A Chat Interview with Dawn Xiana Moon
To date, most of our interviews have been recorded interviews for distribution via our podcast. We’re going to try posting some chat interviews as well. First up, is an interview by a guest contributor, Nate Bae Kupel. Nate Bae Kupel works at the Institute for Asian American Studies at UMass Boston, and WUMB Public Radio Network. He also runs a resource blog for transracial adoptees. For more information, visit his blog at http://www.kadnexus.wordpress.com.
Nate was able to catch Dawn Xiana Moon online for a chat interview recently. We’ve been playing a few of her tracks on the radio for a couple of weeks now. We hope you enjoy the interview.
NBK: Hi Dawn. How did you first get into music?
DXM: I first started playing the piano when I was five–I started taking lessons at the Yamaha studio in Singapore. When I was in fifth grade, I picked up the flute (though I nearly ended up on trumpet), and in college I started playing the guitar–that’s when I started writing songs.
NBK: Your bio says that you picked up classical piano at about the same time your family moved to the U.S. Did you continue lessons in the states after the move?
DXM: I did. For a few months in Singapore I took group lessons at the studio, and when I moved to the US, I studied privately with a couple of different teachers. The one I studied with for years started out as my elementary school music teacher. I’m not actually sure how I ended up taking lessons from her, but I took first piano and then added voice. There was a point in my life where I was taking piano, voice, and flute lessons every week–and not practicing enough, which drove my mom nuts.
NBK: It seems as though you went through different musical periods in your life. The first in high school with lessons, and then later in college where you began composing and playing the guitar. What do you think really brought about such a shift for you when you got to college? I mean, as a musician myself, I totally identify with this sort of thing.
DXM: It was actually a very natural progression. I’d always wanted to write songs, but I didn’t have the musical tools to do so until I started playing the guitar–even though I’d played piano for years, classical training doesn’t encourage improvisation, so it took playing an instrument without formal study in order to allow myself to break free in that regard.
When I started playing the guitar I was confused that most people were just reading from chords instead of actual music with notes and defined strumming patterns–you were expected to just do what fit, or listen to the original song and imitate that. It took another year or two after that before I was able to improvise and write music on the piano.
NBK: Your first debut was an EP entitled “First Verse,” which was almost entirely produced and mixed by you. Even some of the artwork was even by you. Can you talk about your vision behind ‘First Verse’ and the creative process that went into writing it?
DXM: The songs had been sitting around for a while–I’m actually rather slow in recording them in general. Actually, I would have recorded much more than I did, but studio time is expensive.
I have some background in most areas of the arts, so when it came to the artwork for the CD I decided to do things myself instead of hiring a graphic designer–it was cheaper. So I taught myself how to use Photoshop and added some of my photos to the album design. A similar process occurred with my website, which I also designed myself. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and in this case it proved true–people liked my work so much that I’ve done graphic and web design projects for others as well.
I’m currently starting to work on a full-length album, and the sound will be different–I’ve spent some time studying traditional Chinese music and jazz, and you’ll start to see influence from those areas in the new work. I’ve certainly grown a lot as a musician and writer since First Verse.
NBK: You have a number of themes that you touch on in your work. And in ‘Emigration’ it seems that you incorporate themes of identity. Are there particular themes, or feelings you hope to convey through your music?
DXM: Hope is a recurring theme in my work, as is the struggle to break down the barriers that we hide behind. We share so much commonality, but we’re scared to be vulnerable, to face our insecurities and realize that in the end, we have the same hopes and dreams and fears.
“Emigration” started out as the prologue to a novel that I never finished–I borrowed a lot from my family’s experiences in moving countries, though the song uses more violent language in terms of leaving a culture than was the case in reality–that grew around the line, “He stole her from the land of free papayas.”
NBK: I have to say that I really enjoy your choreography. You have a number of guest appearances in a few of your songs, with a variety of instruments. What was the process like collaborating on many of these songs with guest artists?
