2020 Alan Merriam Prize for Best Book Published in Ethnomusicology, Society for Ethnomusicology

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Louder and Faster is a cultural study of the phenomenon of Asian American taiko, the thundering, athletic drumming tradition that originated in Japan. Immersed in the taiko scene for twenty years, Deborah Wong has witnessed cultural and demographic changes and the exponential growth and expansion of taiko particularly in Southern California. Through her participatory ethnographic work, she reveals a complicated story embedded in memories of Japanese American internment and legacies of imperialism, Asian American identity and politics, a desire to be seen and heard, and the intersection of culture and global capitalism. Exploring the materialities of the drums, costumes, and bodies that make sound, analyzing the relationship of these to capitalist multiculturalism, and investigating the gender politics of taiko, Louder and Faster considers both the promises and pitfalls of music and performance as an antiracist practice. The result is a vivid glimpse of an Asian American presence that is both loud and fragile.

About the Author

Deborah Wong is Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Riverside. She is the author of Sounding the Center and Speak it Louder.

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"Wong’s thick analysis of her sources has resulted in a book that effectively addresses all aspects of taiko. . . .Her exceptional skill at descriptive language and weaving together word, picture, and sound results in an engaging, entertaining, and relatable account."
— California History

“Louder and Faster is a remarkable work of astounding breadth and originality. Theoretically engaged and written with a passion that reflects years of experience with its subject, the book is sure to become an instant classic.”—Shawn Bender, author of Taiko Boom: Japanese Drumming in Place and Motion

“As an ethnomusicologist/drummer/activist, Deborah Wong illuminates how taiko is a product of and an instrument for Asian American community activism. This book provides a rare opportunity for readers to get inside a taiko player’s body and mind, experience her journey, and receive scholastic explanations on what happens to the players when they drum.”—Masumi Izumi, author of The Rise and Fall of America’s Concentration Camp Law: Civil Liberties Debates from the Internment to McCarthyism and the Radical 1960’s

“Deborah Wong’s new book is a model of the very best in ethnomusicological love and care—it reminds me why I was drawn to ethnomusicology in the past and demonstrates that one does not need to be sentimental or naïve to write with love for musical practice nor flog oneself or one’s communities in order to critically attend to frustrations, divisions, debates, and dissonance. The book forges many new directions built respectfully from, and with full acknowledgement of, fruitful directions forged by others, carrying forward multiple field conversations in a spirit of community care and responsibility. I find myself influenced, charged, and much affected by this work.”—Sherrie Tucker, author of Dance Floor Democracy: The Social Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen

“In this deeply moving account of southern California’s taiko scene, Deborah Wong captures the wide-ranging significance of taiko. She reveals what makes taiko so generative for Asian Americans, even as they negotiate its circulation in neoliberal multiculturalism and mediated racial fantasies. Louder and Faster is a revelatory book.”—Grace Wang, author of Soundtracks of Asian America: Navigating Race through Musical Performance

Awards

Alan Merriam Prize 2020 2020, Society for Ethnomusicology

About the Book