Wiki Brainstorm

Here's the list of the musical categories that we brainstormed in class:

Vaudeville
Rock/subgenres (Yapei)
Pop
Hip-hop
Jazz
R&B
Classical
Musical Theater
Spoken Word
Folk/Acoustic (Ashley)
Bollywood
Traditional (Sarah)
Religious
Soca (Nureya)
Reggae (Kelsey)
Bhangra

Let's figure out who wants to cover which musical category for the rest of the term.

Asian-American Rock Music

ASIAN AMERICANS IN ROCK MUSIC
From near the birth of rock music, Asians and Asian Americans have had their hands in creating extremely relevant and ground-breaking contemporary music. Many of these artists, through their unique styles and experimentation, have contributed with major progressions in different compositional technique, purpose, and even (in the case of Japanoise) general genre creation.


Earlier Rock
FANNY – Most likely the first all-female rock band to sign with a major label - fronted by two Asian Pacific American women (Filipinas Jean/June Millington).
JOHN & YOKO – released Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins in November 1968; John Lennon and Yoko Ono collaborated to form a very progressive audio art broadening tonality of music. Combining elements of futurism, Zen philosophy, and racial/gender equalities, the two thematicized the female body and symbolized the role of women in society through their avant-garde compositions highlighting Yoko's wailing vocals
YOKO ONO'S PLASTIC ONO BAND - Band formed by Yoko Ono which has only recently begun to be credited with having a major influence in the progression of rock music, particularly on musicians, grossly disproportionate to its sales and visibility (much like the Velvet Underground, cohorts of Andy Warhol).

1990s
BLONDE REDHEAD- comprises of Kazu Kakino, Maki Takahashi, Simone Pace and Amedeo Pace and is known for its dissonant and chaotic sound. Although Takahashi has left, the band continues to record and their sixth album is due out in early 2007.
BITCH MAGNET – Post-Hardcore band of late 80's early 90's led by singer Sooyoung Park
BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS - Led by Todd Park Mohr, of German, Korean, and Native American descent
CIBO MATTO – a New York City rock band fronted by two Asian American women- Cibo Matto (crazy food, in Italian) write their lyrics primarily on food
"EAR OF THE DRAGON" a compilation album of Asian American indie rock bands including Seam, Versus, Aminiature, Skankin' Pickle and J Church, is released in 1995, followed by the inevitable multi-band tour
HARVEY DANGER - rock/alternative band from the late 90's which rose to fame in 1998 with “Flagpole Sitta” - includes multi-instrumentalist Jeff Lin
METALLICA- Kirk Lee Hammet (lead guitarist) of Filipino, Chinese and Irish descent
MOIST - David Usher (Thai/Jewish) was the lead singer of Moist.
NO DOUBT – ska band which hit rock superstardom in 1995 with its release "Tragic Kingdom." One of their first hit singles, "Don’t Speak," is about the end of the romantic relationship between lead singer Gwen Stefani and Indian American bassist Tony Kanal.
SEAM – indie rock band active 1991-1999, and led by guitarist/vocalist Sooyoung Park (of Bitch Magnet)
STATIC-X – Los Angeles industrial metal band- Japanese guitarist Koichi Fukuda was one of the founding members.
(also, see Japanoise *link)

