Asian America in 25 Songs

Created by Eric Hung in 2022 and expanded in 2025, "Asian America in 25 Songs" is designed to be a fun way for students (high school and college) and lifelong learners to learn about key events in Asian American history. Each of the songs on this page raise important themes about Asian American experiences. Collectively, they demonstrate the wide variety of music created by Asian Americans. The list is divided into three sections: (I) Songs about Asian America before 1965, (II) Songs about Asian America between 1965 and 2000, and (III) Songs about 21st-century Asian America. To learn more about each song, click on the title.

Songs about Asian America Before 1965

#1: Hole hole bushi

To address labor shortages after the slave trade and slavery officially ended, many plantations and industrialists began bringing workers from Asia.  Between 1885 and 1924, around 180,000 Japanese laborers came to Hawai`i to work on sugar plantations.  “Hole hole bushi” is a repertory of plantation work songs created mostly by women.  They were often sung when the workers stripped dead leaves from sugar cane.  Set to folk songs from the workers’ home regions, the lyrics often discussed the difficulty of plantation work.  Allison Arakawa began learning “hole hole bushi” as a teenager from Harry Urata, who collected the songs from the early immigrants in the 1940s and 1950s.

#2: Dawen Wang: "Ku Li"

Chinese laborers began coming to the U.S. in large numbers in the 1850s. They worked as miners, agricultural and factory workers, and ran small businesses. Between 1865 and 1869, about 12,000 Chinese workers came to the U.S. to build the Western section of the transcontinental railroad. The work was dangerous, and over 1,000 of them died. The derogatory term “coolie” was originally used by British colonial officials to describe South Asian indentured laborers. By the mid-19th century, the term came primarily to denote both South and East Asian indentured laborers who worked overseas. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Dawen Wang is a singer-songwriter who has been based in Taiwan since 2012. A song on his first album, “Ku Li” is a tribute to the Chinese railroad workers.​

#3: Kim Loo Sisters, "Gee! The Jeep Jumps!"

During the Exclusion Era, many Chinese people came to the United States as “paper sons” or “paper daughters”–people who pretended to be children of U.S. citizens. Many of these immigrants never discussed their pasts, even with loved ones. Some even moved to places where no one was likely to learn their true identities. One example is Louie Shear Gim. He moved to Minneapolis in the early 1910s and married a Polish American seamstress. Their first four daughters became the jazz vocal group The Kim Loo Sisters. Often dubbed the “Chinese Andrews Sisters,” they performed on the vaudeville circuit, and starred in two Broadway revues in the late 1930s and early 1940s. They were also featured on a Hollywood film, recorded two soundies (for a music video jukebox), and entertained thousands of soldiers in Europe during WWII.​

#4: Ma Si-Hon and Tung Kwong-Kwong perform Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata

Western classical music was introduced to China in the early 17th century, but it did not really take root among Chinese people until the 1920s. In the next quarter century, many important composers and performers emerged, and a few decided to study and make careers in the U.S. Among the most prominent of them are a married couple: violinist Ma Si-Hon and pianist Tung Kwong-Kwong. Tung came to the U.S. in 1946 and Ma joined her two years later. As they became established, Tung became a favorite soloist with the Boston Pops, while Ma played in the Cleveland Orchestra from 1952 to 1957. They were most famous as a violin-piano duo who performed all over Europe, North America and East Asia. ​

#5: Toshiko Akiyoshi Trio, "Tosh's Fantasy"

U.S. popular music became very popular in many parts of Asia in the early 20th century. Filipino musicians who worked on ocean liners brought jazz to Japan in the 1910s, and jazz scenes emerged in many urban centers by the 1920s. Born in Manuchuria in 1929, Akiyoshi–who started playing piano at age six–first learned about jazz shortly after her family’s return to Japan in 1945. She began studying the genre immediately, and came to the attention of Oscar Peterson when he toured Japan in 1953. Peterson immediately arranged a recording session for Akiyoshi and his rhythm section. She came to the United States to study at the Berklee School of Music in January 1956, and quickly made a number of recordings. Recorded in September 1957, “Tosh’s Fantasy” is a medley of three songs: “Down a Mountain,” “Phygian Waterfall” and “Running Stream.” The trio consisted of Akiyoshi, drummer Jake Hanna and her long-time collaborator, bassist Gene Cherico.​

