Magdalen Hsu-Li hopes to set the ETSU campus ablaze Thursday, March 11, with musical works from her CD Fire.
Her latest CD has received favorable reviews in major newspapers such as The New York Times and L.A. Weekly, as well as rave reviews in magazines such as The Advocate and Curve.
“Ember-hot, Magdalen’s Fire tour sweeps across America in 2003-2004,” reported The Advocate. “Her live shows are powerful, magical, high energy events featuring piano, guitar, vocal and drumset duos, four piece band arrangements, thought provoking poetry readings with elements of comedic standup, and spiritually rousing percussion and drum improvisations.”
Hsu-Li is a bisexual, Asian-American woman who has found popularity in colleges and coffeehouses across the country. She uses her laid-back, folk sound to reveal powerful messages within her lyrics.
One of the key problems in society, Hsu-Li says, is pigeonholing people. “I hope I will always be defining issues of identity, raising awareness and bringing communities together through my music,” she told The Advocate, a magazine pioneer in discussing gay and lesbian issues. “My ultimate goal as an artist is to break through the glass ceiling in the American music industry so that Asian American, women’s and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual musical voices become accepted, recognized and heard.”
Growing up in one of the only Asian families in Martinsville, Va., Hsu-Li experienced the pain of racism firsthand. In her youth, she also suffered from Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological disorder, which only added to her travails.
“There were cows, cornfields, Ku Klux Klan marches, preppy debutantes and no Asians anywhere,” she told Rockrgrl Magazine. “To top it off, I had Tourettes which immediately set me apart from the others, and I was experiencing racism and bigotry on a daily basis at school. It was through music and art that I began to shape my true identity, and learn to accept myself for being different.”
The art that Hsu-Li would be drawn to first would be that of the brush and canvas. She began her career as a painter and visual artist, attending the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, earning a bachelor of Fine Arts in painting.
Hsu-Li would find herself in Seattle during the early 1990s when the city was just taking off musically, fueled by bands like Nirvana.
In this musical kaleidoscope, she found her love for music deepening, so she entered Seattle’s Cornish College of Arts to study jazz and classical music. While at the college, she earned many coveted scholarships before moving on to make her own mark in the musical world.
Hsu-Li’s mark has reached far beyond music, however, to touch people through many media. She hosts workshops and lectures on cultural issues facing society today. “My music, lectures and workshops focus on bringing communities together, while raising awareness on campuses and informing about diversity, multiculturalism, women’s and LBGT topics,” Hsu-Li said.
This diverse background drew Dr. Amber Kinser, director of ETSU’s Women’s Studies program, to Hsu-Li. “I was attracted by her message, and by her representation of multiple minorities through her own life experience,” Kinser said.
Thursday’s performance at ETSU is free and open to the public, so a great deal of effort had to be made to raise the money to bring Hsu-Li to the campus and community.
“We made appeals to the Office of Equity and Diversity, Women’s Resource Center and student affairs for funding and they were all eager to support the event,” Kinser said. “A variety of people pulled together to bring this unique and important event to our campus.
“We wanted it to be free so that everyone has equal access to the opportunity, regardless of income or financial situation.”
Hsu-Li is moved by the efforts that it took to bring her to ETSU. “They worked really hard on fund raising to get me there, and I really appreciate it,” she said. “I’m really honored to know that people have gone to these lengths to have me perform.”
The ETSU performance is the only Southern stop on Hsu-Li’s tour, yet, she says, she doesn’t expect any resistance. “I’ve found a lot of support in the South,” she said, via phone interview. “There’s pockets of liberalism and we seem to find each other.”
Prejudices still exist, Hsu-Li notes, but not only in the South. During the phone interview, Hsu-Li had to excuse herself to a restaurant ladies’ room to answer questions about her lyrics, homosexuality and where she perceives that movement to be headed. “I have purple hair and I’m Asian, so they were already staring without me discussing LBGT topics,” she said.
Episodes like that are exactly the kind of thing that Hsu-Li is trying to prevent through her workshops and music, and why Kinser feels so strongly about bringing Hsu-Li to ETSU.
“I hope that people will find inspiration in her songs and stories about surmounting discrimination,” Kinser said. “I hope that the variety of artists we have on this campus will see how they can use their talent to help change the world as she does. I think we will be encouraged by the power, humanity and artistry of her music.”
Magdalen Hsu-Li’s “fiery” performance will aim to kindle such responses on March 11, at 7 p.m. in D.P. Culp Center Auditorium. For more information, call 439-7571, or visit www.magdalenhsuli.com or www.chickpop.com.

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