"Zhang's forensic account of the Korean popular music industry during the first half of the twentieth century has long been a standard go-to text for Korean writers. Now made accessible for all in translation, it brilliantly dissects issues surrounding genre, origin, and influence, usefully provides lyrics of important songs, and convincingly argues for a continuum running from the past to today's all-conquering K-Pop." - Keith Howard, professor emeritus of music, SOAS University of London "An instant classic when originally published two decades ago, Brother is a Street Musician stands as a highly important and indeed pivotal record of Korean musicology. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in Korean modernity, the rise of celebrity culture and fandom, and the transnational nature of the music industry in its formative years." - Roald Maliangkay, author of Broken Voices: Postcolonial Entanglements and the Preservation of Korea's Central Folksong "In a touchstone study that charts the birth of modern Korean popular music, Zhang provides a virtuoso performance that analyzes a range of colonial-era musical genres, revealing through an eclectic range of sources how trot , jazz , and sinminyo songs transcended entertainment to become vital, resonant comforts for a people navigating the complexities and contradictions of colonial modernity." - Hyung-Gu Lynn, AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research, University of British Columbia.