Artists, albums and events of note — pardon the pun — in Asian American music history.

• 1911: Several poems are published in San Francisco Chinatown, written and most likely performed in the style of traditional Cantonese folk songs.


• 1938: Charlie Low opens Forbidden City-the first nightclub to showcase Chinese American performers-in San Francisco, a favorite haunt of locals and visiting celebrities such as Duke Ellington and Bing Crosby.
• 1955: Indian sarode player Ali Akbar Khan becomes the first Indian musician on American television when he appeared on Alistair Cooke’s "Omnibus."


• 1957: Pat Suzuki becomes the first Japanese American signed to a major label when she is referred to RCA by Bing Crosby.


• 1958: "Flower Drum Song," the first musical to feature an Asian American cast , is created by the legendary Rogers and Hammerstein and premieres on Broadway, running for 600 shows at St. James Theater. The movie version is released three years later.


• 1964: Eight-year-old child-prodigy Yo-Yo Ma appears on television performing with composer Leonard Bernstein. Ma goes on to study at the Julliard School, eventually becoming the most acclaimed cellist in the world.


• 1967: After befriending Beatle George Harrison, sitar player Ravi Shankar plays at the monumental Monterey Pop Festival, popularizing South Asian classical music in the West.


• 1968: Ben Fong-Torres begins writing for Rolling Stone Magazine and is promoted to news editor in 1969. He continues to be a major journalist in the American music scene.


• 1968: Asian Music, a magazine dedicated to scholarly research on Asian musical art forms, publishes its first issue.


• 1969: The San Francisco Taiko Dojo is founded by Seiichi Tanaka as an extension of the teachings of the Oeko Sukeroko Daiko School in Tokyo.


• 1970: Yoko Ono releases "Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band," a companion to her husband’s album "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band." The avant-garde album is considered a forerunner to modern punk rock with Ono’s improvisational screaming vocals.


• 1973: Charlie Chin, Chris Iijima and Nobuko Miyamoto create the folk trio Yellow Pearl. Their first album, "A Grain of Sand," spreads a political message championing minority rights, immigrant rights and an anti-Vietnam War message.


• 1974: In the wake of popular kung fu movies arriving in American theaters, soul artist Carl Douglas releases the novelty hit "Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting."


• 1975: Latin soul pioneer Joe Bataan releases "Afrofilipino," one of his best-selling albums and a tribute to his bi-racial heritage.


• 1975: Jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, teams up with tabla player Zakir Hussain to form the Shakti band — one of the first bands to play "fusion" world music.


• 1975: Queen releases "A Night at the Opera," containing the mega-hit "Bohemian Rhapsody." Lead singer Freddy Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, is the son of Indian Parsi parents.


• 1978: Sound Explosion, the first of hundreds of Filipino-led mobile DJ crews in the San Francisco Bay Area, forms at Balboa High School in San Francisco. These crews will eventually produce Filipino American scratch legends like DJs Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike and Apollo.


• 1979: Several months after "Rappers Delight" introduces hip-hop to the world, Joe Bataan releases "Rap-O, Clap-O." A minor hit in the U.S., it becomes a much bigger single in Europe and is credited as one of the early international rap hits.


• 1979: Hiroshima, a fusion jazz band comprising Japanese Americans, releases its self-titled debut album on Arista records. From the album, the R&B hit "Roomful of Mirrors" becomes a hit.


• 1981: First Asian American Jazz Festival held in San Francisco.


• 1983: Kirk Lee Hammet, of Filipino, Chinese and Irish descent, joins Metallica as lead guitarist.


• 1986: Filipino American heavy metal band Death Angel releases its first album, "The Ultra-Violence," hailed as one of the greatest thrash albums of all time.


• August 31, 1987: Sisters Angela, Maria and Lucia Ahn are featured in a Time magazine story titled "Asian American Whiz Kids" for their talent at playing classical instruments. They go on to form the Ahn Trio and release several classical CDs.


