Sound Check! The Music We Make, an exhibit on view at the Wing Luke Museum through October 6, 2024 is a vibrant medley of cultural identities, personal histories, and community resilience. This exhibit is a testament to how sound and music connect us to our roots, shape our identities, and inspire our communities. Through conversations with three pivotal members of the community advisory committee (CAC)—Mako Kikuchi, Del Tunupopo, and Roger Rigor—the International Examiner explores the deep connections between sound, culture, and community.
Mako Kikuchi: Weaving Sound and Memory
Mako Kikuchi’s work, and his contributions to Sound Check!, are rooted in the intersection of identity, memory, and community. He was part of the primary CAC and was hired to create two soundscapes drawn from sounds of the community, which became “Musical Backstories” and the “Songs that Shaped Our Identities” in the exhibit. These raw and unfiltered sound collages invite visitors to experience the intimate voices of the Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community.
Kikuchi has been involved with the Wing Luke Museum for many years as an educator and artist, contributing to exhibits such as Lullabies, Resisters, and Uprooted and Invisible. He is on the music faculty at South Seattle College.
International Examiner: Can you share with the readers any unique facts about you?
Mako Kikuchi: Some readers probably know me as Paul. I’ve recently decided to retire that name in favor of my middle name, which is also my grandfather’s Japanese name, Mako. I’ve been thinking a lot about what my Japanese American ancestors endured during the war and what my family, and our community more broadly, lost during that time: family heirlooms destroyed, photographs burned, cultural practices and names erased. The decision to use my Japanese name is a reclamation, not just for me but for my ancestors.
So, ancestral healing is certainly part of my journey right now both artistically and personally. I am also finding great energy in surrounding myself with artists and thinkers who are exploring similar themes. We’ve recently founded the “Yonsei マフィア,” a creative collective that explores JA identity in the context of cultural reclamation, allyship, and collective liberation. Watch out for us!
One other project I’m involved with I’d like to share is the music archive at the Northwest Nikkei Heritage Museum. I serve as an advisor for a large collection of community-donated 78s and acetate recordings dating from 1900 – 1960. Currently we are in the process of digitizing home recorded acetate discs, some of which were recorded by our community while in WW2 incarceration camps. To follow our work be sure to join the Japanese Cultural and Community Center newsletter.
IE: Are there little treasures within the exhibit you wish to share with readers that you hope they experience?
MK: The thing I find most impactful is the breadth and the scale [of the exhibit]. It highlights the famous bands and musicians we all know but also the local artists, past and present, who have helped shape and hold together our communities. Walking through the exhibit, there are so many vignettes to explore; I feel like each time I visit the exhibit I uncover new aspects of how music has shaped the Asian American experience.
IE: Can you share with the readers what songs are in your playlist?
MK: A couple artists in heavy rotation in my recent playlists are Little Simz and Caetano Veloso (Jóia album especially). My 3-year old daughter has also recently discovered 45 rpm singles, so we have been listening to a lot of Motown soul together on her toy turntable.
IE: Can you share projects that you are excited about?
MK: I’m creating soundscapes for the Seattle Japanese Garden Moon Viewing event on 9/12/24 and 9/13/24. Folks can also keep an eye out for my new album, In Shadows, which I created in collaboration with the Omoide Project. It will be available in early 2025.
Make. Photo by Dawn Dailey.
Del Tunupopo: The Rhythm of the Pacific
Del Tunupopo brings the sounds of the Pacific Islands to life in Sound Check! emphasizing the importance of representation and visibility for Pacific Islanders within the broader Asian American narrative. Del’s reflections of beating drums, a symbol of unity and cultural pride in the Pacific Islands, highlight the significance of sound in bringing communities together.
Del’s journey from Samoa to Seattle is one of cultural preservation, ensuring that the rhythms of the Pacific are not lost but celebrated and understood within the diaspora. As a CAC member, she advocated for representing Pacific Islander perspectives, showcasing their rich musical culture.
Del’s passion for community building is also evident in their work with UTOPIA (United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance), where she serves as the MANA program manager. Del’s efforts to bridge the gaps between intergenerational groups through wellness, fashion, language, and performing arts continue to strengthen the bonds within the Pacific Islander community in the Pacific Northwest.
IE: What was one of your favorite lullabies or songs growing up as a child within your cultural community that you’d want readers to learn about?
Del Tunupopo: Every evening at 6pm, the village has a curfew. This is a time of prayer and hymns. “Ua So’ona olioli’ is a hymn every Samoan in the islands or in diaspora knows this song, as an evening prayer or church hymn during church service. It’s the song of our ancestors.
