About this episode
Welcome to Angel Island. With stunning views of San Francisco Bay and lush hiking trails, the island is nestled between the promise of the Golden Gate Bridge and California's sun-soaked mainland coast. But between 1910 and 1940, hundreds of thousands of Asians arriving at the Angel Island Immigration Station faced separation, interrogation, and often deportation under the longstanding Chinese Exclusion Act.
The ghosts of Angel Island, however, endure. Poems carved into the soft wooden walls of the detention barracks give voice to long-remembered frustration, humiliation, and loneliness of the immigrants detained there. These inscriptions in Chinese calligraphy link that shameful past to our present immigration debate, bringing history into the reality of our current lives.
In Part One, violist and founding member of the Del Sol Quartet, Charlton Lee, introduces both Angel Island's history and the creatives behind The Angel Island Project. A collaboration between Del Sol and composer Huang Ruo, this haunting oratorio for string quartet and chamber choir weaves together poetry and music in a poignant, powerful expression of history, hope, and humanity.
Part One Features Interviews with:
Charlton Lee, Del Sol Quartet violist
Huang Ruo, Composer and conductor
Kathryn Bates, Del Sol Quartet cellist
Hyeyung Sol Yoon, Del Sol Quartet violinist
Ben Kreith, Del Sol Quartet violinist
Ed Tepporn, Executive Director, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Andi Wong, Teaching Artist and Arts Advocate
Genny Lim, Poet, Playwright, Performer, Pioneer
And the voices of Susan Moffat, Matthew Ozawa, and Emiko Ono.
RESOURCES & LINKS
Angel Island Immigration Station
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Immigrant Voices Oral History Project
Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island
The Chinese Historical Society Of America
William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
UC Berkeley Global Urban Humanities Initiative
LEARN MORE
https://www.delsolquartet.com/podcast
CREDITS
Hosted by Charlton Lee
Produced by Andrea Klunder, The Creative Impostor Studios, Charlton Lee, Kathryn Bates, Hyeyung Sol Yoon, Ben Kreith
Story Editor: Andrea Klunder
Sound Design: Andrea Klunder
Technical Director & Post Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz
Field Producer & Recording Engineer: Kathryn Bates
Field Producer: Verena Lee
Podcast Manager: Alex Riegler
Show Notes: Lisa Widder
Cover Art: Felicia Lee
Theme Music: Charlton Lee
Executive Producers: Andrea Fellows Fineberg, Don Fineberg
Featured music from The Angel Island Oratorio composed by Huang Ruo. Performed by Del Sol Quartet & United States Air Force Band's Singing Sergeants / National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, recorded and edited by Suraya Mohamed.
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