2000s
Bow Wow Wow's- ANNABELLA LWIN OF "BOW WOW WOW - their music ranges from simple, goofy, non- sensical tunes to complex, crisp pop masterpieces. Their music has been described as a pastiche of Latin and African beats, 50's rock-n-roll, and spaghetti western soundtracks placed together with an incredible sense of humor and vigor.
CAROL BUI – Asian American hard rock guitarist from Washington DC with influences ranging from Madonna, to Fuzagi and the Beatles
DEFTONES - Chino Moreno (vocals), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Chi Chang (bass) and Abe Cunningham (drums) combines elements of punk, pop, hip-hop and traditional metal. The new album, the Deftones' sixth (including a 2005 rarities collection), presents another dynamic collision of atmosphere and metal guitar as singer Chino Moreno soars and tumbles through the ether, fueled by wonder and alienation. It is a sound both agonized and wistful, the kind of contemplative shoe-gazing rock that occurs when you're doubled over in agony.
DIALATED PEOPLES - The group DJ, Babu, is of Filipino descent and is a member of the DJ crew Beat Junkies.
ENDA – four-piece alternative rock band including Valerie Moorhead and Jennifer Yee, two Asian-American singer songwriters
HOOBASTANK - Led by Doug Robb (half Japanese/half White)
LINKIN PARK - Mike Shinoda (lead vocals / m.c.) & DJ Joseph Hahn (DJ, sampling, BG vocals) are part of this successful and popular group.
P.O.D. ("Payable Upon Death") - Asian Pacific Islander American (Guam) cousins Sonny Sandoval (vocals) and "Wuv" Bernando (drums) lead this group
Sum 41 - The band includes Dave "Brownsound" Baksh, who is of South Asian descent, and broke onto the charts in 2001 with their album “All Killer No Filler”
SUSIE SUH - upcoming artist on a major American label
TRUST CO. - Alabama-based band features guitarist James Fukai
UNWRITTEN LAW - band's eclectic blend of punk and ska features Pat Kim on bass. Their 2005 CD is titled "Here's to the Mourning."
YELLOW CARD - Ventura-based punk quintet is led by Sean Mackin - a "Hapa"
THE YEAH YEAH YEAHS - Lead singer Karen O is of Polish and Korean parentage, and was born in South. She is known for her livid stage antics and quirky sense of style.
RACHAEL YAMAGATA – upcoming American born/educated singer/songwriter of the new decade
(also, see Japanoise *link)


Capturing the attention of not only college radio, but critics and American musicians alike, a wave of artists originating from Asia have had a profound impact and definite success operating in multiple sub-genre's in American rock music. Although the influence of these Asian musicians has no genre-bounds, one of the most prominent of these movements within the rock genre is the surge of noise bands many have come to refer to largely as 'Japanoise' These groups include:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE - Japanese psychedelic band
AFRIRAMPO - Noise rock band from Osaka, Japan
BORIS - Japanese psychedelic/drone metal band
THE BOREDOMS – Japanese noise rock band
CUI JIAN - "Father of Chinese Rock Music combines traditional Chinese instruments and melodic sensitivities with Western rock.
DO AS INFINITY - Japan's popular hard rock band
EVERY LITTLE THING - pop rock group from Japan featuring Kaon Mochida (vocals) and Ichiro Ito (guitar)
MAD CAPSULE MARKETS - hard rock band from Japan
MELT BANANA - experimental noise band from Japan
N.E.X.T. - Korean metal, industrial, rock & techno punk band
RUINS- Experimental Japanese rock duo
ANOUSHKA SHANKAR - tours and performs classical Indian music with her father Ravi Shankar




Other resources on Asian- Americans in Rock music:
Cho, Jim (1998 March). James Iha takes a bow. Asian American Magazine, http://www.starla.org/articles/aam.htm, Retrieved April 20, 2009 Interview with James Iha, guitarist of the Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle

http://www.allaboutasians.com/asian-music5.html . “Asian American Pop/Rock at AllAboutAsians.com” Retrieved March 25, 2009 – An extensive list of websites focusing on Asian music and bands (underground and more mainstream)

Kim, Pil Ho. "Little Chang, Big City: Asian Diaspora in American Independent Rock" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal Convention Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Aug 10, 2006 Retrieved April 20, 2009

Moorhead, Valerie Are Asian-dominated bands just another gimmick?. Re-orienting Rock, Retrieved March 25, 2009, from http://www.explode.com/media/asianrock.shtml – an informative article discussing racial aspects in rock and media. An excerpt: "Due to their lack of presence in mainstream American rock, Asian American-led bands may automatically be viewed as a kind of marketing gimmick, which coincides with the recent influx of Asians in the media the last several years. However, Asian Americans have had long-standing, solid ties"

Wikipedia Assignment 3: Sketching a Draft

Great work, everyone! Make sure that you take the time to read everyone's post and comment on them.

