the Effectiveness of a Decade of Implementing the PERMATA/GENIUS Seni Programme’. Impact Study for PERSIDAYA (Association for the Appreciation of Arts and Culture) c/o Department of Culture and Performing Arts Malaysia.
- 9 December 2021: Invited as a Panellist under UKM-KITA Discourse Series on ‘Policing Namewee: Ethnonational Contestations and Reconciliations of a Malaysian Chinese Rap Icon’ 2018: Invited as Peer Reviewer for the Journal of Royal Musical Association, UK
- International Association of Popular Music Studies, South-east Asian Branch, 2021-2022
- International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Conference Programme Committee, 2025-2026
