Asian American Yellowface
for tenor saxaphone and fixed media
duration: 4’20
written 2024
The title of this piece is undoubtedly provocative - given its nature I want to write a few words here explaining it. It has become somewhat fashionable among classical composers over the last two centuries to engage in what amounts to musical orientalism. A comprehensive list of composers who engaged in such practices would be too long to fit in this short note, but here are some examples. Debussy and Ligetti learned from Javanese Gamelan music. Cage and Scelsi took inspiration from Zen Buddhism. Messiaen and Grisey wrote pieces inspired from Gagaku.
Absent any cultural power dynamics, such “inspiration” would be perfectly innocuous. Unfortunately, these power dynamics do exist. Today, we find ourselves in the unfortunate situation where the historical gatekeepers of the classical music world positioned themselves as authorities on cultures they understand only through a Western lens. As a result, the merit of many Asian-diasporic composers is always evaluated in relation to their Asian-ness. There is a double pressure: the problematic “East meets West” trope encourages these composers to either play up their identity or minimize it.
With this piece, I want to challenge this state of affairs. As an Asian American composer, I question the need to tokenize myself. I refuse to flatten rich musical traditions into a sterile form suitable for the western gaze. But I wonder, will I ever be able to explore my own identity without this self-tokenization?
performed by the Friction string quartet