• 1987: Jan Jang and Francis Wong found the nonprofit Asian Improv Records, the main recording label of the Asian improv jazz movement, which began in the ’80s and still flourishes today.


• 1989: Lea Salonga, a Broadway singer of Filipino descent, is given the lead role in "Miss Saigon." She goes on to win several Tonys, Grammys and an Oscar award. She is also the voice of Jasmine in Disney’s "Aladdin."


• 1990-4: A wave of Asian American rap groups form, including San Francisco’s Fists of Fury, Seattle’s Seoul Brothers, UC Davis’ Asiatic Apostles, Oberlin’s Art Hirahara and Rutgers University’s Yellow Peril.


• 1991: Rapper Ice Cube releases the song "Black Korea" on his album "Death Certificate," which is protested by the Asian American community for its anti-Asian sentiment concerning tensions between Korean store owners and African American customers in Los Angeles.


• 1992-4: Mix Master Mike and DJ Qbert win the International Disco Mixing Club (DMC) Turntablism award three years in a row. Mix Master Mike, inventor of "tweak-scratch" goes on to deejay for the Beastie Boys.


• 1992: Half-Chinese/half-Trinidadian rapper Fresh Kid Ice, from 2 Live Crew, releases a solo album, "The Chinaman."


• 1992: Along with two friends, Lance Hahn forms J-Church, a San Francisco-based punk rock band. He also forms his own record company, Honeybear, named after Winnie the Pooh.


• 1993: Genny Lim produces the play "Paper Angels," in which Chinese poems found etched at Angel Island are translated and performed with musical accompaniment in the context of a fictional narrative about seven detainees stuck on Angel Island in 1915 rehearsing their "paper identities" to be presented to customs officials.


• 1993: Blonde Redhead releases its self-titled debut album. The rock group, comprising Kazu Kakino, Maki Takahashi, Simone Pace and Amedeo Pace, is known for its dissonant and chaotic sound. Although Takahashi has left, the band continues to record and their sixth album is due out in early 2007.


• 1994: Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong launch Giant Robot magazine. Coverage of Asian pop culture and Asian American music, especially indie rock, becomes a consistent focus.


• 1994: Miho Hatori, Yuka Honda and Leito Lychee form Cibo Matto, a New York-based band with an eclectic style composed of trip-hop, rock and Latin music.


• 1995: The Invisibl Skratch Piklz, made up of prominent Filipino American Djs, forms in San Francisco.


• 1995: "Ear of the Dragon," a compilation album of Asian American indie rock bands including Seam, Versus, Aminiature, Skankin' Pickle and J Church, is released.


• 1995: Ska band No Doubt hits rock superstardom with its release "Tragic Kingdom." Its most famous single "Don’t Speak," is about the end of the romantic relationship between lead singer Gwen Stefani and Indian American bassist Tony Kanal.


• 1996: Filipina American Jocelyn Enriquez moves to Tommy Boy Records and releases her first single "Do You Miss Me," which becomes a dance radio hit. Her second single, "A Little Bit Ecstasy," reaches No. 1 in sales on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi Singles Chart.


• 1997: Coinciding with the release of UK-based Talvin Singh’s "Anokha," the album rumored to have started the Asian Massive movement, DJ and filmmaker Vivek Bald begins the groundbreaking Mutiny club night in New York City, creating a critical mass for the rise of South Asian American DJs and musicians working on the cutting edge of electronic music. Mutiny continues until 2003.


• 1997: DJ Rekha starts the popular Basement Bhangra night at S.O.B.’s club in New York City-mixing traditional Punjabi music with hip-hop beats, helping to fuel the international Bhangra craze.


• 1997: Filipino American producer Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams form The Neptunes in Virginia Beach, VA, and become one of the most prolific and successful production teams in hip-hop.


• 1998: After seven years as the guitarist for Smashing Pumpkins, Japanese American James Iha releases his solo album "Let It Come Down."


• 1998: The soundtrack of the film Yellow, directed by Chris Chan Lee, is the first to feature only Asian American musicians.


