Asian Americans Artists

Last week, Laurie wrote about something that’s related to Asian American issues and I thought that that was interesting so I thought that I’d write something like that this week. On March 15, one week ago, San Francisco’s Japan Town held their annual Asian American film festival. Since I’m in APATH (Asian Pacific American Theme House) program, we have to do a certain amount of community services and so this was one of them that were available. When we arrived there, people were already there. The performers on stage were playing the traditional Japanese drums. There were traditional dancing, singing, instrument playing, hip-hop, and other performances from Asian Americans. It was refreshing to see all these talented Asian Americans on stage. One particular performance that got my attention was a hip-hop street break dancing group. I’ve seen a lot of Asian performers that are really, really good at dancing hip hop in Asia but not really in America, probably because they are not so much exposed here. After seeing them dance, I got to thinking: why don’t we see more Asian Americans appear in the media when they clearly have the talent, despite the various stereotypes that Asians can’t dance or are not performers. I mean the dance competition America’s Best Dance Crew proves otherwise. It shows that we do have the talent but did not have the opportunity in the media to showcase it.
On this topic, it reminds me of this magazine I got from the film festival. On one of the stands was a pile of KoreAm, a Korean American magazine. I don’t know if you guys know this, but the stars in Korea are really making it big now in Asia, including singers, dancers, and actors/actresses (Korean dramas). What’s interesting is that a lot of these stars are actually Korean Americans that couldn’t make it here in the U.S. On the cover of the magazine is Tim Hwang, a famous Korean American singer (that’s what actually caught my eye to the magazine). Inside the magazine, they actually have 5 pages dedicated to talking about how hard it is for Asian Americans to succeed in America today. Quoted from the magazine, “there was no market for Asian American artists, so…many star hopefuls fled to Korea for greater opportunities.” You guys have heard of American Idol right? Paul Kim, a Korean American, “was told numerous times that he would have been signed right away if he wasn’t Asian.” He was told that they loved his music but there’s no way to market him. I find that really disturbing. It really sucks that Asian Americans are viewed that way. I think that many Asian Americans would love to have Asian American idols to look up to, like they have in Asia. But because Asian Americans never get the opportunity, we don’t see them in the media often. Korean Americans such as Tim Hwang, Brian Joo (Fly to the Sky), Danny Im (1Tym), and Micky Park (DBSK) are all Korean Americans who are wonderful performers and I feel really bad that they have to go to Asia to become famous. I know a lot of Americans here actually view these Asian stars as idols, and so I wonder, why can’t the American media try to develop Asian American performers here? Right now, Korean stars are actually trying to break into the American media. Korean producer JYP is bringing Rain (Bi), Wonder Girls, and various Korean artists to perform in a U.S. tour with American artists R.Kelly, Outkast, and Will Smith attending and performing with them. They are also writing songs and singing with these Korean and Korean American stars. The magazine also states that the reason why Asian Americans didn’t make it because American producers think that even though Asian American artists may have the look, style, and moves, the producers haven’t heard that “hit crossover song yet”. To me, I think that if these artists are given a chance, they can really succeed. I don’t expect them to be successful instantly, but like any other artists, they can work their way up; but this won’t happen unless given the opportunity. I’m frustrated at the fact that America is known as the land of opportunities, and yet, Asian American artists are not given opportunities.

Jennifer Yeung