Louder and Faster

“Louder and Faster is a remarkable work of astounding breadth and originality. Theoretically engaged and written with a passion that reflects years of experience with its subject, the book is sure to become an instant classic.”—Shawn Bender, author of Taiko Boom: Japanese Drumming in Place and Motion “As an ethnomusicologist/drummer/activist, Deborah Wong illuminates how taiko is a product of and an instrument for Asian American community activism. This book provides a rare opportunity for readers to get inside a taiko player’s body and mind, experience her journey, and receive scholastic explanations on what happens to the players when they drum.”—Masumi Izumi, author of The Rise and Fall of America’s Concentration Camp Law: Civil Liberties Debates from the Internment to McCarthyism and the Radical 1960’s “Deborah Wong’s new book is a model of the very best in ethnomusicological love and care—it reminds me why I was drawn to ethnomusicology in the past and demonstrates that one does not need to be sentimental or naïve to write with love for musical practice nor flog oneself or one’s communities in order to critically attend to frustrations, divisions, debates, and dissonance. The book forges many new directions built respectfully from, and with full acknowledgement of, fruitful directions forged by others, carrying forward multiple field conversations in a spirit of community care and responsibility. I find myself influenced, charged, and much affected by this work.”—Sherrie Tucker, author of Dance Floor Democracy: The Social Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen “In this deeply moving account of southern California’s taiko scene, Deborah Wong captures the wide-ranging significance of taiko. She reveals what makes taiko so generative for Asian Americans, even as they negotiate its circulation in neoliberal multiculturalism and mediated racial fantasies. Louder and Faster is a revelatory book.”—Grace Wang, author of Soundtracks of Asian America: Navigating Race through Musical Performance