“…in Japan, we are just imitating the ‘real’ thing…”. (Re)doing racialized authentic self in classical music

Abstract

Scholars exploring the entwinement of “authenticity” and “race” in cultural production demonstrate that artists are frequently evaluated according to racialized standards, whereby differences in musical expression are believed not only to be the result of cultural differences but to be rooted in ethnic and racial differences in the popular imagination. Heretofore, the research has focused either on evidencing that authenticity is entirely a social construct or on tracing racially informed discriminatory practices against artists of color. Exponents of an artform traditionally associated with a racial group other than their own are frequently deemed “inauthentic.” However, less attention has been devoted to investigating whether, and if so how artists resist, or otherwise deal with, this racialized construction of authenticity. This article contributes to the literature on authenticity, race, and identity in creative work by examining the ways in which artists navigate racialized representations of authenticity in Western art music. The analysis is informed by qualitative research conducted among 75 Japanese musicians in France, Poland, and Japan. It draws on performative theories to conceptualize both authenticity and race as something that people “do” and “redo,” rather than “have” or “are.” My findings demonstrate that Japanese artists are doing authentic music self through race by self-aligning with a Western personality, a Western sense of music, and by training their bodies to fit Western instruments. The various means available to an artist to resist racialized preconceptions and appraisals are additionally examined and their feasibility and effectiveness assessed. I argue that an artist has considerable, albeit limited, agency and that the hierarchical racial divisions in Western classical music can therefore be temporarily dissolved to make it more inclusive.