music and digital media across the lao diaspora
TRANSCRIPT
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Music and digital media across the laodiasporaAdam Chapmana Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Building 73A, Chauffer'sCottage, The Australian National University, ACT, 0200, AustraliaPhone: +61 (0)2 6125044 Fax: +61 (0)2 6125044 E-mail:Published online: 23 Aug 2006.
To cite this article: Adam Chapman (2004): Music and digital media across the lao diaspora, TheAsia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 5:2, 129-144
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Music and Digital Media across the LaoDiasporaAdam Chapman
Since the late 1990s a transnational Lao music industry, driven by the explosion of
digital media technologies, has emerged across the communities of the Lao diaspora.
These migrant Lao communities, which are dispersed across, and within, the United
States of America, Australia, France and Canada, are undergoing internal changes as
their younger, bi-cultural, generations reach adulthood. Using Lao music and its
associated technoculture as a focal point, this article explores some of the ways Lao
identity is being reconfigured and reconstructed as young migrant Lao come to terms
with their cross-cultural status.
Keywords: Diaspora; Transnationalism; Laos; Technoculture; Identity
Since the mid-1990s a transnational music industry, greatly assisted by the recent
explosion of digital media technologies, has emerged across the Lao diaspora. In the
process music has become a site wherein Lao identity is contested and (re-)
constructed. This article opens with a brief description of the contemporary Lao
diaspora and the historical background to its formation. Following this is an overview
of some differing concepts of transnationalism, which are discussed in the context of
cultural changes and flows occurring across the Lao diaspora. The concept of
‘technoculture’ is introduced and related to the rapid growth of digital media use
across transnational Lao communities. Of particular concern is the transnational Lao
music industry and expressions of Lao identity which are emerging through it. The
discussion draws upon ethnographic data gathered through ongoing field research
among the Lao communities in Australia and Laos which I commenced in 2004, as
well as general knowledge obtained from my decade-long association with the
Adam Chapman is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, The Australian National
University. Correspondence to: Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Building 73A, Chauffer’s Cottage, The
Australian National University, ACT, 0200, Australia. Tel: �/61 (0)2 6125044. Fax: �/61 (0)2 62480054. Email:
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology
Vol. 5, No. 2, August 2004, pp. 129�/144
ISSN 1444-2213 (print)/ISSN 1740-9314 (online) # 2004 The Australian National University
DOI: 10.1080/1444221042000247670
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Australian Lao community. It also features data obtained via ethnographic research
conducted in the virtual realm of the Internet (see Taylor 2002, p. 9).
Lao Migrant Communities
Today’s migrant Lao communities are the result of the war in Indochina that began in
1945 and culminated in the declaration of socialist states in Cambodia, Vietnam and
Laos during 1975. Although migration from Laos to the West probably started in the
1960s, the declaration of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) on 2
December 1975 and the subsequent socialist revolution sparked an exodus of almost
400,000 Lao citizens from their homeland (about one-tenth of Laos’ population at
the time).1 Political refugees, those people associated with the deposed Royal Lao
Government, its army, and the supporting network which was directed by the United
States of America, left before or immediately following the revolution. Economic
refugees followed in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the wake of an economic
collapse triggered by the withdrawal of USAID and radical socialist reforms imposed
by the new Lao government. A second wave of political refugees followed as people
were released from samanaa , the re-education camps set up to punish those whom
the Party deemed too close to the former regime.2
France was the primary destination for the educated elite and aristocracy, many of
whom spoke French and already had well-established ties there. However, the Lao
scholar Si-ambhaivan notes that just 49,561 Lao went to France compared to the vast
majority, some 225,000 people, who settled in the United States where they are
dispersed across numerous states (Si-ambhaivan 1999, p. 100). Canada (with 17,000)
and Australia (with 10,000) also settled significant numbers of Lao refugees.3 In
addition to those who left as refugees a small number of Lao nationals have settled in
Eastern European countries such as Poland and Hungary. This group exists largely as
a result of the Lao government’s policy of educating and training its citizens in fellow
communist bloc states, including Vietnam, Mongolia, the Soviet Union, East
Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. The process was un-
doubtedly arduous as students were away from Laos for seven years or longer, during
which time they learned the local language and then commenced their studies.
Consequently, a number of students ended up marrying locals and remained in
Eastern Europe instead of returning to Laos.4 In the West, many Lao migrants found
it difficult to adjust to their new life, hindered by language barriers, low levels of
education and high unemployment. This situation is beginning to change as the
Western-educated second and third generations of overseas Lao reach maturity and
begin to assume business and political leadership roles within their communities.
