When Strategy Meets Song: Our Music & Mahjong Night
The day began with ominous signs of bad weather. Despite the forecast, the weather turned cold and blustery, with snowfall and wind battering the area—fitting for a Friday the 13th in March. As we set up, there was a group of folks with heavy coats, sheltering from the rain, shuffling wet shoes across the floors. Some arrived with rolling shopping carts from their daily errands, while others were relieved to return home after the workday, looking forward to beginning their weekend. I was loading a few chairs from a closet, while Ryan connected the speakers and turntables.
What did we have? Table games and a musical set of contemporary Canto, Taiwanese, and Mandopop. For me, bringing our crates and setting up is partly numbing physical work and partly tedious troubleshooting; with such an ominous start, I had hoped for good fortune to bring all of the necessary little tools and connectors. When it all started, that was the moment I remembered I could start to relax. Finding time to sit down for a moment meant playing with a few Chinese-speaking folks. Mahjong is a tile game played across Southeast Asia, but I am familiar with the style I was taught by my parents and my family—which is similar but not the same game we played tonight. I studied the tiles in front of me, and even though it’s a casual game, there was a competitive atmosphere at the table.
DJ Daps1 played a mix of retro and contemporary music from the 70s up through the 2000s. A song by Faye Wong filled the air with nostalgia. There were songs of lonesomeness and heart-tugging; others were more upbeat and playful, from artists like Teresa Teng and beyond. The sound of the music was calming and smooth, only broken intermittently by the crashing of the tiles as they were washed or shuffled in between rounds. Nearby, the songs gave way to laughter, to the clapping of hands. Another table was circled around a deck of playing cards, taking turns sharing stories from their week. There was the thwack of tiles as they were washed between the sets, the soft thump of needle drop on vinyl that taunted and celebrated the passing of others’ turns and the taking of cards for your sets.
As an English speaker, it didn’t help that I couldn’t understand my table-mates. Jade was hosting and happy to discuss the nuances of the Chinese playstyle. Going across cultures, though, we knew how to make plays, how to steal turns, and how to share our mutual rivalry and respect. Not my lucky day, but I am happy to share the space, the environment, and the music with voices from the homeland, and with the residents in their building here. I didn’t take home any victories, but I did claim a few red-bean baked treats and mandarin oranges.
We want to thank SCIDpda and Jade Yan for coordinating our event and refreshments. SCIDpda (Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the heritage and promoting the vitality of Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. We also want to thank 4Culture and King County with grant support to help make this a successful event with music. 4Culture is King County’s cultural funding agency, dedicated to advancing equity and access in arts, heritage, historic preservation, and public art.
Would you join us for another music & mahjong night, or should we try something new? What kind of cultural experiences would you like to see from us? Where are you based, and how can we bring events closer to you? What are you listening to, and can we hear something from you? Send us a message and let’s connect.