#6: Betty Inada, "Sioux City Sue"

In the early 20th century, many professions in the U.S. were not open to people of Asian descent. This led many young well-educated Asian Americans to move to their heritage countries to launch careers. Born in 1913, Betty Inada started her career singing with Japanese bands in Sacramento and performing in a vaudeville troupe in Los Angeles. Sensing that a Japanese American could never be a star jazz singer in the U.S., Inada moved to Japan in 1933 even though she had limited knowledge of Japanese language and culture. After a rough start, Inada developed a brash, shouty performing style that landed her a recording contract with Columbia Records of Japan and some movie roles. She became the most popular singer in Japan in the pre-WWII period. Inada stayed in Japan until the late 1950s, and gradually developed a smoother style, which you can hear on this 1948 recording of “Sioux City Sue.” ​

#7: Glenn Horiuchi, "Poston Sonata"

eOne of the most heinous episodes in Asian American history is the unjust incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent–two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens–during World War II. The California-based Asian American jazz musicians who established careers in the 1980s all wrote music in support of the Redress and Reparations movement, which culminated in an official apology by President Reagan and a $20,000 payment to each living survivor. A pianist, composer and shamisen player, Glenn Horiuchi (1955-2000) was one of them. He was the grandson of Saburo Sugita, a second-generation Hawaiian who was known for his shakuhachi playing and wrote songs about his incarceration experience. At the time Horiuchi wrote Poston Sonata, he lived in San Diego. The Japanese community there were largely incarcerated at the Poston War Relocation Center in Yuma County, Arizona, and he listened intently to their many stories.  Poston Sonata was a tribute to these survivors. The work is in four movements, which are entitled “Rememberance,” “Internment,” “Camp Scenes,” and “Celebration.” The second and fourth movement feature his aunt, shamisen master Lillian Nakano, who was incarcerated along with Sugita in the Jerome and Heart Mountain camps.​
LP Cover for Glenn Horiuchi's Poston Sonata

#8: The Kim Sisters: Medley

The Kim Sisters–who were actually two sisters and a cousin–began their careers as teens and tweens performing on U.S. military bases in South Korea. News of their popularity eventually reached the ears of producer Tom Ball, who convinced them to come to Las Vegas. From 1959 to 1975, the trio headlined numerous Vegas shows and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show over 20 times. This performance was taped on January 27, 1963, and included three standards–“Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue,” “Baby Face” and “Bye Bye Blues”–that were written or popularized in the mid-1920s. The Kim Sisters sang in a variety of American styles while using different vocal production techniques, thereby demonstrating the “unassimilable Asian” stereotype so prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to be a lie. They were also famous for performing on over 20 instruments.​

Songs about Asian America, 1965-2000

#9: Chris Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto and Charlie Chin, "We Are the Children"

Prior to the late 1960s, ethnicity was the primary identity marker for many Asian Americans. Different Asian ethnic communities might work together for certain issues, but they generally did not see themselves as parts of one larger community. The Civil Rights, Women's and Anti-Vietnam War movements gradually convinced activists that--in order to achieve greater political power and representation--they needed to form a pan-Asian coalition with a new identity. The result is the Asian American movement. In the early 1970s, Chris Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto and Charlie Chin began creating songs that became widely seen as the soundtrack of the Movement. They released these songs on an album entitled A Grain of Sand in 1973. "We Are the Children" underscores the working-class roots of most pre-1965 Asian immigrants, and claims that Asian Americans have more in common with "Third World people" than the dominant classes in the U.S.

