Asian American Musicians Are Everywhere!

Neela Banerjee
May 4, 2006

Well, that's certainly been the case with me and this whole Asian American music thing. Not only do I keep finding Asian Americans in really good bands that my friends tell me about -- speaking of my friends, check out my friend Gagan Palrecha's record label -- but there has also been a plethora of amazing music events featuring Asian Americans lately.

Last week I wrote about the 7-year Dhamaal anniversary -- which was awesome, btw -- and this Friday there is a special Cinco de Mayo soul/funk party thrown by musical extraterrestrial Micropixie. This is a cool event because it brings together a bunch of really interesting musicians -- both Asian and not -- especially sound artist Kitundu and scratch guitarist The Genie, total Bay Area treasures. But what I'm most interested in is Micropixie (whose music is a mash-up of trip-hop with funk influences) and Feroshus Sizzle (a straight-ahead funk band with a South Asian guitarist).

I guess my interest lies in the way Asian Americans are transforming musical genres in various ways. I think muscicians are a different breed than writers and filmmakers, whose work is influenced in a much more cerebral way. I'll have to ask Sandeep of Feroshus Sizzle whether he thinks there is an intersection with Indian folk music and booty-shaking funk. I imagine there might be.

Contributor: 

Comments

Comments

Anonymous wrote on Tue, 10/17/2006 - 2:14am
HMMM
Anonymous wrote on Sat, 10/21/2006 - 5:14pm
I was looking at AZN tv here in Seattle. which is Asian American Television. I was watching this show called "The bridge" specializing in Asian Hip Hop and R@B. Well I respect then because they gave Kudos to The founders more than Black Television. Asian Hip Hop has no rhythm. You have to have rythnm. or funk if you are going to make it in this buisness. I guess this one group wasnt bad. called far east. cool website at fareastmusic.com
claire wrote on Thu, 05/04/2006 - 8:02am
neela, i went to a may day immigration rally in kalamazoo and there, in front of the overwhelmingly latino crowd, i heard someone mixing cumbia with bhangra. i got all excited (even though it was pretty rough) until i realized that the dj was pakistani american and had probably whipped it up especially for this event. (he was there representing the local muslim american council and seemed to be there as a token.) i'd still be excited if i thought that somebody would continue making this stuff -- especially if it came about as a result of the immigration protests!
RELAX wrote on Fri, 05/05/2006 - 4:48pm
There are a lot of Asian Musicians, even a lot of Hip Hop Artist mix Bangra with Hip Hop. Timberland and Missy Elliot mastered and brought that style to America. That song by DR. Dre and Truthful Hurts "SO Contagious really sampled a lot of Indian Punjabi beats mixing it with R@B. When I went to Goa, India there was this club called "Club Caribe", awesome. Here are some of my favorite Japanese Artist, Ayumi Hamasaki, She is probably the biggest Pop Star in Japan at the monent, along with Utada Hakieru. They are both hot thats for sure. Yoshika is cool, go to Yoshika.net. I like her song "Call me" a . Marai Ken, Heartsdales, Benny K, Just to name a few more. Fillipinos are probably the best Asian Singers. They can give Black Americans a run for their money. Regine Vasquez is the only Asian Singer I can think of with a powerful voice.
SEE wrote on Fri, 05/05/2006 - 7:12pm
RELAX:All these Asian Pop Stars you just mentioned are Asian, but not Asian American. I know Yoshika lived in Canada for a while and Utada pretty much grew up in New York, but they both were born in Japan. Asian Musicians are having a hard time crossing over. Asians cannot penetrate the American Market. Ayumi sold 10 million copies in Asia and Utada sold 15 from her last album "Exodus" which was a great album by the way. Exodus was suppose to be the album that changed things for Asians in Mainstream entertainment, but it didnt.
Anonymous wrote on Sun, 05/07/2006 - 8:56pm
Does anyone think Asian can break into mainstream
anonymous wrote on Mon, 04/30/2007 - 2:56pm
hey if youre still interested in asian music, go check out a band called FAR*EAST MOVEMENT & another one called MAGNETIC NORTH
Robin wrote on Sat, 05/13/2006 - 10:23pm
The major impediment to Asians breaking into the mainstream is money...not that we dont have it; I mean asians of all denominations are the richest minority across the board in America...but what Asians dont realize is that we need to front the money to help our stellar artists push through to the mainstream. Money to fund productions, fund marketing and fund the artistic creative process in general. This idea of funding art on a grand scale is foreign to the Asian community...it isnt so foreign to the Latino or African American community. We fail to remember that artists of these minority groups put the money up themselves to push the music through. Look at Ricky Martin or any of the other major Latino artists...the richest members of their communities banded together and supported these artists to push them through. Until Asians realize that no one is going to hand us a free ride to the mainstream, we will continue to be frustrated that our artists are not getting the true exposure they deserve. With that, i call all you rich Asians to put your money where your mouth is, and support artists who are trying their damndest to push through.
anonymous wrote on Sun, 05/14/2006 - 1:58am
"Asians dont realize is that we need to front the money to help our stellar artists push through to the mainstream...Until Asians realize that no one is going to hand us a free ride to the mainstream, we will continue to be frustrated that our artists are not getting the true exposure they deserve. With that, i call all you rich Asians to put your money where your mouth is, and support artists who are trying their damndest to push through."The same goes for movies, magazines, as in music.
SEE wrote on Sun, 05/14/2006 - 7:08am
Money has nothing to do with it, if thats the case then why have Black Musicians dominated the entertainment scene for years.
seng wrote on Sun, 05/14/2006 - 9:19pm
Funding, or lack thereof, is just an expression of the value placed on something by a culture. Typically, musicians have been considered entertainers, ie servants, not esteemed guests in the way scholars or business men have been regarded in some dominant Asian cultures. I think there are few to zero Asian or AA parents who would really condone their kids getting into music (unless they be prodigies at age 5 and burned out at 10) with the intention of making a life of it.Personally, I'm trying to figure out why very few Asian or Asian Americans have penetrated my personal music collection, diregarding for the moment the lack of representation in the mainstream. Out of a few hundred albums, I think there are about 4 Asian Americans in there (not including the expat Japanese jazz players).
SEE wrote on Mon, 05/15/2006 - 6:35am
I dont think Asians were meant to be Mainstream Musicians. I think the Music Buisness is just one venue Asian will never Succeed in. Well mainstream.