Astroboy wrote:
And he then disqualifies Asian music on the basis of his knowledge of Korean music. That is just plain daft. Like saying: All European music sucks, just listen to those German songs.
IMHO, several Chinese pop stars produce high quality records, in particular Faye Wong. She has a style reminiscent of Bjork and the Cranberries.
Which does not answer the original question of course, sorry about that…
You could always try Chö, by Choying Drolma, Steve Tibbetts, and Marc Anderson. Vocalists from Nepal, guitarist from Wisconsin, percussionist from Minnesota. That’s about as Asian-American as I’ve found. Or perhaps Passages by Ravi Shankar and Phillip Glass.
(Speaking of beautiful Asian musicians, have you checked out Ravi’s daughter, Anoushka? Grrowwllll…)
Thanks for bringing this up, cause I was gonna have to type a lot when I saw the title of this thread. There is tons of asian american music, and it is actually starting to get pretty popular. Take my name for example, Evnglion, that comes from the anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Just the very fact that I know what anime is, is saying a lot. 10 years ago anime was restricted to 2 or 3 dubbed English shows, but with the boom of the internet, anime is on the rise, and J-pop is right behind it…SES rocks!!!
BigStar303: There’s also Rita Coolidge who apparently has a North American Music Award. But what you said about Redbone is also true for her isn’t it? Her Indian influences seem visual rather than musical.
Here’s another collection with a Native American angle: Sacred Spirits.
Dijon Warlock: That’s a really marketable face isn’t it? It looks like it was made in a rock star face factory. In the pop and rock music world hooks and riffs are the only things that matter though. I will stand by that to the day I die. Perhaps Asian, Indian and other non-European musicians need to work more with that idea even if it means compromising their music a bit.
The Japanese are huge into musical theatre. Almost every show gets done there, and translating English lyrics into Japanese while keeping the rhyme and music straight must be one hell of a job. They were the first to do RENT, they released the only other recording of Aspects of Love, and have two complete recordings of CATS and THREE complete recordings of Phantom of the Opera (English has one).
The Chinese are huge into rap and Taiwan releases every Sarah Brightman CD with bonus CDS and Chinese lyrics. These are very sought after by fans.
Well, they could market her to me anytime. 
Sounds like she plays as good as she looks, though. She’s been touring with Ravi, and reviews are good. Her sound clips are spectacular on that site.
OK… wait a second! I hate Korean pop, and you may agree/disagree at your leisure…
BUT I did NOT mean to imply that I am an expert on all Asian music! My post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek! If it was not understood that way, then I have no one to blame but myself. Ergo: I’m sorry! Please allow me to clarify.
Korean pop SUCKS (and if anyone wants to debate this, please feel free!). Other Asian music; I dunno… haven’t heard it, can’t comment…
Asina music is based on a different tonal scale. It would be possible to use asian musical conventions…but i don’t think it would sell.
Heh, Astro, looks like you learned the lesson of tossing the word “Asian” around indiscriminantly. I do share your opinions on “K-Pop,” though.
Anyway, yamo, I was wondering what you meant by a different “tonal scale.” The term’s, well, foreign to me, and I was wondering what it is and what difference it would make to the marketability of <cringe> Asian music.
KKBattousai, check here for info on tonal scale…
And yeah, you DO have to be careful throwing the “A” word arounf too loosely! [sup]Let’s see… what ethnic group or minority can I insult next? Hmmm…[/sup]
Cornershop is a band which successfully blended “ethnic” and traditional pop/rock music styles. Remember that line “Everyone needs a bosom for a pillow”?
For example, their pronunciation. They have one song, I forget the name of it, but the lyric goes “You don’t have to be serious, you don’t have to be the walrus” and the way they (try to) say walrus is absolutely hilarious.
A great, great band. Check 'em out.
kodo just played a sold out concert here in philly on the 15th. they sold out carnegie in new york on the 16th. taiko groups sell out here, there are about 5 local groups in pa,nj, and ny. new york city’s group is fantastic. the first group i saw was from delaware, all asian-american, some of them only spoke “music-term” japanese.
it took time for other ethnic music to hit the ‘’'mainstreet" chart. perhaps a haiku-taiko group is just around the bend.
rocking I am so seriously jealous. Here I am in LA and I can never get into a taiko performance as I have the annoying tendency to a) never here about them until too late or b) have previous engagements on the night(s) of the performance(s). I hate me sometimes…
And did you guys see CoCo Lee singing the song from CT,HD during the Oscars tonight? Pretty damn good for an R&B girl, eh?
There’s also Cibo Matto, which I thought was, well, at least not that obscure.