Creative Practice/Critical Inquiry
micah_huang@g.harvard.edu
Micah Huang is a musician, storyteller and community advocate whose work centers marginalized narratives through the integration of traditional practices such as spirit communication with cutting-edge technological tools and techniques. Since 2019, Micah has written text and composed music for a number of performance projects commemorating the 1871 LA Chinatown Massacre. Most prominent among these was the audio drama Blood on Gold Mountain (2021) which charted on Apple Podcasts’ top 100 in the US and 8 other countries, with bootleg episodes reaching more than a million listeners in the PRC during the protests of 2022.
Micah’s 2022 NEA New Arts project American Dreams/Asian Nightmares addressed the mental-health impacts of pandemic-related racist rhetoric and violence, immersing the audience in AAPI interiorities through data sonification, musical biofeedback, and re-imaginings of traditional creative practices. Other projects include a performance initiative promoting solidarity between Immigrant and Indigenous communities (in collaboration with the Gabrielino Shoshone Tribal Council) and the LA Chinatown Hungry Ghost Festival–a community revitalization initiative supported by Community Partners at the California Arts Council.
Micah’s past work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, UCLA Chancellor’s Award Initiative, Kellogg Foundation Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Grant, Holmes Performing Arts Fund at the Claremont Colleges, Tufts University Granoff Fund, Pomona College Pacific Basin Institute, EnviroLab Asia at Claremont McKenna College, and the New England Conservatory’s Entrepreneurial Music Awards, among others. Micah was a 2013 Fulbright fellow in Musicology, engaging in collaborative performance, experiential research and community outreach with practitioners of Romungro Cigányzene in Budapest, Hungary.
Micah is committed to collaboration, under a wide range of circumstances. One example from 2023 is the provision of interactive live-scoring for íyo’toróvim yaraarkokre ‘eyoo’ooxono (We the Caretakers Remember our Land), in which Indigenous leaders selected by the Gabrielino Shoshone Tribal Council (West Covina, CA) share oral histories illuminating current triumphs and challenges in their respective communities. Other past collaborations include the 2019 concert series Under Our Skins: Deprogramming Prejudice Through Words and Music, which featured semi-improvisational live-scoring of personal anecdotes from faculty, staff and students at Tufts University, the New England Conservatory and Scripps College; ArtSmooch (2018) a setting of selected works by Pulitzer finalist and Kingsley Tufts Award winner Angie Estes; and III (Wishbones) musical score to video exhibit featuring the eponymous sculpture by Getty Medal winner Lorna Simpson.
Micah’s first musical instrument was a handmade rattle, gifted at age 4 from Tewa Elder Peter Garcia of Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo, NM). In the years since, Micah has had the honor of learning from teachers and mentors including Genoa Keawe, (Legendary Hawaiian singer) John York (The Mamas & The Papas, The Byrds) Jesus “Cusito” Peñalver (Rumberos de Cuba) and John McDonald (Tufts University).
Due to various ironic and improbable challenges experienced as a teen, Micah gained a practical education in socially engaged music praxis as a member of the Pomona, CA hardcore punk ecosystem. The fundamentals of Micah’s approach to arrangement, improvisation and the music/dance/protest continuum were learned while playing guitar for underground band Kategory 6.
Side lines are an essential part of Micah’s approach to creative work. As a singer-songwriter, Micah has performed widely in the western United States, at venues of varying conventional respectability. Micah’s song Children of the Endtimes was a finalist in the 2020 John Lennon International Songwriting competition, and a semi-finalist in the 2020 ISC Songwriting Competition. Micah has also worked as a sound engineer and freelance music producer, including commissions from NPR Podcasts, Evolve Dynamicz and a number of dancers and University Dance departments. Micah is a lead producer on upcoming releases from Colombian-American rapper Cesar Agudelo, and Bhutanese Drangyen master Goen Tshering.
Micah has appeared in such media outlets as KCRW, Now This News, KPBS, Spectrum 1 News, The Mercury News, Orange County Daily Register and the Los Angeles Daily News, among others.
Instagram: @hungryghostnote/