#10: Hiroshima, "Kokoro"

Formed in 1974 and still performing in the early 2020s, Hiroshima has sold over four million records to date. Formed by Dan Kuramoto (winds and keyboards) and June Kuramoto (koto), it is a self-consciously Asian American band that combines R&B, jazz, and many elements of Japanese music and dance. Many of the band's songs are instrumentals, and they found loyal followings in both Asian American and Black communities. In the aftermath of the World War II incarceration, most Japanese Americans understandably focused on assimilation, and many became ashamed of their heritage. In this situation, hearing a band that showcased Japanese culture helped many to (re)discover their pride in their heritage culture. "Kokoro" from Hiroshima's eponymous debut album (1979) exemplifies the "smooth" side of the band.

#11: Woody Shaw featuring Judi Singh, "Time is Right"

Born in Edmonton in 1945, jazz vocalist Judi Singh was one of seven children of one of the South Asians in Alberta and one of the first African Canadians in Alberta. Her family is a Canadian Prairie example of early 20th-century blended South Asian-Black families throughout North America that were brought together by mutual discrimination. Singh grew up listening to gospel, blues, jazz as well as Indian classical music. As a teenager, Singh began singing in Yardbird Suite, one of Canada's oldest jazz clubs. She became one of most well-regarded jazz vocalists in Canada in the late 1960s and 1970s, making a number of appearances on TV and recordings. In 1979, she made her most high-profile recording, appearing on two tracks on American trumpeter, composer and bandleader's album For Sure! "Time is Right" is the first of these tracks.

#12: Shoji Tabuchi, "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"

Growing up in Japan, Shoji Tabuchi (1944-2023) became a fan of American country music. As a sophomore in college, he met Roy Acuff, who convinced him to pursue his love seriously. In 1967, he came to the United States, honing his craft in various cities before moving to Nashville in the 1970s. Around 1980, he moved to Branson, Missouri. After establishing himself there, he bought and renovated a 2,000-seat hall, and opened it as the Soji Tabuchi Theater in 1990. He gave over 300 performances there annually for many years. In the early 2000s, he also began incorporating taiko drumming into his show. Tabuchi performed at the Grand Ole Opry 27 times, and was inducted into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2020. "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" is a standard in the bluegrass repertoire. It was first recorded in 1949 by Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys.

#13: Chen Yi, Symphony No. 2

In the last two decades of the 20th century, several Chinese immigrant composers established major careers in the United States. The most significant are a group who studied with Chou Wen-chung at Columbia University, and they include Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Bright Sheng and Tan Dun. An elegy to her father, Chen Yi's Symphony No. 2 (1993) is also a response to the Chinese Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. She wrote, "My Symphony No. 2 contains the experiences of waking up to reality, introspecting and longing." This waking up is interrupted "by the sharp percussion sound, which symbolizes the sparkle of the sudden epiphanies. Following a period of sincere meditation...the music is brought to a climax expressively. The ending part...carries a mysterious dream toward the future."

#14: Fanny, "Charity Ball"

Fanny was one of the most important all-women bands in rock history. Founded in 1969 by Filipina American sisters June and Jean Millington, the band rejected industry expectations of all-women bands, and achieved both commercial and critical success. The Go-Go's, that Runaways and the Bangles are some of the many bands who cited Fanny as a key influence. "Charity Ball" is the title track of Fanny's second album. It was also released as a single, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was co-written by the Millington sisters and drummer Alice de Buhr, and it features the band's signature sounds: powerful guitars, bluesy keyboard playing and tight vocal harmonies.

#15: Elvis Phương and Ái Vân, "Bài Tango Cho Em"

In the aftermath of Vietnam War, refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos resettled in the United States (and many other countries) in large numbers. Over 90,000 Vietnamese refugees arrived in the first year after the War. And in the next two decades, the Orderly Departure Program processed over 450,000 resettlements. To help create a sense of the society they lost in the war, Vietnamese refugees in the Diaspora formed production companies that extended the popular music tradition in South Vietnam. "Bài Tango Cho Em" is one of the most popular songs written for Paris by Night, the series of direct-to-video musical variety shows produced by Thuy Nga Productions.

