Lisa Kori presents

DAUGHTER OF THE WEST

Songs of Chinatowns, Japanese plantation workers, and the Old West

Admission: $20 at the door

Daughter of the West is a collection of songs borne of uncovering Lisa Kori’s roots in the American West. Stuck sitting in dusty Chinese general stores, her great-grandmother dreamed of being the first Chinese singer in Texas, a dream which sadly never came to pass. Her paternal great-great-grandfather became a Chinese-American activist in San Francisco Chinatown, frustrated with the erosion of Chinese civil rights. Her maternal great-grandfather voyaged from Japan to work the sugar cane fields in Hawaii, eventually making his way to California, only to be sent with his entire family to an internment camp during WWII.

While researching the history and contributions of Asian-Americans in the American West, Santa Fe-based musician Lisa Kori began to wonder what Chinese workers sang while building the railroad, and what Japanese workers sang while in the sugar plantation fields. Why didn’t these songs become part of the canon of American folk music? Lisa Kori’s music imagines if these cultural threads had seamlessly become ingrained in the musical culture of the American West.

The songs are written for a mixture of East Asian and Western instruments. The event will feature Lisa Kori on guitar and vocals, alongside two musicians who play in Eastern and Western folk music traditions, respectively. Between songs, Lisa Kori will share stories about what inspired her, historically and culturally.