IE: Can you share with the readers what songs are in your playlist?
DT: I love Island music. Hawaiian music. Na Pal apalai, Josh Tatofi, Anivas, and Maoli’s You Can Have It All [is a song she is really dancing to a lot this summer.]
IE: Can you share projects that you are excited about?
DT: MANAFEST will have a display in the Wing Luke Museum’s East Lightwell for the month of September. The display will feature lei and handcrafted fashions by Pacific Islander designers. There will also be a personal item featured in the upcoming exhibit, “Lost & Found: Searching for Home,” opening at The Wing November 15.
I’d also like to highlight APCC, in Tacoma Washington. Every year they highlight sounds of the Pacific Islands. Every Island from the Cook Islands to Fiji, Thailand’s Islands, Samoa, Guam, have opportunities to be on stage.
Roger Rigor: The Melody of Resistance and Reflection
Roger Rigor’s story is one of resilience and reflection, using music as a tool for resistance and cultural expression. He is a trailblazing traditional and popular rock musician in the Philippines, where music served as a form of protest through traditional kundiman- disguised as love songs during Spanish occupation. Roger has always seen music as a powerful medium for change.
Roger’s contributions to the exhibit celebrate Filipino music while also serving as a reminder of the broader struggles and triumphs of Asian and Pacific Islander communities. His passion for education and community engagement shines through in his work, inspiring future generations to connect with their cultural roots through music. Roger’s reflections on the power of music to inspire action are a call to the community to engage with the world around them through sound and song.
Roger’s involvement in the exhibit is also deeply personal, rooted in his experiences as a Filipino immigrant in the United States. He left the Philippines during a time of upheaval under an oppressive regime, and forged an identity dedicated to his passion for teaching math, science, and climate change to the youth. His work with the community, particularly in the realms of education and cultural preservation, underscores his belief in the importance of cultural identity and the role of music in maintaining that identity across generations.
IE: Can you tell me who made the initial proposal for “Sound Check!”, or how it was inspired into creation?
Roger Rigor: The Wing Luke gave me the notice that this exhibit was in the process and was invited to participate. It was quite a diverse age range-classical, traditional, and I was one of the voices who shaped it into what it is. The CAC were given the green light to display all of our music that we’ve done all of these years. It was a privilege to be a part of the group. The Wing Luke Museum, and Jessica Rubinacker, the Director of Exhibits, called me. Jessica was one of my Tagalog students during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
IE: Can you tell the readership of the IE who the primary CAC was?
RR: There were more than 12 in the primary CAC, and we met asynchronously. Jessica met with each member of the exhibit. It was made from different sources, an archivist from the east coast, students, educators, DJs from a radio, and elders from the community. It came from a large sector and perspective from Asian and Pacific Islanders communities.I learned a lot.
IE: What was one of your favorite lullabies or songs growing up as a child within your cultural community that you’d want readers to learn about?
RR: There was one song I played last night, a lullaby about longing and expressing the beauty of home. It’s ilocano music. It’s a lilting music I heard from my mother, and it brings me back to my childhood. DARDAREPDEPEC NGA AGNANAYON is the title in Ilocano. The lilting melody is so soothing.
IE: Can you share projects that you are excited about?
RR: I’ll be one of two bikers to cycling to Vancouver BC this weekend for our initial RIDE FOR THE PHILIPPINES northbound leg (we just finished Seattle to Portland last July); our humble effort to create awareness to our relief campaign for the vulnerable fisherfolks along the Philippine typhoon belt that’s now beginning to feel the impact of a changing climate—once welcomed in the planting season. The wet season is now feared because of the strong winds.
I had the great opportunity to collaborate with a band from San Francisco—Bootleg Orchestra—-and composed a song that premiered last May as part of a documentary. The title of the song is “Reach Out.” And I see that it’s now on Spotify…yeah, I think the footage of it is part of “Sound Check!” We are hoping the documentary can be shown in Seattle.
A Symphony of Voices
Together, Mako Kikuchi, Del Tunupopo, and Roger Rigor have created a symphony of voices that resonate throughout Sound Check! Their contributions, along with those of other CAC members, have shaped an auditory panorama that reflects the diverse cultural landscape of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Their stories and contributions remind us that music is not just an art form but a vital expression of identity, resistance, and community. As visitors walk through the exhibit, they are invited to listen closely—to the drums of the Pacific, the soundscapes of memory, and the melodies of resistance—and to find their own place within this powerful narrative.
Sound Check! is on view through October 6, 2024.
