Nobuko Miyamoto: 120,000 Stories

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings - SFW40590

Series: Asian Pacific America Series
Format: 2 x CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2021
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Struggle & Protest
[Disk One: 2020]
01 We Are the Children (4:16)
02 Not Yo' Butterfly (4:19)
03 Gaman (6:27)
04 Tampopo (Dandelion) (6:08)
05 Somos Asiáticos (5:26)
06 Ichigo Ichie (4:37)
07 What Is the Color of Love? (7:26)
08 120,000 Stories (5:02)
09 Meditation on a Lotus (8:31)
10 Black Lives Matter (5:59)
11 What Time Is It on the Clock of the World? (3:49)
12 To All Relations / Tala‘a 'l-badru 'alaynā (3:03)
[Disk Two: 1973-2013]
01 Yellow Pearl (3:02)
02 Free the Land (3:36)
03 West to East (5:04)
04 Beckoning (3:31)
05 American Made (5:10)
06 English Lesson (6:20)
07 Pilipino Tango (7:23)
08 To All Relations (Mitakuye Oyasin) (6:24)
09 Fortunata (6:30)
10 Yuiyo Bon Odori (3:48)
11 Mottainai (3:37)
12 Cycles of Change) (4:27)
13 Bam Butsu, No Tsunagari (10,000 Things, All Connected) (6:26)
[Credits]
Nobuko Miyamoto (piano/vocals) Derek Nakamoto (piano/organ/synthesizer/vocals) Fender Rhodes (bass) Juan Pérez (bass) Tylana Enomoto (violin) Kenny Endo (taiko/percussion) Quetzal Flores (guitar) Juan Pérez (bass) Joey De Leon (congas/bongo/cow bell) Abe Lagrimas Jr.(drums) Gerald Albright (saxophone) Tetsuya Nakamura (harmonica) Asiyah Ayubbi (darbuka/vocals) Chris Iijima (guitar/vocals) William "Charlie" Chin (guitar) Attallah Ayyubi (conga) Benny Yee (piano) Russel Baba (saxophone) Gary Fitzgerald (bass) E.W. Wainright (drums) Derek Nakamoto (piano/keyboard/synthesizer) John Barnes (bass) Fender Rhodes (bass) Luis Conte (percussion) Dan Marfisi (percussion) Michael Paulo (saxophone) Young Ae Park (vocals) Danny Yamamoto (djembe/drums) Francis Awe (drums) Kell Elifson (guitar) June Kuramoto (koto) Jesse Acuna (berimbau) Sharon Koga (shamisen) George Abe (flute) Johnny Mori (taiko) César Castro (guitar/vocals) Sean Miura (shamisen) Danny Yamamoto (taiko) George Abe (yokobue) Juan Pérez (bass)
Liner Notes: Nobuko Miyamoto and Barbara Dane
[Notes]
Nobuko Miyamoto is an icon of Asian American music and activism. Since the early 1970s, she has been exploring ways to reclaim and respirit our minds, bodies, histories, and communities, using the arts to create social change and forge solidarity. 120,000 Stories collects powerful new songs, reinterpretations of old ones, and recordings from across her career, including from the seminal 1973 album A Grain of Sand and the band Warriors of the Rainbow. These songs speak to past and present struggles—for self-determination, Black Lives, the environment. They chronicle difficult histories, they celebrate resilient traditions, and most of all, they endeavor to connect communities.

A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America

Chris Kando Iijima, Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto, "Charlie" Chin

Paredon Records P-1020

Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1973
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Struggle & Protest
[Tracklist]
A1 Yellow Pearl (3:04)
A2 Wandering Chinaman (3:42)
A3 Imperialism Is Another Word For Hunger (3:21)
A4 Something About Me Today (3:35)
A5 Jonathan Jackson (3:21)
A6 We Are The Children (2:48)
B1 Warriors Of The Rainbow (4:12)
B2 Foolish Old Man Who Removed The Mountains (3:52)
B3 Somos Asiaticos (We Are Asians) (3:36)
B4 War Of The Flea (3:20)
B5 Divide And Conquer (2:57)
B6 Free The Land (3:35)
[Credits]
"Charlie" Chin (guitar/flute/vocals) Chris Iijima (guitar/vocals) Nobuko Miyamoto (maracas/vocals) Attalah (conga)
Producer: Barbara Dane, Liner Notes: Nobuko Miyamoto and Chris Iijima, Photographer: Bob Hsiang, Designer: Arlon Huang and Karl Matsuda, Engineer: Jonathan Thayer
[Notes]
A 1973 Paredon Records release, is widely recognized as the first album of Asian American music. Chris Kando Iijima, Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto, and William "Charlie" Chin deliver their activist message through simply–recorded acoustic guitars and vocals, with the occasional accompaniment of bongos, bass, and di zi, a Chinese flute. Soul, jazz, and blues elements are interwoven in the American folk style of the songs. The artists were also influenced by their solidarity with African American and Latin American social movements; for example, their musical collaboration with Puerto Rican duo Flora y Pepe and exposure to Latino artists while living in New York. The liner notes include a political statement by the musicians, lyrics, and a list of Asian American publications from the era.