ABSTRACT
This chapter examines both the political agendas of the musicians in question and also their reaction to the burden of representation that is often foisted upon them by others in an attempt to reflect the complexity of cultural and political responses. It focuses on the tension manifested between artistic and political agendas and also considers the effectiveness of the latter when expressed within the context of the highly commercialized music scene. Music has always been at the forefront of cultural expression and for minority groups throughout history has often been the only way to articulate individual and collective expressions of both pleasure and frustration. The relative lack of a mainstream profile for Asian youth, particularly in music prior to the early 1990s, has meant that perhaps an inordinate amount of attention has been bestowed upon the activities of relatively few emergent Asian bands on the contemporary music scene.