• 1998: Sean Lennon releases his debut album "Into the Sun" on the Beastie Boys’ record label, Grand Royal.


• 1998: Black Eyed Peas releases its first album, "Behind the Front," with its hit "Joints and Jam," featured on the "Bulworth" soundtrack. Allen Pineda Lindo, better known as Apl.de.ap, of Afro-Filipino descent is a founding member. Its song, "The Apl Song," off of the 2003 album "Elephunk," has a chorus sung entirely in Tagalog.


• 1999: The Chinese American rap group Mountain Brothers, after being briefly signed to Ruffhouse Records, releases its debut album, "Self Vol. 1," independently.


• 1999: Handsome Boy Modeling School, a rap collaboration comprising Dan "the Automator" Nakamura and Prince Paul, releases its first album "So ...How’s Your Girl?" to critical acclaim. Nakamura, of Japanese descent, is at the forefront of trip-hop and is featured on the first Gorillaz album.


• 2000: Linkin Park releases "Hybrid Theory," which goes diamond (ten times platinum) and is currently the best-selling debut album of the 21st century. Founding members include Joseph Hahn, who is of Korean descent, and Mike Shinoda, who is half-Japanese.


• 2000: Dilated Peoples signs with Capitol Records and releases "The Platform." The group DJ, Babu, is of Filipino descent and is a member of the DJ crew Beat Junkies.


• 2001: A Californian of Chinese descent, singer Coco Lee performs "A Love Before Time," from the "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" soundtrack, at the 73rd annual Academy Awards.


• 2001: Sum 41 releases its debut album "All Killer No Filler." The album becomes a hit with its singles "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep." Its guitarist, Dave "Brownsound" Baksh, is of South Asian descent.


• 2001: First Asian America Hip-Hop summit held in Los Angeles.


• 2002: A revival of "Flower Drum Song" is done on Broadway, rewritten by David Henry Hwang, writer of "M. Butterfly" and starring Lea Salonga from Miss Saigon. Hwang rewrites the musical as he assumes Rodgers and Hammerstein would have written it if they were Asian American.


• 2002: Chinese American rapper Jin wins BET’s 106 and Park Freestyle Fridays competition for the seventh week in a row. He later signs to Ruff Ryders and releases "The Rest Is History," the first rap album by an Asian American on a major label, in 2004.


• 2002: Amerie releases her first album, "All I Have" with the single "Why Don’t We Fall in Love." Amerie is of African American and South Korean parentage and her first language was Korean. Her sophomore album, "Touch," receives two Grammy award nominations.


• April 29, 2003: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs releases "Fever to Tell." Lead singer Karen O is of Polish and Korean parentage, and was born in South. She is known for her livid stage antics and quirky sense of style.


• 2003: Larry Ching, the "Chinese Frank Sinatra," who was the main attraction at the Forbidden City nightclub in the ’30s and ’40s finally records an album, "Till the End of Time," at the age of 82 with the help of legendary journalist and producer Ben Fong-Torres.


• 2003: Rapper Lyrics Born, Tom Shimura, releases his debut solo album "Later That Day." He is well-respected on the underground hip-hop scene, having collaborated with the likes of KRS-One, Blackalicious, E-40, the Hieroglyphics and Dilated Peoples.


• 2004: Professor Deborah Anne Wong publishes "Speak it Louder: Asian Americans Making Music," one of the only books published on Asian American music and a significant contributor to this time line.


• January 27, 2004: William Hung turns "American Idol" rejection into unlikely (and controversial) stardom.


• 2005: Chinese American music journalist Jeff Chang publishes "Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop," widely considered one of the definitive books on hip-hop history.


• 2005: Chris Iijima, a pioneering musician as a member of the trio Yellow Pearl, as well as an oft-published law professor at University of Hawaii, dies of a rare blood disorder.


• 2006: MTV launches various Asian American channels, including one catering to South Asian Americans, Chinese Americans and Korean Americans.