hip hop artist – mondega – for the people – album drops 10-1-10

Artist Summary

Genres:
Hip Hop – Soul – Progressive Rap

Independent Label:
Traysetterz Music Group

Artist Bio

Mondega is a hip-hop artist whose music is well acclaimed by human- rights activists, universities and Asian youths throughout the United States, Canada and Southeast Asia. As an up-coming and influential emcee, his music is described as uplifting and inspiring. Mondega uses hip-hop as a tool to speak on behalf of the misguided Asian youths living in America and for his people suffering back home in Southeast Asia. His music is well-respected because it empowers and raises awareness about issues rarely spoken about in today’s Asian hip-hop scenes.

Bom “Mondega” Siu was born on October 14, 1987 in the 2nd district of Gia Lai, in the central highlands of Vietnam. As a young boy growing up, he helped his impoverished family by spending his days roaming and hustling the streets. He would gamble the little money he made playing bau cua ca cop, a Vietnamese game with three dices. Being raised through poverty, political corruption and genocide, Mondega lived and experienced what most people took for granted. The idea of becoming a hip-hop artist never existed in his mind, but everything changed when his family fled to the United States as refugees seeking asylum in 1996.

More About Mondega

While living in a refugee housing community in Raleigh, North Carolina, Mondega, his older brother and two sisters went to school as poor immigrant kids trying to adjust in America. They lived and played in a neighborhood where drugs and crime were normal albeit a small step up from the living conditions in Gia Lai and the Saigon slums. Mondega first experienced music when his older brother formed a Montagnard band called Bajaraka. Making friends was a challenge in Raleigh for Mondega, so he began going to Bajaraka’s weekend practices and became a helper and a guest singer. While attending community events and performing on stage, he noticed how separated the

youths were against their own culture and identity. As a young man adapting and learning America’s cultures, he watched his friends joined gangs and sold drugs. Through Bajaraka, he wanted to change that factor, but Montagnard music was not enough to reach out to the crowd he wanted.

Hip-hop first gained his attention when a friend played Tupac, Wu-Tang Clan and DMX’s records on his stereo. At first, it sounded odd to him, but as he became fluent in English, this weird sounding music became the very tool he is using now to reach out to his youths. Life in America have never been a walk in the park for Mondega. Over the years, Mondega have shared the same struggles as his listeners. No matter what is going on, hip-hop is his form of therapy and an escape from a world full of adversities.

Mondega’s overall goal is to reach out to everyone who can relate, and empower them through peace, understanding, philosophies and hip-hop. Mondega speaks the truth in the purest format with creative melodies, catchy hooks, and self-reflecting lyrics.

His forthcoming LP, For the People, is his third and most personal album to date.

· http://mondegamusic.com · http://bommsiu.bandcamp.com · facebook.com/mondega
· bommsiu@gmail.com

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>>First ever Asian “Feastival” to take place in Queens

Photograph: Robyn Lee

Queens, NY – The first annual Asian Feastival showcasing the best of Asian cuisine will take place on September 6 from noon to 5 pm. All proceeds will benefit the Food Bank for New York City and City Harvest.

Festivities include tastings from twenty of the borough’s finest Asian restaurants, beer, sake, wine, and Asian beverage tastings, cookbook signings, and cooking demonstrations throughout the day.

The festival will take place at the Sheraton LaGuardia East at 135-20 39^th Avenue in Flushing. For more information please visit www.asianfeastival.com.

Bay

>>OCA to celebrate Asian American Athletes at gala

Oakland – The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) is proud to announce its new sponsor—McDonald’s, for its 23^rd annual fundraising gala.

This year’s event, Celebrating Asian American Athletes, will take place on September 4. Invited athletes include Amy Chow, Kevin Tan, Peanut Louie, Max Zhang, and Golden State Warrior rookie Jeremy Lin. OCA will also present Rick Quan’s project to celebrate Asian-American athletes.

The event will also include a silent auction and a chance to bid on a dance with Olympic gold medalist figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

For more information please visitwww.ocaeastbay.org or call (415) 392-9688.

Arts

>>Four artists take residence in de Young Museum

San Francisco – Four Asian American artists—Ala Ebtekar, Julie Chang, Pireeni Sundaralingam, and Erika Chong Shuch will work with Kearny Street Workshop in the de Young artist studio to develop their new projects.

You can visit and observe the four at work during the de Young Artist Studio hours: Wednesdays through Sundays from 1-5 pm and Fridays from 1-8:45 pm. Events include a 3 pm lecture by Sundaralingam on September 18, a closing reception on September 24 at 6 pm, and film presentations by Shuch at 6 pm. Admission to the de Young’s Kimball Education gallery is free of charge. For more information please visit www.deyoung.famsf.org.

>>Great Leap to screen green-friendly music video

Los Angeles – Multicultural arts organization Great Leap recently announced the premier of their music video “B.Y.O. CHOPSTIX,” a production highlighting the environmental impact of wooden chopsticks.

The project came about when Great Leap founder Noboku Miyamoto learned that over 100 billion pairs of chopsticks were thrown away each year, crowding landfills across the world. She responded by bringing her own pair of chopsticks everywhere she went.

The video has already been released at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n65SuQKverM. A live screening of the video will take place on September 11, 7 pm at the Baldwin Overlook State Park located at 6300 Hetzler Road in Los Angeles. For more information or to purchase tickets please visitwww.greatleap.org or call (213) 250-8000.

http://www.asianweek.com/2010/08/26/daily-dose-82510/

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