The musical activities of the Chinese American communities in the San Francisco Bay Area: A social and cultural study

Musical performance activities of the Chinese communities in the San Francisco Bay Area today are indices of ethnic and cultural identities, meeting particular social and personal needs. From the diverse musical institutions in which Chinese Americans participate I focus on Chinese opera clubs, traditional instrumental groups, Western classical music study, Chinese choruses, and Chinese American jazz groups. The American condition of overseas Chinese who are far from home and indigenous traditions, yet live in a concentrated Chinese community, is a special situation to which most immigrant musicians have to adjust. First generation immigrants are using music as a vehicle to assimilate into the new society, whereas new fusion styles such as Chinese American jazz have been created because of the second and third generation Chinese Americans' need to search for a new identity. My conclusion is that even though social needs play a greater role than musical needs in building musical institutions and determining activities, the unique social and cultural climate in the San Francisco Bay Area not only helps to preserve many traditional musical styles but also to develop new Asian American musical genres which contribute to the multicultural American music.