DXM: I love working with other musicians! I never intended to be a solo artist–it just happened. Right now I’m in the process of putting together what’s essentially a jazz piano trio in terms of instrumentation, with the addition of a Chinese instrument or two.
For First Verse I was lucky–I studied at the University of Michigan, and had a number of friends in the music school who were excited to play together.
NBK: I really like your use of dynamics and texture in your music. Like for instance, ‘A Song for Dreamers’ is such a great piece, and there’s so much depth.
DXM: That song was a rarity–I finished it in about a half hour one night.
NBK: wow.
DXM: Usually they take much longer than that to write.
NBK: I’m just curious what you think about the current state of the music industry for Asian American musicians. There are certainly many Asian American musicians out there, and not enough are getting the attention they deserve.
I remember seeing an article in the New York Times talking about Asian American musicians and the barriers they face in the music industry. Paul Kim from American Idol was discussing how he basically was told he couldn’t get a record deal because he was Asian.
How has it been for you?
DXM: I’m slowly seeing more Asian Americans in music–I think for us as a group, it’s more difficult to get into the music industry because of a lack of a niche audience (like the Latinos have reggaeton, rock en espangol, etc. or like African Americans have with hip hop and R&B) and cultural expectations–we’re supposed to be working as lawyers, doctors, or engineers, not musicians. I see a lot of APAs in classical music, where it’s more culturally accepted. But it’s also true that APAs don’t have a specific genre of music that we can rally around the way that other ethnic groups do–which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does beg the question of who our audience is.
I spent a long time trying to figure out where I fit in the music landscape in terms of marketing–and I think as Asians we do have an advantage in some ways, because there are a million white singer-songwriters out there, but only a couple of Asians. It’s potentially a good thing if we figure out how to harness this uniqueness.
NBK: And I also think it complicates things for Asian Americans since we don’t share a common language like many Latinos do. Speaking of genres, is there a specific genre that you identity with in your work? And I suppose that leads into my next question about your musical influences…
DXM: I’d put myself somewhere between folk and pop, with a little jazz and growing traditional Chinese influence.
NBK: I noticed that you had an interesting list of influences on your website. Sufjan Stevens, jimmy eat world, and jars of clay.
DXM: I listen to everything!
That’s not really true–I can’t stand really country music.
Most of what I listen to falls into acoustic music–singer-songwriters and the like–but I also have everything from Balkan music to emo in my collection. I’ve always had a difficult time pinning down specific influences because I listen to such a diversity of musical styles.
The last three concerts I went to featured avant-garde jazz, Balkan/klezmer, blues, a singer-songwriter, and rock.
NBK: Without revealing too much about your new album, do you have a title for it and a release date?
DXM: Nope! I’m hoping to finish it by the end of the year, but admittedly I tend to be rather slow about getting albums out–it’s difficult to fund recordings (so if anyone wants to contribute toward getting the album out…). But this is definitely my priority right now. I’m not gigging much in the next couple of months so I can focus on the album and writing new material.
Maybe the title should be TranslAsian. What do you think?
NBK: haha
So you started touring in 2005 and have played 50 concerts in eight states through out the Midwest and the East Coast. Any thoughts about coming out to Boston?
We’d love to have you.
DXM: Actually, I play around 50 shows a year. I’d love to play in Boston! I’ve been meaning to tour more on the East Coast.
NBK: Any last words of wisdom for aspiring young Asian American musicians? (now that we’ve come up with your new album title)
DXM: Come up with a silly album title.
No, actually it’s this: learn all you can about promotion, booking, and business. You go into music thinking that you’ll be able to spend all your time performing and writing, but in reality you end up spending 80-90% of your time doing things like marketing yourself. And that’s the very thing they don’t teach you in school as an arts major.
NBK: Well Dawn thanks so much for the opportunity to speak with you. I know I’m looking forward to your new album, and I really hope you get a chance to come perform in Boston.
DXM: Thank you! This has been fun. Best of luck for your musical endeavors as well!
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Tags: Interview.