#16: Chinary Ung, "Khse Buon"

Born in 1942, Cambodian American composer Chinary Ung came to the United States in 1964. As he worked on three degrees in New York, the political situation in Cambodia deteriorated. Studying with Chou Wen-Chung convinced Ung that he needed to honor the musical heritages of his homeland while contributing to developments in the Western compositional tradition. When he graduated in 1974, it had become too dangerous for him to return to Cambodia to learn more about Khmer musical traditions. During the Khmer Rouge era (1975-79), which led to the deaths of over a quarter of Cambodia's population, Ung fell silent as a composer. Composed in 1980, Khse Buon (which translates to "Strings Four") was the first piece he completed after he finished his doctorate. Here, Ung asks the performer to remove the cello from its Western context, and to play textures and structures derived from Southeast Asian traditions. The work's melancholic tone reminds listeners of the historical context in which it was written.

Songs about Asian America in the 21st Century

#17: Funkadesi, "Makhana"

Funkadesi is the brainchild of Rahul Sharma, who grew up learning both African American music and Indian classical music. After experimenting with fusing the two traditions in college, he decided to form an Afro-Asian band when he was establishing a career as a clinical psychologist in Chicago. He said, "I saw Funkadesi’s membership and sound as a microcosm of the city’s diversity and what I assumed (hoped?) was evidence of a local black–brown alliance that countered problematic representations of this relationship in mainstream popular culture." He also believed the band can help create relationships that counters Chicago's rampant racial segregation. Released on their 2008 album "Yo Baba," "Makhana"--which is an Indian snack--is an exuberant song that has long been a fan favorite. It captures the sense of the utopic unity many felt during Obama's first presidential campaign.

#18: Bochan, "Chnam Oun 16"

The Khmer Rouge banned and executed performers of Cambodian traditional music and popular music during its reign. As a result, survivors--particularly those who live in the diaspora--often treat both traditions with reverence. "Chnam Oun 16" ("I Am 16") was a 1973 Cambodian film. Its title song, sung by Ros Sereysothea, became one of the most famous songs of pre-Khmer Rouge Cambodia. Even today, the song is a staple at Cambodian American gatherings and karaoke. Bochan's music video is controversial because she uses the song to discuss the continuing effects of PTSD on the entire Cambodian American community. She sings the original Khmer text, but also interpolates English text about the aftermath of living through the Khmer Rouge. In the middle, a rap performed by Raashan Ahmad invites the community to move forward. The music video also includes photographs of Khmer Rouge prisoners and video footage of the regime's labor camps.

#19: Madame Gandhi, "Waiting for Me"

Madame Gandhi is an electronic music producer, drummer and activist. She began her career as a drummer recording and touring with M.I.A., Thievery Corporation and Kehlani. Since 2016, she has used her music to uplift women and to fight for gender and queer liberation. About "Waiting for Me," she said that she "felt critical of how we as a society in general school our children to conform, to not question society, to not develop their own creative intuitions. So, this music video is about moving from repressive spaces where we just take in what we are fed, and seeking out acts and spaces of personal freedom and liberation in our own lives. " At the beginning of the video, the actors are walking in formation in gray uniforms. Gradually, they change into bright clothes; they also find their own movements without losing the ability to work together. In the interlude, Madame Gandhi announces, "I don't want our identity to be defined according to how oppressed we are."

#20: Jin Hi Kim, "A Ritual for Covid-19"

Jin Hi Kim is a composer and a master on the komungo and electric komungo. Komungo is a zither with both frets and movable bridges that originated before the 7th century. After finishing her Bachelor's degree at Seoul National University, Kim moved to the U.S. to learn different musical traditions from around the world. She also immersed herself into the avant-garde music scene, started exploring crosscultural composition. "A Ritual for Covid-19" (2021) is a community purification performance to commemorate the over 5.5 million people who died and to protest anti-Asian discrimination that was sparked by the virus. It uses elements from Korean shaman rituals, and includes the electric komungo, komungobot (an algorithmic robotic instrument), kagok singing, and audience members humming and playing prayer bowls.

