Posted by lilia on April 9th, 2008
Posted by lilia on March 10th, 2007
I just read an article in last weekend’s New York Times (3/4/07) titled “Trying to Crack the Hot 100 about the difficulty of Asian-American’s have in reaching pop star status. It certainly acknowledges there are Asians who’ve reached high level success in music but it focuses more on what could be holding this particular group of Americans back. In truth there are multi-fold challenges but one specifically stood out to me:
“…Andy Goldmark, said that Asian-Americans have lagged behind not because of discrimination but because they have yet to create their own popular music sound the way African-Americans and Latinos have.”
” “Asian-Americans have tended to follow what’s going in the pop world rather than use the Asian-American path to invent new things,” said Mr. Goldmark, a songwriter and music producer and a former vice president for talent at Jive Records.”
” He said many artists are beginning to find their voice and are incorporating Asian instruments into their music or writing lyrics that address issues…”
Immediately groups like Cibo Matto and Buffalo Daughter come to mind, Japanese girl bands that a few years back (1999-early 00’s) we used to listen to all the time though I don’t exactly how successful they were in terms of record sales in the US. Yes, they were not Asian-AMERICAN but what I’m trying to point out is that they had a very particular style that was unique and very popular in the “cool” KCRW crowd. There’s certainly something to learn here. I’m sure there are many more such examples I am not aware of, but again the point is why agree with the above quote. I am all too familiar with the immigrant reality of being neither here nor there which is where I see Asian-American aspiring pop stars even if they are many generations native as were African-Americans before their unique styles sprouted forth.
Posted by lilia on March 8th, 2007
We skipped a season or two but we’re back to watching American Idol. Really, it’s just me and the kids who for some reason have really gotten into it. It’s like a family time activity to pick our favorites and vote at the end. I’ve actually been calling for the first time ever.
As soon as Antonella Barba came on screen Dante says, ” ‘tonella, I like her…I want to vote for her.” (Don’t forget he’s just 4 years old).
He also noticed something about Gina Glocksen: “Nini, she has a dot in her mouth.” —there was no need for further explanation, we just left it at that.