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Crossing East Music Features

What are they?

pick a program

Crossing East Music Features are five-minute interviews with and explorations of an Asian American artist and music. There are eight features - each one corresponds to the general theme of each show. The features were created so that radio stations without newsbreaks can fill the five-minute newsbreak hole with Crossing East-related work. Some of these programs will show up on our weekly podcast as well.

Check out the Artists page for more information and links to webpages about the featured musicians.

Who are they about?

Program One: Angelo Pizarro, Guitar Player and Composer. *APPEARS IN PODCAST SELECTIONS*
Angelo Pizarro comes from a musical family. Born in the Philippines, he shares Filipino folk, jazz, and blues with the Seattle music scene.

Audio - Hear the Angelo Pizarro segment (streaming - opens in new window)

Program Two: Wilma Pang, Professor of Music
Wilma Pang, Professor at San Francisco City College, shares the influence of Chinese opera, a rapidly-disappearing art form, wherever she can.

Audio - Hear the Wilma Pang segment (streaming - opens in new window)

Program Three: Ledward Kaapana, Master Slack Key Guitarist
Musicians like Led Kaapana and Ozzie Katani find slack key guitar an integral part of sharing Hawaiian roots and community.

Audio - Hear the Ledward Kaapana segment (streaming - opens in new window)

Program Four: Russel Baba and Jeannie Aiko Mercer of Shasta Taiko
Taiko drummers find a sense of strength and a melding of their Japanese and American identities through the drums.

Audio - Hear the Shasta Taiko segment (streaming - opens in new window)

Program Five: Jared Rehberg, Singer/Songwriter
Many adoptees from Vietnam are now sharing the 30th anniversary of the 'Operation Babylift' that brought them here - some through poetry and song.

Audio - Hear the Jared Rehberg segment (streaming - opens in new window)

Program Six: Jon Jang, Jazz Pianist
Pianist Jon Jang and other Chinese American muscians saw a parallel to their own experience in the black experience of the 1960s.

Audio - Hear the Jon Jang segment (streaming - opens in new window)

Program Seven: Daran Kravanh, Accordionist
After experiencing the horror of the Khmer Rouge experience, Daran Kravanh credits an accordion that appeared on a stump in a forest with saving his life.

Audio - Hear the Daran Kravanh segment (streaming - opens in new window)

Program Eight: Aishwarya Venkataraman, Violinist
At the age of 13 Aishwarya is a remarkable player in any culture - she plays traditional Indian music as well as western Classical music and bluegrass.

Audio - Hear the Aishwarya Venkataraman segment (streaming - opens in new window)

  © 2006 MediaRites - Contact Web Designer Sara Kolbet

Hosted By


George Takei

Margaret Cho


Major funding
provided by


The Corporation for Public Broadcasting

With additional
support from


National Endowment for the Arts


Oregon Council
for the Humanities

And underwriting support from