#21: Ruby Ibarra, "Us"

Vaccine scientist by day and hip-hop artist by night, Ruby Ibarra spent much of the first two decades erasing her Filipino roots. She would record herself until there was no hint of her Filipino accent, and she would pinch her nose and buy skin lightening soaps. Assimilation did not loosen its grip until she took an Ethnic Studies class in college. Since 2017, Ibarra has used her music--she raps in English, Tagalog and Waray--to capture the experiences of Filipino Americans and to empower them. In "Us," Ibarra warns listeners to not mess with Filipinas. She speaks, “Your DNA contains building blocks made from the / Mud of over 500 years of resistance and survival / And when you are ready, sis, we’ll be right here.” The lyrics include numerous references to Filipino American history, and the video includes numerous snippets of traditional Filipino performing arts. These continue to be important sources of strength for Filipino Americans today.

#22: jason chu, "This is Asian America"

Inspired by Childish Gambino, this music video by rapper jason chu and filmmakers Michael Tow and Teja Arboleda raises numerous issues facing Asian American communities, including the model minority myth, the community's continued invisibility, the lack of belonging, domestic violence, mental health and class inequality. The last three remain difficult to discuss within Asian American communities. The video also brings the issue of cultural appropriation to the fore. Under what circumstances is it acceptable to adapt an African American song (and an African American genre) to tell an Asian American story? On this issue, chu wrote, “'Cultural appropriation' isn't about what you're doing - it's about how you do it. People can and should learn from and contribute to other cultures and communities around them -- the problem comes when they Columbus that shit, acting like they're the first, best, or only to do something that's been established by others."

#23: Nichkhun, "Lucky Charm"

Earlier on the playlist, we heard a recording by Betty Inada, who moved to Japan because she believed (rightly) that the U.S. was not ready for a Japanese American diva. There are more opportunities for Asian Americans in popular music now, but they still face a lot of discrimination. As a result, many continue to move to Asia to launch careers (including Dawen Wang, #2 on the playlist). While he was a senior at Los Osos High School east of Los Angeles, Thai American Nichkhun was recruited by a scout manager of JYP Entertainment at the Los Angeles Korean Music Festival. After training, he became a member of 2PM, one of the most successful K-Pop band of the 2010s. "Lucky Charm" is a track on his first solo album, Me (2018). This album was first released in Japan, and the original version of this song was in Japanese. For the Korean, Taiwanese and Thai releases, the English version heard here was included.

#24: Christopher Tin, "Baba Yetu"

A key composer for three installments of the Civilization franchise, Christopher Tin is one of the most important composers of video game and choral music of the past two decades. Written as the theme for Civilization IV, "Baba Yetu" is a setting of "The Lord's Prayer" in Swahili. Tin wrote, "Missionaries of the 19th-century used Swahili as the lingua franca for spreading Christianity across East Africa; consequently, a rich tradition of vocal music arose that blended European harmonies with traditional African call-and-response. My setting of The Lord's Prayer introduces several new elements into this tradition: an explosive orchestral accompaniment, as well as a complex series of modulations to bring the choral setting into a variety of tonal centers." Tin released a performance of "Baba Yetu" by the Soweto Gospel Choir on his 2011 album Calling All Dawns. This became the first piece of video game music to win a Grammy Award.

#25: Dharmakapella, "Jiya Re"

In 1996, a group of students at the University of Pennsylvania formed the first South Asian a capella (or desi a capella) group. Three decades later, there are over 200 groups, a governing association for these types of ensembles, and a national competition with seven regional qualifying competitions. These groups sing songs that fuse various styles of South Asian traditions with Western a capella practices. Consisting of students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Dharmakapella is one of the perennial favorites at competitions, placing first at the last three All-American Awaaz National Competition. "Jiya Re" is an arrangement of a Bollywood song from the 2012 film "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" ("As Long As I Live"). Written by composer A.R. Rahman and lyricist Gulzar, the song expresses the character's belief in being fully alive and free.