In Australia, the Lao community now numbers around 26,000 people. This figure
also includes several hundred Hmong, an ethnic group not related to the Lao (Lee
1984). Sydney (with 13,000), Melbourne (with 10,000) and Canberra (with 1,500) are
home to the largest concentrations of Lao migrants in Australia. Smaller communities
exist in Brisbane (about 1,000), Adelaide and Darwin, and there is even a small Lao
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community in Albury.5 In spite of its size there is no national Lao community
association. Instead, a range of disparate entities serves community needs in health
and welfare, social and cultural (for example, the ACT Lao Association, Young Lao
Advancement Group, Lao Community Advancement), religious (Lao Buddhist
temples have been built in Sydney, Albury, Canberra and Melbourne), and political
sectors. Thongrith Phoumirath, an Australian-based Lao scholar, has noted how an
absence of clear goals has led to divisions and an overall lack of cohesion between the
various Lao community associations in Australia*/an experience that has been
repeated among the Lao communities in the USA, Canada and France (Phoumirath
1996; Si-ambhaivan 1999).
In general, Lao migrant communities have been successful in maintaining their
language and cultural life and have remained largely endogamous. The larger
communities have built Buddhist temples (in Lao architectural style) complete with
resident monks who serve as a focal point for community festivals (centred upon a
traditional religious/agricultural calendar), as well as other cultural activities
including music and dance lessons and language instruction aimed primarily at the
community’s children.6 The temples also act as a locality in which the Lao homeland
is reconstructed and reinterpreted. For example, a scale model of Vientiane’s sacred
That Luang (thaat luang) stupa sits at the entrance to the Lao Buddhist temple Vat
Phrayortkeo in western Sydney. During the That Luang festival in November the
replica thaat serves as the centrepiece of celebrations, mirroring the festival
simultaneously under way in Laos.
Members of migrant Lao communities often classify Lao people living in Laos as
laaw naj ‘internal Lao (people)’ and those living abroad (that is, themselves) as laaw
nook ‘external Lao (people)’, a taxonomy that speaks to the social and conceptual
differences that have evolved across the diaspora over the past twenty-five years. Most
Lao families in the West have relatives in Laos with whom they maintain contact and
to whom they send remittances. In fact, remittances from abroad are the largest single
source of household income for the majority of households in the Vientiane valley
(Lintner 2001). Since the early 1990s the easing of the political situation in Laos has
encouraged more expatriate Lao to make the journey back to the Lao homeland to
visit relatives, find a Lao wife (but seldom to find a husband), or to seek out
investment/business opportunities. However, only a small number of families have
returned permanently to Laos. Si-ambhaivan (1999, p. 101) estimates that of the Lao
who settled in France just 150�/200 families, or about 1,000 people, have taken this
decision. There are, of course, a significant number of Lao who can never return, at
least while the present government remains in power, due to their previous and
present political associations and activities. For them the diaspora is permanent*/
they will never return to Laos.
Upon arrival in their adopted countries many first-generation Lao refugees created
two parallel networks with different levels of relationships. Primary relationships
revolved around members of the family and other ethnic Lao people, while relations
with the host community and business contacts were secondary (Si-ambhaivan 1999,
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p. 106). In ‘Elites in exile’, Si-ambhaivan follows the paths of two aristocratic Lao
families exiled in France. The first chooses an avoidance strategy and, considering
their exile to be temporary, socialises their children ‘in a dense ethnic [that is, Lao]
context’. As time passes the permanent nature of the exile becomes evident. The first
family’s children become integrated into French society through their work
connections but their social status comes from their participation in the Lao
community. In contrast, the second family assumes from the outset that their exile is
permanent and assimilates their children into French society, deciding not to give
them a Lao identity. Consequently, these children become almost completely
integrated into French society through their language, way of life, and their personal
and community relationships (Si-ambhaivan 1999, pp. 106�/7).
The extent to which these two different paths has been taken by the many other
Lao migrant families across the diaspora is unknown but the situation is likely to be
much more complex than a simple dichotomy of assimilation/integration versus
cultural maintenance. Although most of my own acquaintances in the Australian Lao
community have taken a path similar to that of the first family, I also know young
Lao who do not closely identify with their Lao ethnicity and decline to participate in
Lao community events, preferring instead to emphasise their Australian identity.
