Slanty Eyed Mama performance at the UW-Madison
Streams of consciousness
Streams of consciousness
Slanty-Eyed Mama boldly touched on a broad range of issues dealing with war and racial identity and everything in between. These choice nuggets came
so swiftly that it was pointless to try and grab hold of them. The best way to enjoy the show was to just sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride of emotion and
thought.
The cosmic ingredients for ‘Slanty-Eyed Mama’ began to come together when Rigg and Hung were students at Julliard. “‘Slanty Eyed Mama,’ which is one of
my core artistic outlets right now, happened because Lyris Hung — she was in the violin department — and I observed in each other a respect for classical art
and form, a respect for knowing your craft, while also having the courage to use the knowledge that you have with your classical tools to say something new in
the world,” Rigg said after their show. “And what we had to say, which was newish, was that our Asianness is secondary. We have this crazy s*** to say. Lyris is
obviously breaking boundaries just with the way she plays her violin. Someone in the audience compared her to Jimi Hendrix. It’s like ‘Who’s your favorite violin
player? Jimi Hendrix.’ That’s a radical thing. It’s not what you would expect someone to say. So that already is radical. Maybe on stage, I’m less radical because
I’m doing a normal thing. I’m doing rhymes. I’m talking about interesting things, but I’m using language with a lot of precision. But I’m not taking my own art
form, deconstructing it and reconstructing it on stage. She literally samples herself on stage. She literally deconstructs the sound that she is making on stage and
reconstructs them into a new whole. To me that is really exciting. I deconstruct ideas on stage and reconstruct them into a new whole. So it is a very compatible
artistic collaboration.”
And while ‘Slanty-Eyed Mama’ began as a collection of a couple of songs, it has expanded, in part, due to the audience reaction. “We had no idea when we
first went out that we would get any kind of response like this,” Hung said. We were absolutely shocked because we thought we were just making some music. We
thought we were doing some fun political satire. When we first played colleges, especially out in the middle of nowhere, we were really shocked. We went to tiny
little colleges. It was mind-blowing how the kids reacted. They were crying and telling us stories about their lives. And that has fueled more. Originally, we had a
few songs and a lot of characters. Then we started writing songs.”
“We’re still not done writing songs,” Rigg emphasized. “There still are topics piling up that we need to address. It’s really important when we write a song, for both
Lyris and myself, that it be a solid piece, that it is not a throwaway, that it is something that is going to sound good in two years because we are aware that we
are probably going to have to play that song in two years. No representation means every topic we hit, we want to hit it in a way that has a lasting and enduring
effect, even if it gets dated. If we talk about the Vincent Chin incident, I’m going to write about what it means. We’re trying to hit different parts of cultural history,
but it takes a long time to write a song you can play over and over again for years and not get tired of playing and still has some kind of resonance.”
Due to its challenging and sometimes profane content, conventional wisdom would dictate that the elderly might be put off by the content. Yet, during the
break of the show, an elderly Asian man got up to buy the group’s CD. “I think older generations — because of Orientalism and what they had to suffer in this
country — actually feel it more,” Rigg said. “They had a lot less privilege. People call in and talk to us because they really felt it. When we talk about racist
language, we have to be very careful because those things meant something really different back in the day. And they were used in a very harmful way. People
have very personal memories of those things. We’re a tiny bit flip with it, but also because I’m also speaking from now, you just have to drop kick that kind of
language. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten any kind of message from an older person that they were offended at all.”
While the group has played primarily at college campuses, they have also played in some unique milieus. “We showed up in Pennsylvania one time and it was
an Asian American group,” Hung recalled. “But it just so happened that a really big Christian community had also co-sponsored this event and we weren’t aware
of it. And they had a lot of people there. We did censor a little bit. They didn’t like it at all. They were mad. The sexual connotations were too much for them.
They wanted to run us out of there. That’s probably the most animosity that we have ever had.”