Here's the list of the guiding questions that will help you formulate the next draft. Some of these questions may be more relevant than others for you.

1. What stands out the most in your research? Is it history? Number of figures? Important figures? Dates? Representational styles? Communities? Scholarly literature? Connections to historical/social events?
   
2. Which scholars/writers have written on your subject? What do they say about it?
   
3. What is the significance of this genre in Asian America?
4. How are you defining "Asian American" in your research?
5. What strategies are these musicians (or the music industry) using to represent themselves?
6. Is everything empirical and factually supported?
7. Is there anything that would fall into another section?
8. Is there anything that would fall into the introductory section?

Next Wikipedia Assignment Due: April 14, 2009. Plan ahead!

Asian Americans in R&B

Asian Americans in R&B

There are two types of Asian American artists in the R&B genre: the Asian American artists who choose to control their image and ethnicity in attempts to appeal to a broader audience to achieving mainstream success AND the Asian American R&B artists who openly discuss ethnicity and identity through their music.

(1) Asian American R&B Artists who control their Asian identity

Popular artists such as Cassie, and Amerie are more well known it seem as a result of their efforts to downplay their racial differences and appeal to a larger mainstream audience.

Similar to that of Hip Hop, many R&B artists of Asian decent have found that “listeners hear them differently on whether they’re already known to be Asian American.” (Wong 252) In this way, the R&B artists who are Asian American try to control listener’s initial perception to their sound in an attempt to achieve mainstream success. These artists acknowledge that it is harder to receive the claim that her other counterparts (black and some white) do if they incorporate their ethnicity into their music. Hip hop group The Mountain Brothers, relate similarly with R&B artists looking for mainstream success in stating that

We avoid initially making explicit references to ethnicity so that we can be given a fair unbiased listen based on the merits of our music, lyrics and style, as opposed to avoiding making explicit references to ethnicity so that we can pass for Black. (Wong 252)

Like the Mountain Brothers in Hip Hop, Asian American artists trying to get into or already in the mainstream, fail to comment on their Asian ethnicity and heritage in the hopes of appealing to a bigger audience to achieve mainstream popularity and success.

Mainstream artists like Cassie, who’s father is Filipino and mother is Caribbean, Mexican and Native American, does not make any explicit references to her father’s Asian heritage or its influence on her music and identity. Her big hit “Me & U,” released in 2006, sold over 1 million digital downloads and was a dance club success (Cohen). “Me & U” does not make any references to Asian culture and could be sung by a number of R&B artists of various ethnic backgrounds as the song pertains to a typical heterosexual relationship situation experienced by all ethnicity.

Other R&B artists such as Amerie, create similar music in which discussion of their ethnicity is limited and songs with themes of love, hate and relationships in which any two people could be place into the situation are sang about more often.

Amerie who’s father is African American and mother is Korean has allowed her the ability to move between identities, sometimes embracing her Asian heritage singing in Korean and other times embracing her African American heritage appealing to urban radio airwaves and competing with non-Asian artists such as Ashanti and Tweet.

Interesting, many of the best known and most popular Asian American musical artists tend to be multiracial Asians ('hapas')… Successful multiracial Asian solo artists include Norah Jones (Asian Indian and White), Michelle Branch (Indonesian and Irish), and Amerie (Korean and African American). Many believe that record executives feel multiracial Asian American artists are more "culturally acceptable" or "marketable" to American consumers and therefore are more eager to promote them than monoracial Asian American artists. (Writers, Artists, Entertainers: Asian Nation)

The generalization of her songs topics is common among R&B artists. In singing about common love issues, Amerie is able to appeal to a greater audience and achieve success. BUT she also keen to incorporate some Asian features into her music, whether is being the Korean language or symbolism in her music videos. Interestingly enough, these Asian images are used to displaying attractive exoticism that is intriguing to mass culture.

Both of these artists are of Asian decent and another ethnicity. Being mixed allows these artists to highlight one identity over another when they feel necessary. More often, it is the African American identity that is highlighted as R&B is typically seen as originating from African American culture.

