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Speak It Louder: Asian Americans Making Music.

Article Excerpt
Speak It Louder: Asian Americans Making Music. By Deborah Wong. New York: Routledge, 2004. [xii, 388 p. ISBN 0415970407. $29.95.] Index, bibliography, compact disc.

Speak It Louder: Asian Americans Making Music, one of the first authoritative books exclusively about Asian American music in general, is not about "Asian American music" per se nor solely about contemporary Asian "makers of music" (p. 321), but more about power and representation of race exemplified and discussed in the context of the music and performances of Asian Americans. Much of the discussion is framed in terms of interethnic contact, race relations between Black and White, and the often understated or overlooked role of Yellow (at least until now) in the color dynamics of musical performance.

In order to prepare her readers (students and scholars), Deborah Wong introduces the work with a dense theoretical discussion of performativity and raises the question of the existence of the straw man, "Asian American music." She approaches her writing through ethnography including rich observation, participation in the process of performance, and highly telling...

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