Traditional Asian American Music: Idea Sketch

The umbrella term “Asian American” as applied to music may attempt to unite all forms of music stemming from Asian Americans into one category, but traditional styles of music from many different regions have influenced what Asian American music is today. These different traditions over the years have crossed boundaries and come together, providing much influence in some techniques and instruments used in Asian American music as well as becoming popular activities like Taiko. These regional styles differ in many ways, and it proves important to ascertain a background knowledge of these forms in order to better understand modern Asian American musical influence.

KOREA

STYLES
-pansori- long vocal and percussive music played by one singer and one drummer
-pungmul- drumming, dancing, and singing
-sanjo- played without a set rhythm, shifting tempos.
INSTRUMENTS
-zither and geomungo (6 stringed zither)
-haegum (2 stringed fiddle)
-daegeum (flute)
-piri (oboe)
-jing (large hanging gong)
-buk (barrel drum)

JAPAN

STYLES
-oldest forms = shomyo (Buddhist chanting) and gagaku (orchestra court music)
-biwa hoshi- storytellers accompanied by lutes
-taiko
-Min’yo- lute and taiko. Umbrella term for “folk” including work songs, religion songs, children’s songs, and festive songs
-Okinawan folk- uses different instrumentation than mainland Min’yo folk, and uses scales other than pentatonic which is found in min’yo
INSTRUMENTS
-biwa- lute
-taiko
-shinobue (flute)
-sanshin- okanawa
-shamisen- used in mainland folk, unlike sanshin in Okanawa

INDIA

STYLES
-Bauls- mystic minstrels
-Bhangra- lively form of music and dance- festival of Sikhs
-Bhavageete- form of expressionist poetry and light music
-Dandiya- dance oriented folk
-Lavani- uses Dholak, song and dance

CHINA

STYLES
-Chinese opera
-Chinese folk
REGIONAL
-Tibet- important in Tibetan Buddhism
-Guangxi- southern China
-Yunnan- southwest China
INSTRUMENTS (link to other wiki pages)
-Woodwind/persussion- dizi, sheng, paigu, gong
-Strings- erhu, zhonghu, dahu, banhu
-Plucked strings- guquin, sanxian, ruan, etc