ASIAN WOMEN in CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
KFAI radio International Women's Day show 3/8/07

This webpage was created to go with the KFAI International Women's Day radio show "Asian Women in Contemporary Music" sponsored by KFAI's International Women's Day Broadband - Women Riding the Airwaves.

It was exciting and healing for me to showcase contemporary music by pioneering Asian women that inspire me with their music and their lives.

When I was growing up in the 70's and 80's, I wasn't personally aware of any non-classical, non-traditional Asian women musicians in America. In Southern California, it was weird for me to see Asian faces every day at home, at school, on the street and at church, but invisible in the American media. There were very few Asian women on TV or in movies, except on MASH or as dragon ladies - women that seemed very different from me. There were zero Asian women on the radio that I knew of. The only media role model I felt I could relate to was Wonder Woman! Thank God for Lynda Carter, who is half Mexican. Linda Carter and Audrey Hepburn the closest thing to female Asian role models I could find in the 1970's!

It took until 1992 for me to finally discover my first contemporary female Asian-American musician, Toshiko Akiyoshi. I was thrilled to find out she loved jazz too and I was inspired to switch majors and go for a Jazz Studies degree.

Now that it is 2007, especially as a musician, it's a relief for me to see that Asian women are finally starting to make some progress in the media and I'm here to make sure that you all hear about some of the amazing Asian women that are out there.

Here is information about the women I featured on the KFAI "Asian Women in Contemporary Music" radio show for International Women's Day.

Radio show order

1. Nah Youn Sun - jazz vocalist
2. Vienna Teng - singer/songwriter/pianist
3. BoA - K-pop and J-pop singer/songwriter
4. Toshiko Akiyoshi - jazz composer/arranger and pianist
5. Magdalen Hsu-Li - queer alternative folk/rock singer/songwriter
6. Tia Carrere - actress/singer/songwriter
7. Karen HeaChung Lyu (me) - jazz/world music vocalist and songwriter

Asian Women In Contemporary Music podcast