Asian American Pop

Asian American Pop

 

Asian American (AA) pop is the genre of mainstream musicians that are (in whole or in part) Asian American (America referring only to the US and not other countries in North or South America).  Although the definition of “pop” music constantly changes, the presence of Asian Americans has persisted, albeit in a backseat [1].  Some question the visibility of Asian American pop stars, such as New York Times columnist Mireya Navarro [2].  Others provide explanations to help clarify the dearth of AA musicians, including Andy Goldmark, former vice president of talent at Jive Records who stated, “Asian-Americans have tended to follow what’s going in the pop world rather than use the Asian-American path to invent new things” [3] and Oliver Wang, professor and music journalist at California State University, “Asian-American artists face other challenges. Making up only 4 percent of the country’s population, they are too small a market, and too fragmented in language and nationalities, to offer a solid springboard for its aspiring stars the way other ethnic groups have done” [4]. 

 

Early notable AA pop musicians include James Shigeta, a Japanese American singer who had a career in Las Vegas nightclubs [5].  Pat Suzuki, another Japanese American singer, was scouted by Bing Crosby and later appeared on popular TV shows such as The Frank Sinatra Show [6].  She also appeared on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. Other Japanese Americans include the well-known Yoko Ono, whose art and music career began before she met John Lennon.  Although a list of Japanese American musicians already exists on Wikipedia, here is a list of the more “pop” AA artists:  Marié Digby (Japanese-Irish American), Lisa Furukawa (alternative pop), Kina Grannis (Japanese-English-French-Welsh-Irish-American), Miki Ishikawa (part of teen pop band T-Squad), Jhene (African-American-Japanese-Native-American), Sean Lennon (son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono), Mallory Low (Chinese-Japanese-Hawaiian-Filipino member of girl band Party Slumber Girls), Olivia and Caroline Lufkin (Okinawan-American), Nikki, Miyoshi Umeki (in Flower Drum Song as Mei Li but also active as a singer off-Broadway), Hikara Utada, and Rachael Yamagata (Japanese-Italian-German).

 

Korean American pop stars include Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Susie Suh. 

 

Chinese American pop stars consist of Don Ho (Chinese-Hawaiian-Portuguese-Dutch-German descent), his daughter Hoku, Vanessa Hudgens (Filipino-Spanish-Chinese-Irish-Native-American descent), William Hung, Kelis (although R&B, her music still crossed over to the mainstream, she is African-American-Chinese-Puerto-Rican), Coco Lee (contributed to the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon soundtrack and was the first Chinese person to perform at the Oscars [7]), Vienna Teng, KT Tunstall (Chinese-Scottish-Irish and Scottish born), Lee-Hom Wang, and Vanness Wu. 

 

Filipino American pop musicians include successful record producer Chad Hugo of the Neptunes and Nicole Scherzinger (a mix of Filipino, Hawaiian, and Russian) of the Pussycat Dolls.  The Black Eyed Peas also has a Filipino MC, Apl.de.ap (usually referred to as Apl) who has incorporated Tagalog into some of his work, such as the song “Apl” and “Bebot.”  According to Rachel Devitt, using Tagalog in mainstream music serves as a political and social commentary on US-Filipino (post)colonial relations and the diasporia now living in the US: “‘The APL Song,’ ‘Bebot,’ and their videos lay claim to the hip hop diaspora, employing its transnational language to interpolate the annals of hegemony with the experiences that have systematically slipped into its cracks. At the same time, the songs and their videos tap into rich Filipino lineages of (post)colonial artistic and cultural resistance. Interweaving history and historiography, swirling story around story, ‘The APL Song’ and ‘Bebot’ draw multiple lexicons together into a performative vernacular that speaks to just what ‘contentless’ mainstream pop music is capable of” [8].  Other Filipino American pop musicians include Cassie (African-American-Filipino-West-Indian-Mexican), Jocelyn Enriquez (Dance-pop), Hoku and Vanessa Hudgens who are both part Filipino, Enrique Iglesias (Spanish-Filipino), Jennie Kwan (a member of Nobody’s Angel), Mallory Law (mentioned previously), June Millington (part of the band Fanny that signed with Warner Brothers Reprise Records in 1969, the second all girl rock band to be signed to a major record label [9]), Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, and Maile Misajon (member of Eden’s Crush).

 

Other famous pop AA musicians are Michelle Branch, a mix of Irish and Dutch Indonesian.  Norah Jones, the daughter of Ravi Shankar, is a blend of Anglo-American and Bengali-Indian descent [10].  Tony Kanal, bassist for American band No Doubt, is of Indian heritage (and originally from England).  Another American mainstream band from England with Asian American members is Bloc Party, with member Matt Tong on drums and backing vocals.

 

Finally, other famous Asian American musicians who have found some mainstream attention (ranging from moderate to high amounts) include Daphne Loves Derby (vocals of Kenny Choi, Korean American), James Iha (Japanese) of The Smashing Pumpkins (who now is also part of A Perfect Circle), Mike Shinoda (Japanese-European-Native-American) of Linkin Park, Doug Robb (Japanese-Scottish) of Hoobastank, Matt Wong the former bass and backing vocals for Reel Big Fish, Sean Paul (Chinese-Jamican-African-Icelandic-Portuguese), Hiro Yamamato the bassist of Soundgarden, and Teppei Teranishi the lead guitarist and keyboardist of Thrice.

 

All of the above has focused on specific Asian American musicians.  There exists, however, Asian American music genres, such as the emergence of remix music from the desi youth culture in New York City, or bhangra music.  Although bhangra is only indigenous to the Punjab, it serves nonetheless as a language for the second generation of South East Asians.  Most famous in this scene is DJ Rekha, a female musician who is attributed for “almost single-handedly spearhead[ing] New York's bhangra scene, Rekha is regarded as a pioneer in the South Asian music community” [11].

 

 

 

Citations:

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/fashion/04asians.html?scp=3&sq=asian%20american%20pop%20star&st=cse

[2]  Ibid.

[3]  Ibid.

[4]  Ibid.

[5]  http://www.goldsea.com/Personalities2/Shigetaj/shigetaj.html

[6]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Suzuki

[7]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Lee

[8]  Rachel Devitt “Lost in Translation: Filipino Diaspora(s), Postcolonial Hip Hop, and the Problems of Keeping It Real for the ‘Contentless’ Black Eyed Peas”  Project Muse University of Washington http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/asian_music/v039/39.1devitt.pdf

[9]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Millington

[10]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norah_Jones

[11]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Rekha

 

External Links:

[1]  DJ Rekha CNN Interview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Rekha

[2]  Link to a list of Asian American musicians (not an exhaustive list, but extensive): http://aarising.com/aalink/musart.php