Rigg expects some degree of animosity and pressure. ‘Slanty-Eyed Mama’ is an attempt to break out of the Asian American mold of what everyone would
expect an Asian American group to be. “’Slanty-Eyed Mama’ should not have to bear the brunt of the responsibility of being artistic in one specific way because
the entire Asian American community is deciding we represent them,” Rigg emphasized. “That’s not right. We are representing a specific voice. We call it the
New Yorasian Voice, which it is a street-infused New York influenced Asian voice. That’s who we are. And so I completely welcome that sort of cringe of
experience for some people. That’s okay. And I have compassion for it and I respect it. But I also have to say it’s not going to dictate to me what I am going to
put on stage. I’m not aggressive toward it. I don’t feel offended by it. I just feel that this is what we are and this is what we do. We have to be clear about that. We
are fighting for the right cause. It just might not be the language that people want to hear. And that’s okay. On the other hand, I don’t think we should pretend
these issues don’t exist. And they just want to have a little fashion show and run away and that’s it.”
Rigg has been compared to Lenny Bruce many times. But she hopes that people will appreciate and accept her art and her message during her lifetime. “My
greatest fear — it’s something I’m working really hard on not to manifest — is to always be the misunderstood and under-seen genius, to live in potential for the
rest of my life,” Rigg said. “I don’t want to do that and I’m trying to use my brain to figure out how not to let that happen. If your core belief is that you are never
going to be properly seen or recognized, then that kind of comes true, actually.” Dreams can and do come true.
so swiftly that it was pointless to try and grab hold of them. The best way to enjoy the show was to just sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride of emotion and
thought.
The cosmic ingredients for ‘Slanty-Eyed Mama’ began to come together when Rigg and Hung were students at Julliard. “‘Slanty Eyed Mama,’ which is one of
my core artistic outlets right now, happened because Lyris Hung — she was in the violin department — and I observed in each other a respect for classical art
and form, a respect for knowing your craft, while also having the courage to use the knowledge that you have with your classical tools to say something new in
the world,” Rigg said after their show. “And what we had to say, which was newish, was that our Asianness is secondary. We have this crazy s*** to say. Lyris is
obviously breaking boundaries just with the way she plays her violin. Someone in the audience compared her to Jimi Hendrix. It’s like ‘Who’s your favorite violin
player? Jimi Hendrix.’ That’s a radical thing. It’s not what you would expect someone to say. So that already is radical. Maybe on stage, I’m less radical because
I’m doing a normal thing. I’m doing rhymes. I’m talking about interesting things, but I’m using language with a lot of precision. But I’m not taking my own art
form, deconstructing it and reconstructing it on stage. She literally samples herself on stage. She literally deconstructs the sound that she is making on stage and
reconstructs them into a new whole. To me that is really exciting. I deconstruct ideas on stage and reconstruct them into a new whole. So it is a very compatible
artistic collaboration.”
And while ‘Slanty-Eyed Mama’ began as a collection of a couple of songs, it has expanded, in part, due to the audience reaction. “We had no idea when we
first went out that we would get any kind of response like this,” Hung said. We were absolutely shocked because we thought we were just making some music. We
thought we were doing some fun political satire. When we first played colleges, especially out in the middle of nowhere, we were really shocked. We went to tiny
little colleges. It was mind-blowing how the kids reacted. They were crying and telling us stories about their lives. And that has fueled more. Originally, we had a
few songs and a lot of characters. Then we started writing songs.”
“We’re still not done writing songs,” Rigg emphasized. “There still are topics piling up that we need to address. It’s really important when we write a song, for both
Lyris and myself, that it be a solid piece, that it is not a throwaway, that it is something that is going to sound good in two years because we are aware that we
are probably going to have to play that song in two years. No representation means every topic we hit, we want to hit it in a way that has a lasting and enduring
effect, even if it gets dated. If we talk about the Vincent Chin incident, I’m going to write about what it means. We’re trying to hit different parts of cultural history,
but it takes a long time to write a song you can play over and over again for years and not get tired of playing and still has some kind of resonance.”
