Speak, World

I first visited my friend Victoria Vorreiter in Chiang Mai in April 2017, to celebrate the culmination of twelve years of work. It is a great honor for me that she has agreed to describe that work for you here. She also has provided a few of her exquisite photos. —Dorée

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To Dorée’s devotees, I send a warm ‘sawasdeekaa’ from northern Thailand. It is a pleasure to connect with you through this guest entry. I so appreciate Dorée’s invitation to add a new dimension to her adopted home by sharing my own journey in Southeast Asia.

Dorée and I first met in 1980 as classical violinists and teachers in London. Over the years we have shared a deep belief in the power of music and its importance in the lives of young people. This keen awareness of the sonic environment has shifted for both of us, in different but complementary ways. Dorée has followed her passion for languages and I for documenting the ancestral music of traditional peoples living in remote corners of the world.

My fascination with the primal role music plays in preliterate societies first began while teaching young children through the Suzuki Method, guiding them to absorb repertoire through their ears, rather than through their eyes. What I came to understand is that the “mother tongue method” is nothing more or less than oral tradition, the dynamic means used by all indigenous peoples through time and place to pass down everything they know about their world in an unbroken chain, from the first ancestors to all who follow. Historical accounts, tenets of behavior, life lessons, harvest principles, secular and ritual practices, and spiritual beliefs, all are revealed and sustained through songs and ceremonies. Isn’t this a wonder. And so began my quest. . .

I first arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2005, with the sole intention of exploring the music, ceremonies, and cultures of the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and China converge. This expanse of the Himalayan foothills has served over millennia as an historical and cultural crossroads of migrations, trade routes, and passages along the great rivers of Asia, which has given way to some of the world’s oldest civilizations. Here resides a rich multiplicity of more than 130 different groups and subgroups making this one of the most culturally rich places on the planet.

Primary among this number are six distinct groups—the Akha, Lahu, Lisu, Hmong, Mien, and Karen, each with a unique history, language, physical features, customs, dress, arts, and spiritual beliefs—who continue to maintain their independence and identity to a high degree. Each of these groups is rooted in animism, the belief that everything in nature possesses a soul and the universe is organized by supernatural powers. Frequent rites, ceremonies, and festivals are performed throughout the year to maintain harmony between the realm of men and spirits.

The medium propelling these rites is music, which appears throughout the diaspora in astounding diversity. Each ethnic group has developed a vast and varied repertoire of celebratory songs, ritual chants, and secular and sacred instrumental music that charts the arc of life, the cycles of seasons, and the wheel of generations. For the highlanders of Southeast Asia, music is ever-present and essential to their inner and outer lives.

With my vision in mind, I have spent over a decade trekking to isolated mountain villages to document the significant thresholds of life—births, courtship rites, weddings, harvest rituals, festivals, healing ceremonies, and funerals—that are so spectacularly driven by melody and rhythm.

Such a glorious, challenging, humbling adventure has allowed me to amass an extensive body of work—journals, films, photographs, recordings, and collections of musical instruments and textiles. This has given rise to the Songs of Memory archival projects, which include books, presentations, and multi-media exhibitions. It is hoped that these form an integrative whole that will help support and preserve the age-old culture and wisdom of the Akha, Lahu, Lisu, Hmong, Mien, and Karen peoples.

Please enjoy the following images of the musicians, shamans, headmen, and villagers, young and old, who have graced my path. To explore further photographs, recordings, and films, to request materials, or to connect with me personally, please visit: www.TribalMusicAsia.com. It would be a joy and honor to introduce these archives to your community.

Enormous gratitude goes to Dorée for giving me this opportunity to share the Songs of Memory project with you. And many thanks to you for your interest in the timeless cultural heritage of the Golden Triangle.
With warmest wishes,
Victoria Czytaj więcej