All Of It — Storytelling Through Shared Song with Chinatown Records

Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Host: Kusha Navadar (in for Alison Stewart)
Date: April 24, 2024
Guest: Rachelle Kwan (DJ, oral history educator, creator of Chinatown Records)
Episode Theme: How music and family histories intertwine, and how Chinatown Records preserves those connections through shared song and storytelling

Episode Overview

This episode explores the powerful role that music plays in connecting us to our personal and family histories. Guest Rachelle Kwan, founder of Chinatown Records, joins to discuss how inherited records sparked an intergenerational conversation within her own family and Chinatown communities. Alongside listener stories and All Of It team anecdotes, the episode illuminates how songs become living records of memory, community, and love. The segment also celebrates WNYC’s “Public Song Project,” encouraging listeners to record and share public domain songs that hold personal significance.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to the Public Song Project

• [00:55] Host Kusha Navadar invites participation in WNYC’s Public Song Project, seeking submissions of covers or adaptations of works in the public domain.
  • “Your song can be a cover or, you know, it could be an adaptation of a novel, a poem, hey, even a film. As long as it's based on the public domain, it's fair game.” ([00:56], Kusha Navadar)

2. Chinatown Records: Origins and Mission

• [03:48] Rachelle Kwan traces the beginning of Chinatown Records to her father’s hidden record stash, found unexpectedly under the family coffee table.
  • “I moved [the coffee table] for the very first time…and then found cases of records underneath that I’d never seen in the 20 plus years that I’d lived there.” ([03:59], Rachelle Kwan)
• The collection, spanning from the 1920s-2000s, reignited musical and cultural conversations between Rachelle and her father.
• Key insight: For Kwan, records became keys to memories, unlocking not just music but family history embedded “in my bones.”
  • “I never really thought about that music…until I saw them, until I heard them again, and I realized that they were so deeply embedded in my bones…I knew the voices.” ([05:15], Rachelle Kwan)

3. Songs as Generational Bridges

• The conversation extends to the symbolic role Chinatown Records aims to play: not just as an archive of vinyl but as an ongoing record of community and familial history.
  • “I like to think about Chinatown records…not only as vinyl records, but…it’s also to record, it’s to actively participate in recording these histories and thinking about, how does this music, how do our personal archives, how are those part of these larger histories?” ([11:59], Rachelle Kwan)

4. Notable Finds in the Archive

• [06:42] Kwan highlights a favorite: an Anita Mui album (the “queen of Canto pop”) full of Madonna covers, adored first by her father, now beloved by new generations at block parties.
  • “We're also, at the same time, creating these new memories together on stacking these memories on top of these songs…now it's a lot of people's favorite album at these Chinatown block parties.” ([06:56], Rachelle Kwan)

5. The Power of Covers

• [07:54] Kwan’s delight in cross-language covers is palpable, sharing a Chinese cover of “Proud Mary.”
  • “I love this song because whenever I play this one out and about people are like, oh, I know this song. And then once she starts singing, they're like, wait, do I know this song? And I'm like, yes, you do know this song. It's just in a different language.” ([07:54], Rachelle Kwan)

6. Audience Sharing: Songs as Memory Vessels

• [09:18] Callers and texters share family stories tied to songs. Memorable moments include:
  • Michael in White Plains recalls “Big Rock Candy Mountain” passed down three generations.
    • “My dad used to sing to him the song Big Rock Candy Mountain…the hobo song...and now I sing it to my sons…I have a band together [with them]…music is just such a central part of our life.” ([09:23], Michael)
  • Kristen in Chappaqua remembers her late brother through Nazareth’s “Vigilante man,” an “anthem to him.” ([17:58], Kristen)
  • Elaine in Long Island recounts walking into a restaurant after her mother’s passing, hearing “Stardust” by Hoagie Carmichael, her mother’s favorite. ([22:24], Elaine)
  • Grace, originally from India, movingly describes a Tamil song sung at her ill father's bedside, awakening joyful recognition and memories of her parents’ bond.
    • “…he started singing this song, which was one of my favorites. And the minute he started singing it, my dad opened his eyes and he started smiling from ear to ear.” ([24:03], Grace)