Regardless of the different resettlement strategies, a generational change is under way
across the communities of the diaspora, driven by transcultural young Lao who were
either born in their adopted country or arrived there while still very young. Although
most identify as Lao and understand Lao ways this group is acutely aware of their
Westernised attitudes, many of which conflict (at least in part) with those of their
parents and community elders. Unlike many of their elders, this generation do not see
Laos as a homeland to which they will one day return and are generally accepting of
the political reality that is the Lao PDR. Using their unique transcultural position and
point of view to seek out business opportunities in Laos, Southeast Asia and across
the Lao diaspora, this younger generation is changing the self-perception of migrant
Lao communities and their relationships towards Laos and other Lao communities
across the globe. Recent rapid advancements in digital and communications
technology have given these Lao living in affluent Western countries a clear
advantage over their compatriots in Laos, still one of the world’s least developed
countries.7
The once isolated nation of Laos has not gone unchanged either, having seen
considerable political and economic change since the early 1990s. In 1994 the
Friendship Bridge across the Mekong was opened, joining Laos with Thailand, a
potent symbol of the end to Laos’ years of isolation from the Western world
confirming the Lao government’s commitment to economic engagement with the
region and beyond. Internal travel restrictions have been lifted, although Lao citizens
still require an exit visa to leave the country. Private enterprise and foreign investment
are now encouraged (notwithstanding the recent problems of corruption encoun-
tered by foreign investors), totalitarian controls over everyday life have ceased,
although no liberal democratic reform of the political system has occurred, nor is it
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likely. In spite of these changes, Laos remains a vastly underdeveloped country with
the majority of its population impoverished and lacking access to basic education and
health; most of the benefits of recent economic growth have been concentrated in
Vientiane and other large urban centres along the Mekong such as Savannakhet and
Pakxe.
Transnationalism
The Lao residing in Australia and other Western nations are engaged in behaviours
and processes which ‘forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations which link
together their societies of origin and settlement’ (Basch et al . 1994, p. 6). These
activities, of which a number are detailed below, include a high density of exchanges,
new modes of transacting, ‘and the multiplication of activities that require cross-
border travel and contacts on a sustained basis’ (ibid., p. 6). Some scholars believe
that these activities are what makes transnationalism a completely new phenomenon
(Portes et al . 1999, p. 219); however, an alternative view contends that transnation-
alism is not completely new because ‘[h]istorically, transnational connections,
cultures and communities were the ‘‘normal’’ state of affairs’ that preceded
the modern nation (Kennedy and Roudomethof 2002, p. 12).8 Similarly, Bentley
(1993, p. 5) has observed that ‘cross-cultural encounters have been a regular feature
of world history since the earliest days of the human species’ existence’ and points to
the ancient trade routes that crossed Europe and Asia, allowing the spread of world
religions like Islam and Buddhism far beyond their points of origin.
An ethnically diverse, landlocked country situated at the heart of mainland
Southeast Asia, Laos has been the site of cross-cultural encounters for centuries and
provides a good example as to why these two claims are not incompatible.
Throughout their history ethnic Lao communities have engaged in intensive multi-
stranded social and political relations with numerous minority ethnic groups from
the Tai, Mon-Khmer and Yao-Mien language families, as well as the neighbouring
Khmer, Thai and Vietnamese ethnic majorities. The emergence of the Lao diaspora
after 1975 catapulted a number of Laos’ ethnic groups into a new era of transnational
engagement, this time a more reflexive one taking place across the oceans that
separated Lao from Lao, Hmong from Hmong, and Kmhmu from Kmhmu. The Lao
and Hmong people made up the majority of refugees and it is these two groups who
are now embracing the digital media technologies.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century Lao migrant communities are in
transition as they increase their participation in the transnational behaviours of
human mobility, communication, social ties, channels and flows of money,
commodities, information and images (Vertovec 1999, p. 456). They are moving
away from being a series of relatively insular migrant communities with marginal
‘older’ types of transnational behaviours centred upon communication by mail and
telephone and the sending of remittances, to one in which frequent ‘new’ types of
transnational exchanges and cultural flows are the norm. These ‘new’ modes of
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exchange include frequent travel, the establishment of transnational businesses and
the embracing of digital technologies for communication and commercial enterprise.
For the most part this change is generational, spearheaded by the young, Western-
educated and technologically literate transcultural Lao discussed above. Digital
technologies and media are facilitating the cultural flows and exchanges between Lao
communities in Western countries and the Lao homeland, not only because they have
speeded up interaction but because they have altered the nature of the interaction.
Cutting across ideas of transnationalism is the concept of ‘cosmopolitan’, a term
used by Turino (2000, p. 7) ‘to refer to objects, ideas, and cultural positions that are
widely diffused throughout the world and yet are only specific to certain portions of
the population within given countries’. This might also be used to describe the
technologically savvy young Lao discussed above. However, Turino distinguishes
cosmopolitan from transnational or global cultural formations on the basis that the
former lacks ‘the specific grounding (actual or symbolic) around a single homeland
or place of origin’ and that its key ingredients are the contributions made by a diffuse
source of multiple sites (Turino 2000, p. 8). Concepts of ‘Lao-ness’ (discussed below)
and the Lao nation are certainly central to the cultural imagings of the Lao diaspora.
