No-No Boy @ Songbyrd Music House [DC] - 5/15/2022
No-No Boy at Songbyrd Music House in DC (Photo ©2022 Mauricio Castro)
Some kids move because their parents take new jobs /
Some kids move ĘĽcause of Napalm.
-”Khmerica” by No-No Boy
The musical definition of folk music is fluid based on what part of the world you’re asking the question in, but one thing that doesn’t change is that it is a storytelling vehicle, one that can be passed down from one generation to the next. And by that definition, No-No Boy is the folk artist that we need right now. Born out of PhD research at Brown University, Julian Saporiti’s musical project brings stories of immigrants and refugees to life, showing that history continues to rhyme to this day. Saporiti and his fiancée/musical partner Emilia Halvorsen sang soft-spoken, but powerful tunes accompanied by a MIDI pad full of historical audio clips recorded in Japanese internment camps. The songs depicted bands playing in those camps (“The Best Goddamn Band in Wyoming”), Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s trying to flee across the Pacific in overcrowded boats (“Boat People”), and immigrants trying to find belonging in a foreign place (“Little Saigon”). Each song was accompanied by historical images relating to the song - an Asian man in a Ramones t-shirt in 70s-era NYC, couples dancing in internment camps, bombs falling over Southeast Asia.
Saporiti’s retelling of these stories in a modern context is not something that should go overlooked. Stories, not stuffy papers, are an effective way for academics to make the public care about a story. His “school project run amok” is a reminder that while we’ve made progress as a society, we’re not free of many of the evils that plagued those before us. Xenophobia and racism are still here, and No-No Boy doesn’t want us to forget that, or the immigrants and refugees that helped us make it this far.
No-No Boy’s sophomore album 1975 is out now on Smithsonian Folkways.
Opening for No-No Boy was DC-based folk/rock group Rosie Cima and What She Dreamed. Their debut album Realm of the Warring Gods is out now on This Could Go Boom!.
Photos by Mauricio Castro
SETLIST
The Best God Damn Band in Wyoming
Boat People
Minidoka
Tell Hanoi I Love Her
Tony Ramone
Khmerica
Imperial Twist
Two Candles in the Dark
Little Saigon