7. “Sonic Family Histories” and Oral History in Action

• [16:35] Kwan explains “sonic family histories” — using music as a prompt for elders to share life stories:
  • Clip: Rachelle and her father reminisce over making home mixtapes from film soundtracks in Hong Kong. ([16:53-17:25])
  • [25:36] Rachelle plays a cherished conversation with her grandmother (“popo”), the first time she learned about her grandmother’s life before coming to America, facilitated by music and shared listening.
    • “This is actually one of my favorite clips because this is the first time that I ever learned about my grandma's life before she became my grandma. And she talked about dancing in Hong Kong.” ([25:36], Rachelle Kwan)

8. How Community Builds the Archive

• Collections have grown through word-of-mouth—neighbors, friends, and strangers offer family records for preservation.
  • “As word spread, people from the neighborhood told their friends…and they'll DM me, they'll email me, they'll find me in Chinatown…‘Can you take it?’” ([11:31], Rachelle Kwan)
• The result: over 30 family collections, mostly New York’s Chinatown, but also San Francisco and Seattle.

9. Songs and Emotional Time Travel

• Throughout, both guests and listeners describe the uncanny feeling of a song instantly transporting them through time and memory.
  • “I feel like I've just jumped into this portal…didn’t realize how deeply embedded into my body the song was until I heard it again.” ([19:08], Rachelle Kwan)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Music’s Place in Family:
  • “Music is just such a central part of our life…maybe my dad imparted that to me and gave me that gift, and it’s very special.” ([09:36], Michael)
• On Discovery:
  • “I didn't know that you like Chinese music.” ([04:32], Rachelle Kwan, quoting her father)
• On the Archive’s Dual Meaning:
  • “Obviously we're dealing with vinyl records, but it's also a historical record of our families. It's also to record…these larger histories.” ([12:03], Rachelle Kwan)
• On Community and Connection:
  • “We can all start with our families. We can start with the music that we grew up with, the music that we love. And that's a way for us to start these conversations with people that maybe we never really had that bridge [with] before.” ([12:23], Rachelle Kwan)
• On Songs as Emotional Circuits:
  • “I feel like I've just jumped into this portal…to remember our loved ones.” ([19:17], Rachelle Kwan)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------| | 00:55 | Introduction and call for the Public Song Project | | 03:48 | Rachelle Kwan introduces Chinatown Records | | 06:42 | Discovering Anita Mui’s Madonna covers | | 07:54 | Chinese cover of “Proud Mary” | | 09:18 | Michael shares “Big Rock Candy Mountain” tradition | | 11:08 | Kwan explains how the archive grew | | 16:35 | “Sonic family histories” explained; mixtape clip | | 17:58 | Kristen’s memory of her brother and “Vigilante Man” | | 18:49 | Grace’s ICU music therapy memory | | 22:24 | Elaine’s “Stardust” story | | 25:36 | Audio: Conversation with Kwan’s “popo” (grandmother) | | 27:54 | How to connect with Chinatown Records / closing |

Community & Team Contributions

• Songs and memories shared by the All Of It team (e.g., El Malik Anderson’s story of “Happy Feelings” by Maze: “I thought they were saying Happy Phyllis, which is my mom’s name.” ([20:35], Kusha Navadar))
• Social shoutout: Paula Poundstone tweets about “Brand New Key” and the wish for musical time travel. ([21:55])
• Producer Simon Close’s intergenerational story of “Deep In My Heart,” recorded for the Public Song Project and linking back to his grandfather via family recollection ([26:57]).

For Listeners / How to Get Involved

• Contribute to the Public Song Project:
  Submit your own cover or adaptation of a public domain work before May 12.
  wnyc.org/publicsongproject
• Share Collections with Chinatown Records:
  Contact Rachelle Kwan via her website: rellehkwan.com
• Attend Chinatown Block Parties:
  Look for live DJ events with Chinatown Records in New York this summer.

Final Thoughts

This episode is a heartfelt exploration of how music acts as a vessel for memory, emotion, and personal history, especially when shared across generations and communities. Through candid storytelling and the open invitation to contribute personal songs, it invites listeners to consider their own sonic family histories and the ways they might be preserved for the future.