Nevertheless, I find cosmopolitan to be a meaningful way to describe the new
generation of young Lao whose unique transcultural identity is informed and shaped
by widely diffused ideas and cultural positions, many of which come from their
Western education and technological awareness. It is these features that distinguish
them from other members of their community and give them a different outlook.
They are the cosmopolitans of a transnational community.
A key force in the contemporary transnational behaviours of Lao communities is
their adoption of digital technologies and media through which cultural dialogues are
presented and manipulated. This is a Lao technoculture that constructs and
represents notions of Lao-ness to itself as well as the world beyond.
Technoculture
Lysloff describes ‘technoculture’ as ‘social groups and behaviours characterised by
creative strategies of technological adaptation, avoidance, subversion, or resistance’
(1997, p. 207). The technoculture of the Lao diaspora facilitates transnational
exchanges of ideas and commodities between people who would otherwise have little
chance of communicating with one another. Using ‘Lao-ness’ as a base, the
participants engage in an ongoing dialectic process of examination and re-
examination of cultural identity, exploring: first, what it means to be Lao, and,
second, what it means to be Lao in the United States/Australia/Canada/France/Laos.
As an ethnomusicologist I wish to foreground music, following Feld’s (1994, p.
269) argument that music ‘becomes a particularly poignant locale for understanding
roots versus rootlessness, [and] homogenisation versus heterogenisation’. The latter of
these two themes was identified by Appadurai as the central problem of the ‘global
cultural economy’ (1990, p. 11). They are also pertinent to the construction of
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identity among all immigrant populations. Feld (1994, p. 269) also says that
privileging music is justified because it ‘is the most highly stylised of social forms,
iconically linked to the broader cultural production of local identity and indexically
linked to contexts and occasions of community participation’. A widely quoted (by
Lao and non-Lao alike) Lao proverb, stating that a person who plays (or listens to)
the kheen , eats sticky rice and lives in a house on stilts is Lao, reflects this close link
between local identity, music and other cultural markers such as food.9
In relation to music Lysloff and Gay extend the concept of technoculture, saying
that ‘by examining technocultures of music we can overcome the conventional
distinction, even conflict, between technology and culture, implicit especially in
studies of ‘‘traditional’’ musics in the field of ethnomusicology’ (2003, pp. 2�/3).
Among these conflicts are the anxiety-producing aspects of technology identified by
Taylor (2002) in his discussion of dialogues concerning the production and
consumption of popular music. Taylor sees two questions about humans and
humanity arising from this anxiety: first, to what extent does technology diminish
human agency? and, second, to what extent does technology have the capacity to turn
human history into its own history? If we accept Taylor’s (2002, p. 202) assertion that
the fundamental nature of (digital) technology is social, then it is logical to search for
the social meanings contained within the production and consumption processes of
transnational Lao music and its associated technology. By examining the aesthetic
values of these processes we can begin to understand music’s role in the construction
of social, local and ethnic identity.
The Transnational Lao Music Industry
I monitored around 40 Lao(s)-related websites on the Internet on an almost daily
basis for the duration of 2003. Surfing these sites one soon begins to understand the
connections Lao people make between music and local/ethnic identity. Commercial
and non-commercial sites touch on all areas of migrant life: community, tourism,
religion, computing, traditional broadcast media (radio, TV), politics, education,
society and culture, and, of course, music.10 Music is often placed in the context of a
broader cultural framework in which Lao food, language, ethnicity and history are
discussed and debated, and many sites carry snippets of information about Lao
culture wherein traditional forms of music are envisaged as integral to it. Cultural
and political issues feature prominently on discussion forums within many Lao
websites whose visitors are predominantly young, Westernised Lao.11
Lao music websites represent and respond to the growing transnational Lao music
industry, dominated by Lao-American artists (although the participation of non-USA
Lao artists is increasing), mounting a challenge to the enormous popularity of Thai
music within the Lao youth market in Laos and overseas. The fact that very few Lao
music websites sell or discuss Thai music can be taken as a reaction to the often
overwhelming cultural dominance of the Thai over the Lao. Lao-American artists
regularly undertake tours of the United States, France, Canada, Laos, and occasionally
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Australia, and Lao artists from other Western nations and Laos are also beginning to
tour these countries. A number of overseas Lao artists have, or had, publishing/
recording deals with major recording companies, for example, the Lao-American
singer Ketsana Vilayak (singing in Lao and English) and the Lao-French singer Sophie
Nithada (singing in French) have been signed to Warners. The music industry in Laos
is echoing the overseas activity with a growth in local sales and extending its reach
into the transnational Lao market and even into Thailand. Lao Art Media, a record
company in Laos, exemplifies this success with its current star Alexandra, or
Thidavan Bounxouay, a 16-year-old Lao girl of mixed Lao-Bulgarian parentage (from
a union arising from the Lao socialist planning that sent individuals to other
communist countries, as discussed earlier) who undertook a tour of North America
at the end of 2003.12 Thus, while the materially advantaged laaw nook are setting the
pace for the transnational music industry the laaw naj are also beginning to find their
place in this reciprocal and reflexive dialogue.