Due to its challenging and sometimes profane content, conventional wisdom would dictate that the elderly might be put off by the content. Yet, during the
break of the show, an elderly Asian man got up to buy the group’s CD. “I think older generations — because of Orientalism and what they had to suffer in this
country — actually feel it more,” Rigg said. “They had a lot less privilege. People call in and talk to us because they really felt it. When we talk about racist
language, we have to be very careful because those things meant something really different back in the day. And they were used in a very harmful way. People
have very personal memories of those things. We’re a tiny bit flip with it, but also because I’m also speaking from now, you just have to drop kick that kind of
language. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten any kind of message from an older person that they were offended at all.”
While the group has played primarily at college campuses, they have also played in some unique milieus. “We showed up in Pennsylvania one time and it was
an Asian American group,” Hung recalled. “But it just so happened that a really big Christian community had also co-sponsored this event and we weren’t aware
of it. And they had a lot of people there. We did censor a little bit. They didn’t like it at all. They were mad. The sexual connotations were too much for them.
They wanted to run us out of there. That’s probably the most animosity that we have ever had.”
Rigg expects some degree of animosity and pressure. ‘Slanty-Eyed Mama’ is an attempt to break out of the Asian American mold of what everyone would
expect an Asian American group to be. “’Slanty-Eyed Mama’ should not have to bear the brunt of the responsibility of being artistic in one specific way because
the entire Asian American community is deciding we represent them,” Rigg emphasized. “That’s not right. We are representing a specific voice. We call it the
New Yorasian Voice, which it is a street-infused New York influenced Asian voice. That’s who we are. And so I completely welcome that sort of cringe of
experience for some people. That’s okay. And I have compassion for it and I respect it. But I also have to say it’s not going to dictate to me what I am going to
put on stage. I’m not aggressive toward it. I don’t feel offended by it. I just feel that this is what we are and this is what we do. We have to be clear about that. We
are fighting for the right cause. It just might not be the language that people want to hear. And that’s okay. On the other hand, I don’t think we should pretend
these issues don’t exist. And they just want to have a little fashion show and run away and that’s it.”
Rigg has been compared to Lenny Bruce many times. But she hopes that people will appreciate and accept her art and her message during her lifetime. “My
greatest fear — it’s something I’m working really hard on not to manifest — is to always be the misunderstood and under-seen genius, to live in potential for the
rest of my life,” Rigg said. “I don’t want to do that and I’m trying to use my brain to figure out how not to let that happen. If your core belief is that you are never
going to be properly seen or recognized, then that kind of comes true, actually.” Dreams can and do come true.
Kate Rigg (left) and Lyris Hung perform ‘Slanty
Eyed Mama
Eyed Mama
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 2 of 2
It was hard to fathom what I walked into April 5 in the Humanities Building on the UW-Madison campus.
As the conclusion to their annual Asian American Voices seminar, the Association of Asian American
Graduate Students and other organizations sponsored a performance of ‘Slanty-Eyed Mama’ by Kate Rigg
on vocals and Lyris Hung on electric violin.
For the next hour or so, Rigg and Hung sent a steady stream of electrifying hip-hopish consciousness
toward the audience. Rigg’s Lenny Bruce like lyrics and half sung-half spoken presentation blended with
Hung’s sometimes frantic violin melodies to throw thought after challenging thought — sometimes random,
sometimes connected — in rapid fire at everyone so fast that they cut directly to the visceral being in all of
us, which would laugh and cry and get angry without waiting for the conscious self to take hold.
Part 2 of 2
It was hard to fathom what I walked into April 5 in the Humanities Building on the UW-Madison campus.
As the conclusion to their annual Asian American Voices seminar, the Association of Asian American
Graduate Students and other organizations sponsored a performance of ‘Slanty-Eyed Mama’ by Kate Rigg
on vocals and Lyris Hung on electric violin.
For the next hour or so, Rigg and Hung sent a steady stream of electrifying hip-hopish consciousness
toward the audience. Rigg’s Lenny Bruce like lyrics and half sung-half spoken presentation blended with
Hung’s sometimes frantic violin melodies to throw thought after challenging thought — sometimes random,
sometimes connected — in rapid fire at everyone so fast that they cut directly to the visceral being in all of
us, which would laugh and cry and get angry without waiting for the conscious self to take hold.