Oral history interview with Joe Kye [Sound Recording 01]

Identity elements

Reference code

SR12311_S01

Name and location of repository

Level of description

Item

Title

Oral history interview with Joe Kye [Sound Recording 01]

Date(s)

  • 2020-12-23 (Creation)

Extent

WAV; 02:10:39

Name of creator

Biographical history

Joseph Hyon Kye was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1987. When he was six years old, his family relocated to the United States, first living in Boston, Massachusetts, before settling in Seattle, Washington, a few years later. In 2009, he earned a bachelor's degree in American cultural studies from Yale University. He taught English in San Francisco, California, and in Redmond, Washington, then decided to pursue a career as a musician. In 2012, he and Natasha K. Kye were married, and the couple settled in Sacramento, California. In 2016, they relocated to Portland, Oregon. Kye gave music lessons through Brave Youth Orchestras and played shows with his band, Joe Kye and the Givers.

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

Session 1. This oral history interview with Joe Kye was conducted by Sankar Raman and Allison Merkel on December 23, 2020. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. The interview was conducted remotely using Cleanfeed software due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this interview, Kye discusses his family background and early life in Seoul, South Korea, and talks about his family's reasons for immigrating to the United States in 1993. He describes his experiences as a Korean immigrant in the U.S., including learning English, adjusting to American culture, and acting as a translator for his parents. He discusses his early interest in music and playing violin, talks about his early career ambitions, and shares his experiences at Yale University. He speaks about his reasons for not majoring in music at Yale, instead pursuing a career as a high school teacher; talks about his marriage to Natasha K. Kye; and discusses his decision to pursue a career as a musician. He speaks at length about the development of his music career in Sacramento, California, and in Portland, Oregon, and talks about telling stories while performing his music onstage. He closes the interview by discussing the difficulty of working as a musician as a new parent and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/

Physical access

Technical access

Conditions governing reproduction

Languages of the material

  • English

Scripts of the material

Language and script notes

Finding aids

Acquisition and appraisal elements

Custodial history

Immediate source of acquisition

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

Accruals

Related materials elements

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related archival materials

Related descriptions

Notes element

Specialized notes

Alternative identifier(s)

Description control element

Rules or conventions

Sources used

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Digital object metadata

Digital object (Master) rights area

Digital object (Reference) rights area

Accession area