Small business people or Lao music enthusiasts, distributing CDs, VCDs and DVDs
of all Lao music genres, operate most of the websites dedicated to music. Many sites
offer downloadable files in mp3, .wav, Windows media and Real media formats to
allow listeners to preview material offered for sale. A number of artists have also
established their own commercial sites.13 Of the distributors’ sites, the Australian-
based Lao music site www.laopress.com is one of the leaders, offering visitors a choice
between ‘rock’, ‘pop’, ‘dance’, ‘country’, and ‘lam’, categories which (with the exception
of ‘lam’) follow the broad, loosely defined nomenclature of the mainstream
transnational music industry, albeit with a Lao flavour.14 Lao music sites do not
cater for one genre to the exclusion of others. It does not seem to matter as long as
the music offered is performed by people identifying themselves as Lao. Indeed, it is
the attribute of being Lao which provides the primary rationale for these sites to
operate and which links them to the transnational Lao community. This reflexivity is
illustrated in the slogan sanap sanuun le suk nuu silapiin laaw naj khoop kheet thua
look , ‘supporting and encouraging Lao artists across the globe’, which appears on
every page of Wattay Productions’ website.15 Another popular site, www.laowaves.-
com, declares its mission as providing ‘FREE entertainment to all Lao people in
cyberspace. Also to remind all Lao people of our Lao heritage, Lao customs, Lao
music and Lao pride!’ It concludes by exhorting visitors to ‘Enjoy the site and show
that you are LAO’.16 The appeal to authentic Lao consumers to support authentic Lao
artists and culture is clear, yet exactly what elements identify both artists and their
audience as authentically Lao remains largely undefined but mutually understood.
Lao-ness and Lao-ness in Lao Music
The concept of Lao-ness, khuam pen laaw, has been at the core of Lao nationalist
discourse since its beginnings at the turn of the twentieth century. Complex debates
evoking history, Buddhism, language and ethnicity have been central to attempts to
establish a codified and standard Lao identity, first for the French colony and, after
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1945, for the independent nation of Laos (see Evans 1999; Ivarsson 1999). A primary
rationale for this codification has been to differentiate a national Lao identity from
that of neighbouring Thailand. This rationale has been necessitated by two
demographic facts: first, within the borders of Laos there is a diverse multi-ethnic
population of which the politically and economically dominant ethnic Lao make up
just over half; and, second, a far greater number of ethnic Lao live in neighbouring
northeast Thailand than in Laos.17 Lao culture clearly does not begin and end at the
borders of the Lao PDR but is inexorably linked through history with the dominant
and minority cultures of adjacent nations*/Vietnam, China, Thailand, Cambodia
and Myanmar*/as well as the minority cultures of Laos. Such a state of affairs greatly
complicates and even compromises attempts to codify and standardise a national Lao
culture.
Constructing and imagining contemporary Lao cultural identity in the transna-
tional context is an ongoing and open-ended process, which draws upon this base of
prior and current Lao nationalist rhetoric. The present debate being conducted via
the Lao technoculture is carried out at several different levels and registers revolving
around two fundamental oppositions: one between the laaw naj and laaw nook ; the
other between Lao and Thai cultural identity. The laaw naj live in an underdeveloped
country where access to technology is open to very few; they are subject to the social
controls imposed by the government of the Lao PDR, and are exposed to Thai
popular culture on a daily basis. For the laaw naj , ‘global culture’ has been largely
mediated by Thai culture in recent years. In contrast, the laaw nook live in developed
countries where they have access to the instruments of modern communications and
media production, are subject to some Lao community social controls and are
exposed to ‘global culture’ without mediation through Thai culture, although the
problem of differentiating Lao from Thai culture is never far from the surface. These
differences ensure that the laaw nook and laaw naj have differing perceptions of the
dialogues which define Lao-ness and draw contrasts between Lao and Thai cultural
identities. Distinguishing between Thai and Lao is critical to the elaboration and
construction of Lao identity because many aspects of language, religion and
expressive culture are shared between the two. Thailand’s affluence and modernisa-
tion have placed it in a position of power and influence with regard to Laos, and by
extension Lao culture. How these close cultural links and power imbalances have
impacted upon facets of Lao cultural identity are explored in some examples below.
