Music professor brings immigrant experience to Asian tour

For Sungmin Shin, associate professor of practice in the Department of Music, instrumental music can capture the sublime elements of identity in a way that lyrics cannot.

An instrumentalist himself, Shin has always been fascinated by the nuances of sound and how it can convey cultural elements. This belief, combined with exploration of his own cultural identity and a passion for teaching, prompted Shin to conduct a guitar masterclass and performance tour across several Asian countries during the past spring semester.

“Each culture has its distinct sonic palette, yet there’s common ground in shared human experiences,” Shin explains. “Music can teach us about our own cultural identity, and that of our neighbors. Music can bring people together. Music can heal. That’s the beauty of music.”

The power of music is what drives Shin’s interactions with students who share his appreciation for guitar. In his 199 seminar course, Music, Identity and Authenticity, Shin leverages a common love for music to explore elements of individuality and act as a springboard for his students to examine their backgrounds. “We’re fortunate at UB to have such a diverse student population, and I’ve personally learned a great deal from the students in this seminar over the past few years,” he says.

The course draws from his personal passion project, an album called “Generation One — Music of Immigration,” a collection of styles and genres reflecting the immigrant experience. “The lack of a singular motif in these compositions, other than the guitar itself, reflects my background aptly,” Shin says. “Even within the guitar, I use both classical and electric instruments, and I incorporate a wide range of techniques.”

The core themes of the album are identity and authenticity. As an Asian American performing artist living in the United States, Shin often struggled with identity, but music — especially the guitar — has helped him find peace and a sense of belonging to something greater than himself. On his album, Shin utilizes genre-bending to transcend borders.

 “The guitar serves as the thread that ties it all together, and I believe my performance adds a cohesive touch. I am a musician and a guitarist. All the facets of my life experiences inform my musical identity and expression,” he says.

When it came time to connect his musical and cultural identity on the album, the next step was clear: perform his diverse work in the places that made him who he is. “I consider myself a cultural mutt — despite being genetically Korean,” says Shin, who immigrated to North America as a child, living in Canada and across the United States. “You can’t easily escape your genetics, and I would say the same is true for the cultural environments you grow up in.”

After performing his album in the U.S., Shin traveled to South Korea to work with students at Korea University in Seoul, a popular UB student-exchange partner for nearly 30 years. Shin found enthusiastic students in a long-standing classical guitar club who appreciated the rare opportunity to host someone from abroad. “Since I’m bilingual, I was able to conduct the masterclass in Korean, which was both a challenge and a rewarding experience,” Shin says.

But Korea was only the first stop on his tour.

“Sharing this program abroad was a unique experience. When I perform it in the U.S., it’s about sharing my life experience with American audiences to highlight the diversity of American experiences and foster common ground,” he says. “Performing it abroad felt more like sharing what life in America can be like for someone of Asian descent — especially someone pursuing a career in the arts, which is still relatively rare among Asian Americans in the U.S.”

With the help of his connections from previous guitar-related events, Shin took his tour to Japan, Thailand, Singapore — where UB partners with the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) to offer seven undergraduate degree programs — and the Philippines. In all locations he found students who were eager to learn and had a passion for the guitar. The masterclasses he taught were organized by community organizations and universities, and included a variety of students — from high schoolers to older adult amateurs.

“There are people of all ages, in every corner of our beautiful planet, who wake up each day, work diligently at their craft, cultivate an appreciation for the arts and humanities, and dream of creating a more beautiful and better world,” Shin says.

The music in Shin’s “Generation One” program is eclectic, drawing from a wide range of styles and idioms that often don’t coexist — it’s deeply pluralistic, much like his own identity and the connections he forged during his tour.

“What’s considered authentic evolves from generation to generation and place to place. What I value more is learning about the cultural values of different people to inform my own,” Shin says. “This is not necessarily bound just to geography but can include differences in generations. Music can be a beautiful and diplomatic way to explore our identities while finding common ground.”

Perhaps the most exciting part of the tour was Shin’s visit to SIM, where he found a piece of home on the other side of the planet.

Members of the UB community will have the opportunity to hear Shin’s “Generation One — Music of Immigration” when he performs the program at 7:30 p.m. March 26 in the Baird Recital Hall, 220 Baird Hall, North Campus.