For our final guest of Season 1 of Golden Hour, we wanted to take it back to a time when the term "Asian American" was only just being born. In the late 60s and early 70s, a new political consciousness was forming amidst the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. It was out of this time period that a trio of musicians recorded a singular album in 1973 called A Grain of Sand, widely considered to be the first recording of Asian American music.
On this episode, Charlene talks with the album's co-writer and singer, Nobuko Miyamoto, who is now in her 80s. They talk about her recent autobiography entitled Not Yo' Butterfly and her solo album released on Smithsonian Folkways called 120,000 Stories. Nobuko shares her experiences living in a Japanese internment camp during World War 2, how she and Chris Iijima formed their partnership that led to A Grain of Sand, and what happened when she got a phone call from one of the most famous Japanese American artists.
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