It is logical to assume that for Lao music to embody Lao-ness it must possess
certain aesthetic qualities audiences deem as ‘Lao’. However, uncovering such
aesthetic qualities is not as straightforward as one might at first imagine, since the
music of the Lao diaspora extends across diverse musical genres and can be sung in
three different languages. For Meintjes (2003), in an analysis of South African
mbaqanga music, an important aesthetic marker is the ‘figure’. Meintjes sets out two
types of figures: first, a socially constituted type, or icon, presented and recognised
through style; and, second, a repeating motive or pattern in music with an emphasis
upon timbre (sound quality) over melodic and/or rhythmic motives (2003, p. 149).
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Figures are part of a two-way dialogic process since they not only emerge from within
a musical culture but may also be modified in response to external influences; they
express and are informed by concepts of ethnicity and nationality. Briefly, figuring
can be described as:
a means by which certain sounds come to resonate in certain bodies, generatingfeelings about themselves and about others. It is equally much a way to make senseof sounds more intelligent to those who embrace them. Figuring is a way ofconnecting form out into the world, a way of interpreting the experience of musicalsound into language, a way of mediating aesthetic and social experience. (Meintjes2003, p. 172)
For Lao people the sound of the kheen , and to a lesser extent the kacappi (a small
three-stringed lute), exemplify Lao music. The image of the kheen is also a socially
constructed figure which represents the Lao nation and Lao-ness*/it was employed
as a central symbol in the ‘Visit Laos Year 1999�/2000’ campaign*/and is ubiquitous
in discussions of Lao culture. Similarly, the sound of moo lam singing is construed as
a metaphor for Lao-ness; in this case the instrumental accompaniment of the kheen
becomes the ‘ground’ over which the figure of lam singing is laid.18 The figure of the
kheen is prominent in the popular lam and Lao country genres*/genres that have
most appeal to the older demographic of the Lao diaspora*/but is seldom used in
Lao rock and pop music. These musical and social figures pose something of a
dilemma, however, since they are also shared with the Lao population of northeast
Thailand, or Isan. Thus, the kheen and lam singing are also figures for a sub-level of
Thai identity, khon isaan (‘Isan people’, the ethnic Lao of northeastern Thailand).
Similarly, Lao classical music is replete with overlapping figures since its ensemble
forms and a substantial amount of repertoire are shared with the classical music of
Thailand and Cambodia.19 However, Lao people still view these musical and social
figures as inherently Lao in spite of this overlap. Attributes of Lao-ness in the figures
of Lao pop and rock are even more difficult to identify since they share so many
features with Thai and Western pop and rock music. In order to discover and clarify
the kinds of figures and other aesthetic features which mark Lao-ness, further in-
depth ethnographic research among Lao music-makers and consumers is needed.
There are, however, a number of readily identifiable figures, which are briefly
discussed below.
Singing in Lao is the primary signifier of Lao-ness in Lao music, both popular and
traditional. A prominent young Lao-American rock musician told me that ‘the
language stands for Lao[s] itself, the rest is just influence, creativity and advancement
for the music’.20 However, while most Western-derived popular and rock music songs
are sung in Lao, it is not obligatory for an artist to do so in order for them to be
identified (or identify themselves) as Lao. For example, Pamela from Canada and
Sophie Nithida from France sing almost exclusively in French while other artists, such
as Ketsana, Black Flame, and Phone Phoummithone from the United States, sing
some songs in English. Traditional Lao vocal music and the popular lam and Lao
country genres it influences possess prominent linguistic figures in the form of
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conventionalised textual themes, tone�/melody relationships and poetic structures
(see Chapman 2001, 2003). But these linguistic figures are not found in Lao pop and
rock, indicating that audiences of these musics may also be listening (and looking) for
other linguistic and non-linguistic aesthetic markers to identify the music as ‘Lao’.
The growth of the Lao music industry, and its growing acceptability among young
Lao, are evident in a number of recent developments. In 1999 Enfield reported that in
the Lao capital, Vientiane, the heavily imaged Thai music scene was very popular
while ‘[a]mong the more trendy youth, Lao songs are uncool’ (1999, p. 281). Enfield
noted that Lao musicians aspiring to write Thai-style pop and rock faced language-
specific problems in writing their lyrics. The pronouns chan ‘I’ and thee ‘you’, which
feature prominently in ‘cool’ Thai songs about relationships and love, are highly
marked as Thai for a Lao listener. If, however, a songwriter used these it would result
in their song failing to gain approval from the Lao Ministry of Information and
Culture.21 Instead of Thai pronouns, a Lao songwriter would have to use the
‘embarrassing’-sounding Lao pronouns aaj ‘older brother’ and noong ‘younger sister’,
or khooj ‘I’ and caw ‘you’ (Enfield 1999, p. 281). Most musicians therefore adopted
the tactic of avoiding these forms by using less overtly ‘Lao’ pronouns, such as haw ‘I/
we’ and khaw ‘they’ or by omitting pronouns altogether. Today the idea that Lao pop
and rock songs might be cool has reached the point where markedly Lao pronouns
are commonly used in Lao pop and rock music produced in Laos and abroad.22 In
this instance the socially constructed Lao figures for Lao and Thai pronouns have
undergone a transformation of meaning for Lao listeners. Exactly why this change has
occurred is not yet clear, but it is partly due to the influence of increasingly
technologically sophisticated Lao music produced outside Laos encouraging Lao
musicians to assert their Lao-ness in the face of Thai cultural dominance.
