Asian Americans have a documented history of making music inAmerica beginning in the middle of the 19th and early 20th century,[1] alongsideother arts and entertainment. As withAsian American literature,[2] much ofAsian American history including in music, is in the process of being recovered.[3] Despite the rise in the popularity of artists fromAsia (perhaps especially but not limited toK-pop)[4] and the recent widespread success ofUnited Kingdom artists such asRina Sawayama[5] andM.I.A.[6] andAustralian artists such asDami Im,[7] Asian Americans continue to face difficulties overcomingsystemic racism[8] to gain popularity in America. Although progress has been slow, modern artists are continuing to break new ground within the music industry.[9]
During the era of theChinese Exclusion Act, people of Chinese heritage were barred from holding American citizenship status. For example, despite being a third-generation American born in the United States, actressAnna May Wong held a special "Certificate of Identity" issued by the US government and signed by an immigration officer describing her as a "Chinese person".[10] This time period saw much ghettoization and segregation. Immigrants from China during this time period came from the coastal regions (especiallyTaishan) of theGuangdong province, bringing with them a love of a form of narrative song tradition from Taishan calledmuyu (also known asmuk'yu) and several styles ofChinese opera.[1][11]Muyu covered a wide range of topics, such as histories and myths, and in America, also included songs about the experiences of Chinese Americans of this time period. Bruce Lee's father,Lee Hoi-Chuen, was a member of a touring group, the Cantonese Opera Company, who first came to America to perform opera music.San Francisco boasted of no less than four venues for Cantonese opera between the late 1870s and 1880s. Famous composers outside the community such asCharles Wakefield Cadman andSamuel Barlow based several compositions on themes present in this music.
While incarcerated during theJapanese American Internment at theHeart Mountain Relocation Center Joy Takeshita Teraoka[12] was among severalJapanese Americans who joined thejazz band the George Igawa Orchestra[13] that performed acrossWyoming. This was part of several musical projects formed at the camps and was the subject of a documentary "For Joy" by Julian Saporiti of the No-No Boy Project.[12][14]
TheAsian American movement was born out of thecivil rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s. From this movement the albumA Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America, first recorded in 1973 and released byParedon Records, was created and is the first widely recognized Asian American album.[15] The brainchild of Chris Kando Iijima, Nobuko JoAnne Miyamoto, and William “Charlie” Chin, chosen topics on the album ranged from those within the Asian American community to those in support of other civil rights organizations and causes.
Alongside many other non-Asian countries withnationals of Asian heritage,[8] the United States music industry'sinstitutional racism[16][17] and racial harassment from spectators continue to include members of the Asian American community. This barrier spans genres from classical,[18] to country,[19] to heavy metal.[20] Only recently has there been more widespreadrecognition in hip hop. As noted by musicians in the classical circuit, sometimes apparent representation can conceal persistent stereotypes such as within the classical genre around the artist's ability to give a "non-mechanical" performance or to be "Western" enough.[18] A part of the picture also includes an element of appearances. Artists who appear less Asian and yet have Asian heritage will often be accepted more readily than those who appear more Asian. As stated by the artist Z.Woods in an interview with Bustle, "The reason why artists likeBruno Mars, Yuna, and Nicole [Schezinger] become so successful is due to the fact that [people] can't tell that they are Asian...They have the luxury of looking ambiguous".[21]
While an outgrowth ofanti-Asian racism as a whole[22][23] (and inclusive of problems stemming fromAsian stereotypes and exotification),[24] the rise in popularity of K-pop and other music from Asia has not directly translated into greater success for Asian American artists.[25] Knowing how to market artists has been one of many challenges that the industry faces.[21] It is also not unheard of for theintersectionality of racialized classification and nationality to help or harm a particular group. For example, inFrance, African Americans will oftentimes experience less racism compared to African immigrants to France.[26] Asian Americans have also had a difficult time breaking into the local market without first gaining fame in Asia. This trend has led some artists, such asFar East Movement to give the advice, "Go out to Asia. You are welcomed there. Get that following, and bring those global numbers back here.".[27] An early example of this trend was the bandSolid, andTiger JK has been noted as one of the more pinnacle examples.[28] This isn't entirely unprecedented in the American music industry as a whole. Stars likeTina Turner had more support in Europe than at home in the United States, despite theAfrican American roots of genres likerock 'n roll, the mainstream industry had racialized it as 'white' music, making her "too white for Black [radio] jockeys and too Black for white jockeys" in the United States.[29]
Additional issues in music criticism such as the tug-of-war politics of the recognition of the value of Asian heritage and traditions in the American landscape,[30] as well as the perceived capability of Asians to enjoy[19] and perform "Western" styles[18] leading to external views of being not Asian enough or too "Western" have added an additional layer of difficulty for artists trying to break into the industry.[8]
This combined with the aforementioned finding of fame abroad for some Asian Americans has led some scholars to prefer the wider definition of 'Asian Americans making music' when studying the contributions of Asian American music artists[31] to avoid a myopic view and removing the breadth of Asian American musical production.
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