On Saturday, June 27, 2009 at the NYU Skirball Center, Kollaboration New York took place in front of a sold out audience. According to their website:
“Kollaboration brings the search for groundbreaking Asian American talent to New York City, home to some of the greatest performers in the world.”

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Kollaboration is an annual event that also takes place in other cities (Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, Washington DC, Los Angeles) and is still expanding. Rather than having a set list of performers who tour the cities, it features mostly local artists so that each Kollaboration is different. Kollaboration New York 2009 began with a free Pinkberry event before the show that apparently malfunctioned but it was before I got there so I don’t know the details. However, I do know that they gave the audience vouchers or something to make up for it. When I arrived, the red carpet event was drawing to a close and they were getting ready to let the giant line/congregation of people in.

All photographers had to sit in the very first row which is a great seat to watch from but the angle for pictures is a little limiting. Then a couple minutes after 8PM the event began. I’ll give you a short overview of what happened. A list and longer description of all the performers can be found on the KollabNY blog and there were also several video cameras present so I am pretty sure most of the event will be viewable online in the near future. In the meantime, here’s what I can tell you.

The event was set up as a talent show with each performer “competing” for the $1500 first place prize and $500 second place prize. The judges of the event were Yin Chang (Nelly Yuki from Gossip Girl), Benson Lee (director of Planet B-Boy which you should go see if you haven’t), and Brigette Noh (executive producer for Chaos Theory Music).

First, there was a short Kollaboration video and then a message from Epik High’s Tablo about enjoying the show. Then the executive producer of Kollaboration, Roy Choi came out and talked about the event. He then introduced the host of the show, comedian Paul Kim (or PK), the founder and executive director of Kollaboration. He was pretty funny and kept the audience laughing. He told a lot of jokes about his childhood, being in a relationship, being Asian, and his childhood as a preacher’s kid. Then he introduced the first act, Tim Be Told, winners of the 2008 UVA Battle of the Bands.

Tim Be Told only performed one song but I personally liked it, even though I hadn’t heard their music before. After they finished, it took a long time to changeover the stage so PK had to keep on talking longer than he intended. He had a lot of funny things to say but the one that got the most laughs was when he talked about being a preacher’s kid. That’s how he started most of his jokes for the rest of the night when he had to keep on talking. So it sort of became a running joke but it didn’t get old.

The next act was Magnetic North featuring Taiyo Na who had a slideshow of pictures running behind them depicting the historical struggles faced by the Asian American community. Since there seems to be about Two Degrees of Separation within the Asian American performing arts community, you might remember that I met them a few weeks ago at the Vienna Teng event. They have also collaborated with her in the past.

Then 16-year-old Dylan Schroth from Jersey City performed a song on his guitar. There were several technical difficulties that he dealt with admirably until halfway through the song everything started working and the audience cheered. After him was Marie Choi, an R&B/Soul Band singer, who sang a slow soulful song about being ready for love.

The last act before special guest Eliot Chang and intermission was COBU, who I saw perform at Japan Day a month ago (two degrees!). I’m pretty sure they performed the same song but the lighting was more dramatic and the audience really liked them. COBU is a Japanese group that fuses taiko drumming and dancing, making them pretty unique. They had members playing the shamisen, dance solos, and dance solos with a shamisen.

After that performance, comedian Eliot Chang spoke for awhile. He was pretty funny like PK but they have different styles of humor and ways of speaking so it was different yet very enjoyable. He talked about a lot of different things, such as the difficulties of being Asian and trying to break into the comedy industry. In addition to making a lot of great facial expressions, he had the audience laughing at all of his jokes. It was a great time and when he had to finish up, no one wanted to see him leave.

Then it was intermission and a lot of people went out in the lobby to meet some of the performers who were also selling merchandise. There was also some networking going on.

With intermission ending, PK had a small singing contest with members from the audience. Three volunteers sang a segment from a song of their choice and then the audience cheered for the winner who won a prize. Most of the audience was Asian but there were quite a few other minorities in the audience as well.

Then to start off the second half of the show, dance group Bollywood Axion performed. With a combination of modern and traditional bhangra dance moves, they put on a really energetic show that got the audience hyped up. Continuing with the high-energy performances, dance company Project D came next. They probably had over 20 dancers who looked around high school to college age that were all really good at dancing. They had some cool things in their routine that got a lot of cheers, such as forming a human car (with wheels!) and shirts that lit up in the dark. (By lit, I mean that they had electrical lights that turned on and off in the shirts, not just glowed in the dark.) I could tell from the dancers’ expressions that they really enjoyed performing and so did the audience.

Then for a little break, PK asked for 4 audience volunteers to participate in a dance off with a $100 prize for the winner. It sort of turned into a breakdancing battle except that one guy from Florida busted out into Michael Jackson moves that got a lot of cheers and won him the prize. Back to the performers, singer/songwriter Kevin So came next, described by PK as perhaps the Asian equivalent of Bob Dylan. His performance with his guitar was mellower but he had some funny lyrics that a lot of people liked.

The last performer of the night was singer/songwriter and Columbia senior Alice Hu on the piano. She sang “New Romantics” which was more of a serious song and with her song coming to a close, the judges were left to tally up the scores. While everyone waited for the scores, all of the performers from the promotional “Closer” music video performed it live with the rest of the performers on stage with them. The lyrics to the song were printed in the back of the program so everyone else could sing along. The people performing “Closer” were Vudoo Soul, Taiyo Na, Magnetic North, Alfa Garcia, G*LEE, and Marie Choi. It was pretty magical.

Then the winners were announced. For second place, Project D and Kevin So tied. And for the Kollaboration New York 2009 winner…. COBU! They looked really happy but also very surprised. They were handed a big check and then posed for a picture. Then PK thanked the people that helped with making Kollaboration such a success and the show seemed to be over. But then a Michael Jackson tribute broke out featuring Vudoo Soul and Magnetic North with guest dancers from Project D and just about everyone else on stage. I found of a video of it here.

Then the show really was over and I felt so proud to be Asian. A lot of people hung out in the lobby afterwards to meet the performers and buy merchandise before heading over to the official afterparty. I headed back to New Jersey.

In case you were wondering, that’s 27 hyperlinks.
Until next time!