This transition is also evident in the ‘anti-Thai lyric’ stance taken by young Lao-
American rock/pop artists such as Noy Sydanon and Sarky. These young men have
declared their intention to use the Lao language for rock songs in spite of the opinion
among some young Lao in the West that it is not suited to rock music and in spite of
the potential financial gain that can be made by targeting the Thai market. The Exile,
a Lao-American heavy-rock band, use Thai rather than Lao for their songs, an
approach which has enabled them to secure a recording deal with the large Thai
company Grammy Entertainment. The Exile’s success in the Thai music industry
means that they are unlikely to change their approach to please the much smaller and
more dispersed Lao market.
The World Music Market and Transnational Lao Music
The world music market has not embraced Southeast and East Asian music, either
traditional or popular, to the same extent it has African, South Asian and Latin music
(cf. Mitchell 1996, p. 52). At present few Lao musicians simultaneously market their
product to a local (that is, Lao) and international audience in the manner that many
African musicians and producers do (cf. Meintjes 2003). Most Lao music projects are
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funded and released independently with no involvement from major Western or
Asian recording corporations. Instead, the transnational Lao music industry appears
to target almost exclusively members of the Lao diaspora, both laaw naj and laaw
nook , relying on community networks and contacts to distribute their music. I know
only a few exceptions to this state of affairs. First, the group Molam Lao, based in
Melun near Paris, have appeared at several WOMAD (World of Music Arts and
Dance) festivals, collaborated with British musician Jah Wobble to produce a ‘dub’
album (Wobble 2000) and released an album of kheen music (Khampha 1999).
Second, three Western-based Lao artists have connected to the mainstream music
industry in the US and France. As noted earlier, two female pop singers, Ketsana and
Sophie Nithida, have connections to the mainstream music industry through their
publishing/recording deals with the Warner organisation, although Ketsana is no
longer contracted to the company. Lastly, there is Willy Denzy, a 19-year-old Lao-
French male R’n’B artist, who achieved considerable mainstream chart success in
France during 2003 with EMC Records and Sony Music Entertainment.
Molam Lao are traditional performers using their ‘traditional’ status to target the
international world music market. In contrast, pop singers Ketsana and Sophie
Nithida and the R’n’B singer Willy Denzy work within Western genres and their
music-making and production technologies, singing in the languages of their
respective adopted countries. Of these three, Ketsana is attempting to reach beyond
her established Lao audience to a non-Lao mainstream pop music market, while
Nithida and Willy Denzy set out to achieve mainstream success from the outset and
appear to have been adopted by Lao audiences along the way.
Conclusion
If, as Kennedy and Roudomethof have envisioned, transnational communities are
‘almost destined to provide the most significant form of ‘‘community’’ in the future’
(2001, p. 36), then the communities of the Lao diaspora are making steady progress
towards this vision. Through technoculture and music the Lao are engaged in a
dynamic, four-way dialogue which informs and constructs identity on two local
levels, laaw naj and laaw nook , both of which speak to a broader construct of ethnic/
national Lao identity. This ethnic/national Lao identity plays a key role in the
growing Lao assertiveness driven by Lao resistance to Thai cultural influence and
dominance and a desire for cohesion across the diaspora. In turn, these local-level
dialogues feed into regional and global discourses which serve to project Lao-ness to a
wider Asian and transnational audience.
These form an essential and emerging part of the ‘new complexity of social and
cultural change’ which scholars are striving to understand (Evans 1999, p. 31).
Further work remains to be done in order to address a number of the ambiguities and
opaque areas of inquiry identified herein. In the case of the Lao diaspora, an
understanding of the different degrees of engagement in transnational behaviours by
different demographic groups across the diaspora will reveal its changing power
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relationships. By learning how the Lao in Laos are working to overcome their
comparative disadvantage in access to technology and understanding the full extent
of the generation/technological gap in the migrant communities, we can understand
the ‘variation in the frequency, depth and range of transnational ties’ which takes
place within migrant groups (Foner 1997, p. 23). Music is a highly productive site in
which to undertake this work because of the ways it bridges the gap between past,
present and future through its multi-faceted, multi-genred nature, appealing to
nostalgia and sensual memory while embracing technology and voicing the
experience of second- and third-generation migrants. Further research can help to
identify these voices and discover the meaning of the messages conveyed to us
through the air and digital data files.
