Music of Asian America: History, Activism, and Collaborations
Conference & Festival Schedule
Thursday, Nov. 8
International House (3717 Chestnut St.)
7:00pm Opening Night Film: In the Life of Music (Dir. Caylee So, Sok Visal) [Buy Tickets]
9:00pm Opening Night Reception [Free with ticket to In the Life of Music]
Friday, Nov. 9
Twelve Gates Arts (106 N. 2nd St.) [All events as Twelve Gates Arts are free, but RSVP is appreciated]
1:00pm Conference Registration Open
1:30pm Welcome
- Rob Buscher, PAAFF Festival Director
- Eric Hung, MAARC Executive Director
1:45pm Asian Musics, Transplanted
Chair: Jennifer Jones Wilson (Westminster Choir College)
- Elizabeth Clendinning (Wake Forest University): “Gamelan Chameleon: Cultural Representation and Academic Asian-American Ensembles”
- Rachel Schuck (University of Miami): “Carnatic Music Transplanted to America: Innovations of Youth in ‘Sustaining Sampradaya’”
- Lydia Huang (Temple University): “Songs of China(town): Music, Memory, and Identity”
3:25pm Militarism and the Music of Asian America
Chair: Ricky Punzalan (University of Maryland)
- Christine Bacareza Balance (Cornell University): “We are Here Because You Were There: U.S. Militarism & the Musics of Asian America”
- Elaine Kathryn Andres (UC Irvine): “Typical Finesse: Bruno Mars and the Training of Race in U.S. Empire”
4:30pm Tour of “American Peril: Imagining the Foreign Threat,” the Anti-Asian Propaganda exhibit curated by Rob Buscher
International House (3717 Chestnut St.)
9:30pm Traditional Music and Hip Hop Showcase [Buy Tickets]
- Swarthmore Chinese Music Ensemble
- Dariush Saghafi
- Seti X
- praCh Ly
Saturday, Nov. 10
University of Pennsylvania ARCH Building (3601 Locust Walk) [All events in the ARCH Building are free, but RSVP is appreciated]
10:00am Morning Snack (catered)
10:15am What is Asian American Music?
Chair: Brian Sengdala (Rutgers University)
- Dan Wang (University of Pittsburgh): “What is an Asian American style? Superorganism in the Assimilated Public”
- Peng Liu (University of Texas, Austin): “From Learn Chinese to Chinese New Year: A Journey of Voicing Authenticity in MC Jin’s Rap Music”
- Toru Momii (Columbia University): “Performing While Asian: Yuja Wang, Sarah Chang, and Asian (American) Embodiment in Western Art Music”
- Joseph Small (Swarthmore College): “Looking Back: Spall Fragments: Taiko Drumming-Dance Action-Adventure for the 21st Century!”
12:15pm Lunch on Own
1:45pm Workshop: No-No Boy
Chair: Michelle Myers (Yellow Rage)
2:30pm Break / Walk one block to ICA
University of Pennsylvania Institute of Contemporary Art (118 S 36th St.) [All events at ICA are free, but RSVP is appreciated]
2:45pm Film Screening and Discussion: Havana Divas
Introduction by Nancy Rao (Rutgers University and MAARC)
4:45pm Break
5:00pm Workshop: Sining Kapuluan
Chair: Micaela Bottari (Oxford University Press)
5:45pm Dinner on own
International House (3717 Chestnut St.)
7:35pm Centerpiece Film: Fiction and Other Narratives (dir. Bobby Choy [aka Big Phony] and Steve Lee) [Buy Tickets]
9:30pm Folk and Indie Music Showcase [Buy Tickets]
- Sining Kapuluan
- Bobby Choy
- No-No Boy
Sunday, Nov. 11
University of Pennsylvania Institute of Contemporary Art (118 S 36th St.) [All events at ICA are free, but RSVP is appreciated]
10:00am Morning snack (catered)
10:15am Militarism, Masculinity, and the Music of Asian America
Chair: Mandi Magnuson-Hung (Wells Fargo History Museum and MAARC)
- Alan Parkes (New York University): “Asian American Hardcore: Defying Inveterate Conservatism in Subculture”
- Dan Blim (Denison University): “Music for the Pacific Theater: Scoring Asian Identities at the WWII Museum”
- Donna Kwon (University of Kentucky): “Empathetic Asian American Queer Masculinity, Juxtaposed Narratives, and Double Consciousness in the Music of St. Lenox”
11:45am Workshop: Activist Songbook Workshop (Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis)
Chair: Lei Ouyang Bryant (Swarthmore College)
12:30pm Lunch (catered)
1:15pm Workshop: Word To Your Motherland: A Hip-Hop Exploration of South Asian American Identity (Seti X)
Chair: Anaar Desai-Stephens (Eastman School of Music) (tentative)
2:00pm Screening of Forbidden City, USA and Discussion
Chair: Eric Hung (Music of Asian America Research Center)
4:00pm End of Conference