Asian American Music

This course will explore the concept of Asian American Music from three perspectives. First, we will study Asian musics in the Americas. We will focus on Hindustani music and Javanese gamelan music, two Asian classical musics that have had the most profound impact on American musical cultures. We will also explore folk, devotional and popular musics from Asia that are maintained and modified within Asian diasporas in the US, Canada, Trinidad, and elsewhere. Next, we will look at representations of Asian musics and cultures in the mainstream U.S. media. From Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood, the fantasy of ‘the orient’ has played a key role in popular music cultures in the US. The remainder of the course will focus on Asian Americans making music. We will examine Asian Americans in jazz, hip-hop, and rock as well as emerging genres within contemporary Asian American youth subcultures. The course will introduce students to the methods and theories of ethnomusicology, emphasizing the dynamic relationship between music and culture. While we will engage in close musical analysis and listening, the course is open to all students regardless of prior musical experience. Frequent reading assignments and in-class discussions will allow students an opportunity to develop their ideas on themes such as tradition, identity, desire, Orientalism, and cultural appropriation.