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.)
What next?
Other posts you may be interested in:
Recent Comments
- Daul Kim: One Sassy ‘n Smart Bitch
- KFC vs. KGC: WTF???
- alienation: This is a great thread! I grew up eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. My family would make an effort to get it in East L.A., over by the King Cole Pizza. It was way better than the Kentucky Fried over in MPK and up in SG. I...
- Proof that Russell of Disney/Pixar’s Up is Asian: The Color Scripts
- Mending Broken Glass: Khmer Rouge History Now to be Taught in Cambodia
- kbok: it may seem shocking to other people that kids don’t believe their elders when hearing about khmer rouge atrocities, but if your mother told you that soldiers shot at her, pushing her off a mountain and into landmine paths...
- Chinese Adoptees: Stolen or Abandoned?
- Dan: CSLI, I think my previous comment stated that I “hope” not “should”. It was not meant to belittle anyone and yes I can imagine just like most people, adopted or not. Though the effect will not be the same as...
- Obama Bows to Emperor Akihito
- JC: @ Eric: Not only that, he’s half brother lives in China and is married to a Chinese woman. There’s a lot of Asian in his family
Recent Events
- [Nov 3] NORTHERN CA: Intro to Movietelling (Neo-Benshi) with Dennis Somera
- [Nov 14] SOUTHERN CA: Grace Kim & the Spiders From Mars
- [Nov 20] NORTHERN CA: CATS 9th Annual Asian Comedy Night starring 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors
- [Nov 21] SOUTHERN CA: BANANA: Where Infamous Asian-American Bloggers Unite to Chop It Up
- [Nov 22] TORONTO: S.M. Global Audition
11 Comments to “Yo-Yo Ma & Company Fake It at the Inauguration”
Moye wrote:
I FEEL SO BETRAYED!!!!!!!11
Posted on 23-Jan-09 at 12:38 pm | Permalink
Ernie wrote:
At least there wasn’t some Chinese girl running in the air lip syncing a cello. That would be awkward
Posted on 23-Jan-09 at 12:57 pm | Permalink
Efren wrote:
If a Chinese girl could lip sync a cello, she’d probably be in porn, and not in the inauguration.
Posted on 23-Jan-09 at 1:11 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
@Efren – you have a twisted mind!
Posted on 23-Jan-09 at 1:17 pm | Permalink
Moye wrote:
Do you think they used a cuter Yo-Yo Ma stand in, too? Cause I swear he looked way cuter than I remember.
Posted on 23-Jan-09 at 1:33 pm | Permalink
Efren wrote:
Hmm, I never thought Yo-Yo Ma was cute. Great musician, but doesn’t pull my bowstrings (heh, heh).
Posted on 23-Jan-09 at 1:36 pm | Permalink
tracy j. wrote:
You mean to tell me they could’ve done a dance number TOO?!
Posted on 23-Jan-09 at 5:49 pm | Permalink
getreal wrote:
Why is Yo-Yo Ma singled out when all FOUR members played to pre-recorded music???
Posted on 25-Jan-09 at 3:47 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
@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.
Posted on 25-Jan-09 at 11:12 pm | Permalink
Yǒ Dum Mǎ wrote:
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.
Posted on 26-Jan-09 at 5:04 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
@Yǒ Dum Mǎ – I think Yo-Yo Ma is fairly well known .. he’s like one of the most well known musicians in the world I think!
Posted on 27-Jan-09 at 4:32 pm | Permalink
Post a Comment