The Asian Music Association is probably the best place on campus to find the latest Eastern music. With a KWUR radio show in the works, karaoke nights, and an annual contest, the AMA is looking to bring all types of Eastern music to the forefront of the Wash. U. music scene. Below is an interview with Nelson Hui, last year’s AMA president and current “honorary member.”

Hui: So obviously, because the culture is different, the music is going to be different, too. I feel like, at least within the Chinese music scene, a lot of it seems pretty homogenous: there’s not much of an indie scene going on. It’s all very mainstream. But, even so, it still sounds different than American music. I guess it’s mainly ballads and dance tracks in the Chinese music scene. I don’t know much about Korean, because I don’t listen to it, but Japanese music has more variety. It’s not as homogenous as Chinese music, I feel, and, even compared to American music; it’s different that way. But I guess I’m kind of into the indie scene in Japan, because I guess they’re not really motivated by monetary concerns, they’re just out there to produce whatever music they want to do, so…

Cadenza: Do you listen to any popular music from Japan?

Hui: I do, yeah. I guess my taste is pretty eclectic.as long as it sounds good. It’s not like, “It’s mainstream, so it sucks.” I think a lot of mainstream music in Japan is really good. I guess in any kind of music there’s obviously going to be shitty artists that release shitty music and then complain about how people don’t buy there albums.but one of the main differences between mainstream music here and in Japan is, in Japan, a lot of the artists compose and write the lyrics themselves.well, they do everything themselves. Like, there’s Utada Hikaru. she actually debuted an album in the U.S. just last year in September, and so she arranges, composes, and writes lyrics to all of her songs, so she basically does everything, and she’s involved in producing the album.

Cadenza: But she’s still considered a pop star?

Hui: She is a pop star, most definitely. She’s probably one of the most popular ones there. It doesn’t sound really unique by Japanese standards, but when you compare it to music here, it’s still very different. In Japan, I feel like the most popular artists either write their own lyrics, compose their own music, or both. Of course.there’s this group called Morning Musume.it’s like a bunch of little girls jumping around, and a few of them sing, and the rest just kind of flop around on stage. They get pretty good sales for whatever reason, but if you listen to it, it’s complete garbage. But I feel like there’s going to be artists like that in any country, where, for whatever reason, they just happen to luck out. Usually, in general, most of the artists in Japan really need to have talent in order to succeed.

Cadenza: Is there anything that really separates Chinese pop music from Japanese pop music, or are they pretty similar?

Hui: They’re not similar at all. I feel like Chinese artists likewise do not compose their music most of the time, and they just rely on other composers, and.at least in the Hong Kong scene, the entertainment industry is based on looks more than anything else. It almost seems like a disrespect to music, I feel, at least in the Hong Kong scene. If you try to listen to any Cantonese music, I think it’s quite apparent that a lot of it is garbage. They all sound so similar that it’s like anyone could have composed it.

Cadenza: Can you talk about the AMA a little bit…like, is there any common ground in tastes that people share that kind of brings them together, or.how do you participate in the AMA? I know you’re the “honorary member” but.

Hui. I guess the music at this point is mainly Chinese music because the AMA first started off as the CMA, Chinese Music Association. When I became president, I wanted to expand it to incorporate more variety, so at this point it’s mainly Chinese music, and even so, people who are going to come to the karaoke nights to sing anything.I guess they appreciate mainstream music more, you know? It is mainstream, so a lot of the population tends to appreciate that more than anything that sounds a bit more novel.

Cadenza: So it might be less about the music than it is just coming together with your friends?

Hui: I don’t think I would say that.a lot of people go there to sing with their friends. And last year, we actually had a singing contest that we hosted in May Auditorium. But I think the radio show is where we can actually broadcast a more diverse collection of music, but we’re kind of on break now. But hopefully the radio show will be up again [this] semester. That’s where we broadcast more variety of music to expose the Wash. U. community to.

Popularity: 1% [?]

 Print This Post

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2006 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Cadenza. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.