California Polyphony: Ethnic Voices, Musical Crossroads

205 Pages·2008·2.34 MB·English

by  Mina Yang

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California Polyphony
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music in american life
A list of books in the series appears
at the end of this book.
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California
Polyphony
Ethnic Voices,
Musical Crossroads
mina yang
University of Illinois Press
urbana and chicago
i-xii_1-192_Yang.indd 3 1/7/08 9:51:57 AM
© 2008 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yang, Mina.
California polyphony : ethnic voices, musical crossroads /
Mina Yang.
p. cm. — (Music in American life)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13 978-0-252-03243-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10 0-252-03243-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Music—California—History and criticism.
2. Ethnicity in music.
3. Popular music—Social aspects—California.
I. Title.
ml200.7.c2y36 2008
780.9794—dc22 2007030766
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for my parents,
for their constant support
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Early History of California Cultural and Musical Life 11
2. The Transpacific Gaze: Orientalism, Queerness, and
Californian Experimentalism 33
3. A Thin Blue Line down Central Avenue: The LAPD and
the Demise of a Musical Hub 60
4. Noir Entanglements: Black Music, White Women,
and the Dark City 80
5. From the Mission Myth to Chicano Nationalism:
The Evolution of Mestizo Identities and Music 98
6. After Sa-i-ku: Korean American Hip-Hop since
the Rodney King Uprising 118
Conclusion 137
Notes 141
Works Cited 165
Index 179
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Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges permission granted from the following
copyright holders:
The David and Sylvia Teitelbaum Fund, as successors to Henry and Sidney
Cowell.
Regents of the University of California and the UCLA Oral History Pro-
gram, Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Li-
brary.
Hal Leonard Corporation for permission to reprint lyrics from “Tangerine”
from the Paramount Picture The Fleet’s In. Words by Johnny Mercer; Music
by Victor Schertzinger. Copyright © 1942 (Renewed 1969) by Famous Music
LLC. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
C. F. Peters Corporation for permission to reprint Lou Harrison’s First
Concerto for Flute and Percussion.
Guillermo E. Hernández for permission to reprint “Radios y Chicanos”
from the forthcoming Arhoolie CD 7046/47: The Chicano Experience. No
publisher or composer known.
Special thanks also to the staffs of the University of California music li-
braries at Berkeley, Los Angeles, and San Diego; the Bancroft Library at UC
Berkeley; UCLA and UCSD Special Collections; the San Francisco Public
Library; and the Los Angeles Public Library for their invaluable knowledge
and assistance.
Chapter 3 was originally published as “A Thin Blue Line down Central Av-
enue: The LAPD and the Demise of a Musical Hub” in Black Music Research
Journal 22, no. 2 (2002): 217–39. Reprinted by permission.
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