Hoops, pop music, performance art and storytelling concluded the 28th annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration Sunday, hosted by the Asian Pacific American Student Union.
“By inviting Asian-American performers to campus, holding workshops and by promoting the diversity of Asian-American culture, we hoped to bring more awareness to who we are and what we’re about,” APASU co-director Dawn Liu said. “Celebrating your culture and heritage should be a year-round effort for everyone; but for the month of May, it was our turn to really showcase what we’ve got, and I think everyone had a great time doing it.”
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month began in 1979 as Asian Heritage Week, established by Congressional proclamation. On October 23, 1992, President George Bush signed legislation into law proclaiming May of each year Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
As part of this year’s festivities, APASU hosted the first Heritage Invitational 5-on-5 SuperFly Basketball Tournament at the Gerlinger Annex Saturday. The first, second and third place teams were awarded trophies at the main event Saturday evening in the EMU Ballroom.
This year’s APASU finale, put together by more than 30 active APASU volunteers and five months of planning, featured two entertainment performances and drew a crowd of more than 300 people.
Innerlude, a Filipino group from the San Francisco Bay Area, has created a unique style, combining the soul sounds of R&B, a smooth blend of pop and a touch of a cappella. Innerlude is composed of a trio of talented musicians and vocalists. Innerlude members, brothers Eric and James Visperas and longtime friend Cyrus Mallare, are no strangers to success. They have performed with the industry’s best in hip-hop and R&B, including Bone Thugs & Harmony, LL Cool J, Mase, Missy Elliot, Mya and N’Sync. Their experiences have been stepping stones to their debut album “Music Within,” released in August 1999.
Liu and co-director Emmy So said Innerlude was chosen because Asian-American musicians are seldom seen in the mainstream media.
“It is something that shows Asian-Americans are represented in pop culture and not just the old stuff you learn in history,” said APASU historian Michelle Chin, a sophomore majoring in biology and psychology.
Alex Luu, a performance artist, independent filmmaker, workshop director and teacher, brought his one-man show, “Three Lives,” to the event. Luu has been performing the show since 1997 at theaters, communities, colleges and high school campuses nationwide.
“Three Lives” is a solo performance piece that tells the Asian-American experience and autobiographical tale of the artist’s harrowing escape from Saigon, Vietnam, as a refugee, to the comical and painful phases of assimilation in the United States where traditional culture and individuality collide.
“As a performer, speaking for myself, in adding to the entertainment and celebrating heritage, this is one of the few times you can hear the voices of Asian-Americans,” Luu said.
Luu said his show discusses Asian-Americans through four different Asian-American male perspectives ­ his grandfather, father, cousin and himself. He added that his performance is a progressive way of breaking stereotypes and celebrating the humanity of collective Asian-American experiences.