RELATED MEDIA:
Cassie “Me & U” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EJZtQjiYA
Amerie “One Thing” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa1qaAcJG70
Amerie “Touch” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs0tub17v3E&feature=PlayList&p=6D45D545ACE74C23&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=17


(2) Asian American R&B artists who incorporate their Asian identities into their Music

These artists and bands are typically less well-known because their musical aesthetics and politics are applicable to a smaller audience, usually Asian Americans or smaller niche audiences.

Artists:
-ROSE ANN DIMALANTA - Vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Ann_Dimalanta

-KEVIN SO
"I'm not accepted by the Black culture because I'm Asian, and I'm not accepted by Asian people because I'm not 'Asian'. Let's face it, who is the racist here?" says Kevin So. "Asian American artists have to create a thing, [where] artists have to band together and work together to create a show worth seeing. The people who are complaining about it - they got to come out and support people. If you want to see change and you're too busy to do the change yourself, then you've got to do at least something."
“Rhythem” Christine Chen
http://www.hkvpradio.com/rhythm/music/features/20040517.php
Kevin So and Midnight Snack “A Brighter Day”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiCc4fzRJlk


-JENI FUJITA - Japanese "Teena Marie" who worked w/Wyclef Jean
“She stole the show by singing Japanese lyrics over a seductive reggae beat. Wyclef, Lauryn Hill and the recently pardoned John Forte were also fans of her distinctive voice, and they all tapped her to sing background vocals on their albums.”
Entertainment Weekly (http://margeauxs-mix.ew.com/2009/01/jeni-fujita-ind.html)

-GERRY WOO - was signed with Polydor in 1988, issued one LP Listen To My Heart, sang on one track on the UCLA Gospel Choir's CD and reappeared as Harlemm Lee who won on Debbie Allen's TV Show on NBC.
“Rebirth of Gerry Woo” AARising used to have an article but it got taken off the internet

-IBU – “IBU has been called Chicago's hottest male vocal group by WGN Channel 9 and was introduced as "Asians with Soul" by Chicago's power 92.3FM, IBU is different from the most pop/R&B groups. This three member group delivers such rich harmonic sound that makes them different from the other boy bands. IBU can perform a cappella, they sing with acoustic guitar accompaniment, they perform with instrumental tracks, have choreographed numbers, and they break dance on stage too. It’s the complete package that makes IBU a truly entertaining group.”
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=83063


I’m sure there are more…if anyone found anything let me know!!
Mia



Sources and Websites:

Cohen, Johnathan. “Diddy: Cassie CD Will Catch People ‘Off Guard.’” Billboard.Com. April 7th 2008. NY. Date accessed: 3/15/09 < http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003786642 >

Le, C.N. 2009. "Writers, Artists, & Entertainers." Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. (March 16, 2009).

Wong, Deborah. “Speak it Louder”

Afro Asia By Fred Wei-han Ho, Bill Mullen pg 306

http://www.allaboutasians.com/asian-music3.html

The Wiki project: division of labor

This is the outline that we, as a class, decided to have for our wikipedia text on "Asian American music."

1. definition paragraph
2. historical musical practices and representations of Asians in the U.S.
3. genre-based narrative including:

• jazz (Richard)
• rock (Chris)
• classical (Huong)
• pop (Kelly)
• R&B (Mia)
• rap/hip-hop (Jahmeilia)
• traditional (Steve)
• religious (Jalisa)
• musical theater (Cera)
• spoken word (Maynard)
• experimental (Wendy)
  

The first wiki version is due March 10, Tuesday after spring break.

Let's start researching and google-searching on these topics. We should also look ahead on the syllabus to read any scholarly writing on any of these topics.

The Wiki Assignment

Wikipedia search: Read and examine the following terms in Wikipedia.

• "African American music"
  
• "Latin American music"
• "Asian Americans"
• "Asian American history"
• "hyphenated American"

Questions to consider:

• How is the information organized?
• What's in the introduction of the wiki?
• What are the headings?
• Is there any media?
• How is this wiki page related to other relevant wiki pages?
• Are there any information 'gaps' on any of these wiki pages?
• Are these pages kept up-to-date?