1975 by No-No Boy

No-No Boy is the musical project of Vietnamese American singer and scholar Julian Saporiti. On his Smithsonian Folkways debut 1975, named after the year Saigon fell, Saporiti investigates his own family heritage as well as life in WWII Japanese internment camps, immigrant detention centers and refugee camps in 2020, and other stories of immigration that illustrate the complexities of becoming American. His songs are the epitome of folk storytelling in the modern era, as he interweaves histories with field recordings from the sites of collective trauma and fragments of Asian American musical tradition, from jazz to rock, to choral music). With his plaintive, direct voice, he takes listeners on a deeply human journey through the Asian American experience in the US.

Tracklist

1.	St. Denis or Bangkok, from a Hotel Balcony (feat. Jacqueline Saporiti)	2:08

2.	Imperial Twist (feat. Robert Vifian)	3:36

3.	The Best God Damn Band in Wyoming	3:54

4.	Gimme Chills	3:30

5.	Close Your Eyes and Dream of Flowers (feat. Juan Betancourt Garcia)	3:29

6.	Honouliuli (feat. Emilia Halvorsen)	4:37

7.	Pilgrims (feat. Emilia Halvorsen)	4:23

8.	Where the Sand Creek Meets the Arkansas River (feat. Kristin Weber)	4:46

9.	Tell Hanoi I Love Her	2:58

10.	Khmerica	3:54

11.	Miss Burma (feat. Takénobu)	2:49

12.	Tony Ramone	3:19

Credits

released April 2, 2021

For the sounds I could not make or find myself, I turned to, in no particular order, Dan Lipsitz (winds, horns: “Best Band”), Wes Langlois (guitars, mandolin: “Best Band”), Kristin Weber (vocals, violin: “Sand Creek”), Erin Aoyama (harmonies: “Best Band”), Joyce Kwon (harmonies: “Gimme Chills”), Armand Aromin (fiddle, vocals: “Gimme Chills”), Takénobu (strings: “Miss Burma”), Hamilton Berry (cello: “Close Your Eyes”), Karen Tingey (taiko samples: “Sand Creek”), Jeff Worral (trumpet: “Best Band”), David Ginger (trombone: “Best Band”), and Jacob Borchardt (bugle: “Sand Creek”). Emilia Halvorsen was my indispensable partner through the recording process and lent her voice, ear, and hands to most of these songs.

Produced by Julian Saporiti
Co-produced by Emilia Halvorsen & Seth Boggess
Recorded by Julian Saporiti & Seth Boggess
Mixed by Seth Boggess
Mastered by Pete Reiniger
Annotated by Julian Saporiti
Photos courtesy of Diego Luis and the artist’s family archive
Cover photo by Julian Saporiti & Emilia Halvorsen
Executive producers: Huib Schippers and John Smith
Production manager: Mary Monseur
Production assistants: Kate Harrington, Logan Clark
Editorial assistance by Carla Borden
Art direction, design, and layout by Visual Dialogue

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