Intergenerational Love
Today, I found an interesting e-mail in my inbox. Well, actually, it was in our myspace.com inbox. I’ve copied it here for you to read:
I too am interested in Asian Musicians making it to the mainstream…so you can go to a CD store and see a spot for us…like they do for Soul Music…Country…Hip Hop….but when I last went in and asked for Asian American Music…they said..no one has ever asked for it and had never heard of Kevin So…Eugene Song…Julian Yeo……even my fellow Asians did not know we Asians have a lot of talented Singers and Musicians…Keep up the good work…I am not a young person…probably old enough to be your grandmother…but still it amazes me that our struggle is still there in this day and age….I buy their CD’s and play their music in my office…
There is so much that I want to say here. First, getting a message of support from a person “old enough to be my grandmother” is uplifting and inspirational. I feel like we’re doing a good thing here, but getting that kind of reinforcement feels good. Previous generations have struggled before us and have helped Asian Americans get to where we are now. But, as my new friend says, the struggle is not over.
Is it surprising that Asian Americans do not know of the talented Asian American singers and musicians in this country? I don’t think so. Why? Well, Asian Americans are rarely featured on Top 40 radio stations. Or we’re stereotyped into being amazing classical pianists or violinists, not amazing guitarists. Why are more Asian Americans more likely to name bands and singers from China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, India than they are to name musicians who have shared their experiences, their struggles, musicians from New Jersey, California, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, etc.? You know, just one year ago, I think that I was one of those Asian Americans who couldn’t name a single AA musician.
Getting this kind of e-mail makes me think about why this blog and radio station got started. Initially, I wanted the radio station for selfish reasons. I wanted to be able to tune into a station and find awesome Asian American music. With the help of friends, we just did it. That’s it. Today, maybe BPR has a larger purpose. Maybe we’re here to spread the word about Asian American music to communities across this country. Maybe we’re here to make connections to Asian Americans who came before us… And to those who will come after us.
So why do you all want to listen to Asian American music? Why are you here? And how did you find us?
Last 5 posts by eugene
- East Meets Words Open Mic featuring BROWNSTAR - July 3rd, 2009
- In Memory of Professor Ronald Takaki - May 28th, 2009
- Open Orchestra-ing With Us and With You - April 8th, 2009
- Stage Presence: Conversations on Filipino American Performing Artists - March 31st, 2009
- East Meets Words Featuring Kevin So - March 25th, 2009
God, I hope that when I’m old enough to be someone’s grandma that I’m still that active and in touch with what’s important.
I do just want to throw out there that “Asian American music” is still some mysterious category to me. I mean, there are folks out there that have achieved mainstream success (as seen in Giles’ post about mainstream artists that we forget are Asian American). Are these folks not in the category of Asian American because a lot o them are happa? Or is it just that we’re rooting for the underdogs? Or is there something different between the success of say apl.de.ap and Native Guns?
Just my 2 cents.
yeah tough to categorize. bc while i have a special place in my heart for API artists – especially those i know – i also bump music from non-API artists often – especially locals like the Foundation Movement, Perceptionists, so on.
Also, as much as I support my people – some folks are straight up just dicks. i met ______, and s/he was a total asshole. of course, i won’t put it out there like that, and in public will continue to support his/her work – but as a person, I don’t care if i never see him/her again.
[...] Sunday, July 1st, 2007 in Pat Miller, APA, Music by tokenminorities Eugene of Boston Progress Radio put up a neat post called “Intergenerational Love” (it’s not what it sounds like!). Read it here. [...]