I was at NYU’s Skirball Center to cover the wonderful Kollaboration NY on an assignment for NYdiary, a Korean website devoted to exploring the culture of New York. (Link to be provided when it launches this summer.) Kollaboration is a non-profit organization devoted to celebrate the talents Asian American musicians and performing artists. Here are some images from the sold-out event. Click on each image to view it in full size:
My personal favorite was the first competitor Tim Be Told, a rock band from Virginia.
Hip hop group Magnetic North and Taiyo Na
16 year old Dylan Schroth, a singer/songwriter from Jersey City.
COBU performed some amazing taiko drumming and dancing
Guest performer comedian Eliot Chang
Bollywood Axion, whose dance was both energetic and graceful
Project D, a dance company from New Jersey, won the second place.
The amazing Kevin So, the singer/songwriter who also won the second place
The multi-talented Alice Hu
Paul “PK” Kim, a comedian and the founder of Kollaboration, hosted the show. Roy Choi the executive producer of Kollaboration is sitting at the piano (brown shirt).
The guest judges. Yin Chang from Gossip Girl, Brigette Noh the executive producer for Chaos Theory Music, and Benson Lee the director of Planet B-Boy.
COBU won the grand prize. They did a marvelous job of fusing Japanese traditional music with modern sounds and dacing.
