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Yo-Yo Ma & Company Fake It at the Inauguration

By John | Friday, January 23, 2009 | 22 Comments

yoyoma andcompany Yo Yo Ma & Company Fake It at the Inauguration

Did you watch the inauguration of Barack Obama this past Tuesday? I sure did, and watched with pride to see America inaugurating Barack Obama as President of the United States as well as such a high profile Asian American such as Yo-Yo Ma performing in the ceremony; I can only imagine what the feeling was like to be on the Mall that day.

I’m not sure if this is on the scale of 2008 Beijing Olympics singing of the national anthem scandal, but it was reported today in The New York Times that the actual performance by Yo-Yo Ma & company we heard on television was not live:

The somber, elegiac tones before President Obama’s oath of office at the inauguration on Tuesday came from the instruments of Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and two colleagues. But what the millions on the National Mall and watching on television heard was in fact a recording, made two days earlier by the quartet and matched tone for tone by the musicians playing along. The players and the inauguration organizing committee said the arrangement was necessary because of the extreme cold and wind during Tuesday’s ceremony.

I guess I can understand – it was pretty freakin cold in Washington, D.C. I had heard earlier that Yo-Yo Ma wasn’t playing his usual cello (which is made out of wood and several hundred years old) due to the cold – the one he was playing was made out of carbon fiber. Still, does the public need to be duped? I mean, if a string did break, then it would have been obvious and embarrassing to see the cello music go on. (See Ashley Simpson.)

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John

@Yu00c7u0092 Dum Mu00c7u008e - I think Yo-Yo Ma is fairly well known .. he's like one of the most well known musicians in the world I think!

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John

@Yu00c7u0092 Dum Mu00c7u008e - I think Yo-Yo Ma is fairly well known .. he's like one of the most well known musicians in the world I think!

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Yǒ Dum Mǎ

That's what I figured too, unless there were other Asians who participated in the performance.

and there was this mentioned "Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and two colleagues "

So it was just Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, either way I wonder how many people there knew who Yo-Yo Ma is.

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Yǒ Dum Mǎ

That's what I figured too, unless there were other Asians who participated in the performance.

and there was this mentioned "Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and two colleagues "

So it was just Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, either way I wonder how many people there knew who Yo-Yo Ma is.

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John

@getreal - I singled out Yo-Yo Ma because he is an Asian American and this is an Asian American blog! Plus, I've blogged about Yo-Yo Ma before.

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John

@getreal - I singled out Yo-Yo Ma because he is an Asian American and this is an Asian American blog! Plus, I've blogged about Yo-Yo Ma before.

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getreal

Why is Yo-Yo Ma singled out when all FOUR members played to pre-recorded music???

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getreal

Why is Yo-Yo Ma singled out when all FOUR members played to pre-recorded music???

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tracy j.

You mean to tell me they could've done a dance number TOO?!

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tracy j.

You mean to tell me they could've done a dance number TOO?!

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Efren

Hmm, I never thought Yo-Yo Ma was cute. Great musician, but doesn't pull my bowstrings (heh, heh).

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Efren

Hmm, I never thought Yo-Yo Ma was cute. Great musician, but doesn't pull my bowstrings (heh, heh).

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Moye

Do you think they used a cuter Yo-Yo Ma stand in, too? Cause I swear he looked way cuter than I remember.

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Moye

Do you think they used a cuter Yo-Yo Ma stand in, too? Cause I swear he looked way cuter than I remember.

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John

@Efren - you have a twisted mind!

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John

@Efren - you have a twisted mind!

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Efren

If a Chinese girl could lip sync a cello, she'd probably be in porn, and not in the inauguration.

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Efren

If a Chinese girl could lip sync a cello, she'd probably be in porn, and not in the inauguration.

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Ernie

At least there wasn't some Chinese girl running in the air lip syncing a cello. That would be awkward

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Ernie

At least there wasn't some Chinese girl running in the air lip syncing a cello. That would be awkward

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Moye

I FEEL SO BETRAYED!!!!!!!11

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Moye

I FEEL SO BETRAYED!!!!!!!11

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