Notes
[1] Note that there is a distinction between a Lao national and someone of Lao ethnicity: the
former may be a Lao citizen of any ethnicity, whereas the latter is ethnically Lao and may or
may not be a Lao citizen. The figures for refugee numbers here refer to Lao nationals who left
Laos, of whom a significant proportion were of Hmong ethnicity. My focus in this article is on
(the music of) ethnically Lao people, also known as lowland Lao (laaw lum). See Evans
(1999) for a detailed discussion of the concepts and problems surrounding the question of Lao
national versus ethnic identity.
[2] The term samana is taken from the English word ‘seminar’. In Laos this term is now being
used to refer to conferences and other meetings (as it is in neighbouring Thailand) rather than
the re-education camps. Many Lao, both overseas and in Laos, still associate the term with the
camps. The few transcriptions of Lao that appear in the text are transcribed using the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) except for the following: palatal alveolar nasal is
transcribed as /n/; mid-front unrounded vowel as /e/; low-front unrounded vowel as /e/; high-
back unrounded vowel as /u/; and low-back unrounded vowel as /o/. Long vowel sounds are
indicated by repeating the vowel. For ease of reading I have omitted glottal stops and tones
from the transcriptions.
[3] These figures include refugees from all ethnic groups in Laos, not just the lowland Lao. The
figures for the USA include a considerable number of Hmong.
[4] Although the Lao communities in Eastern Europe are small, under-researched and have a
relatively low profile in electronic and digital media, their contributions to the Lao diaspora
should be of interest to any transnational study.
[5] The figures include Australian-born Lao, hence the numbers are greater than the original
10,000 or so Laos-born migrants who arrived before 1991 (Phoumindr 1996).
[6] See http://www.geocities.com/phoenixwatlao/relatedlinks.html for a list of some Lao temples
in Western countries.
[7] Using Internet usage as an example, Laos has the lowest usage of any ASEAN nation in spite of
a 50 per cent increase in use between 2000 and 2003 (Phonsavanh 2003). The World Factbook
published by the Central Intelligence Agency gives the following 2002 figures for the number
of Internet users in Laos at 10,000 (0.16 per cent of the population), USA at 165.75 million
(57 per cent), France at 16.97 million (28.19 per cent), Canada at 16.84 million (52.29 per
cent) and Australia at 10.63 million (53.8 per cent) (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/
factbook/).
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[8] Since transnational behaviours preceded the modern nation-state we could consider using
‘transcommunalism’ or ‘transculturalism’ in place of transnationalism to suit an older world
order without national borders and governments.
[9] This ubiquitous proverb also illustrates just how slippery concepts of ethnic identity can be
since non-Lao groups in the area also eat sticky rice, play the kheen and build their houses on
stilts.
[10] The variety of sites available is clearly seen in the long list of the Lao-related links at http://
www.vientianetimes.com/Others.html.
[11] Two sites from the USA, http://www.buclao.com/buclao/, a site for young Lao men, and
http://www.laovision.net/, a magazine for Lao migrants who are students in the United States,
encapsulate many of the current issues for young transcultural Lao people.
[12] The Eurasian pop star is a common Thai phenomenon and it is particularly intriguing to see
the appearance of a Lao equivalent.
[13] For individual artists’ sites see http://www.nithada-online.com, http://www.chitpanya.com,
and http://www.ketsana.com among others.
[14] http://www.laopress.com. Lam , also known as moolam (also spelled molam , mawlum ), is the
name for traditional Lao vocal music. The music currently marketed as lam is a modernised
version of this music.
[15] Its mission statement elaborates upon the slogan in more detail, http://www.wattay-pro.com/
About.html.
[16] http://www.laowaves.com. This site shut down sometime towards the end of 2003. It is not
known if it will reappear.
[17] Two topics concerning khuam pen laaw have been posted on the soc.culture.laos newsgroup
since the beginning of 2004. One post (reproduced as typed by the poster) reads: ‘Khuam Pen
Lao is to love your own kind (Lao) appreciate Lao culture and enjoy everything about Laos:
music, food, clothes and etc. . .. Don’t look up to geo (vietcong) nor thai as your leader. Sure
you can have friends and be a good neighbor, but should not live under their control or
policies.’
[18] A moo lam is a Lao traditional singer; see Miller (1985), Compton (1979) and Chapman
(2002) for detailed accounts of Lao vocal music. Meintjes (2003, p. 149) notes that a musical
figure is subject to ornamentation and variation in repetition that is repeated over a steady
line. For Meintjes this line is normally a bass line; however, the kheen fills this role in
traditional Lao vocal music (Chapman 2002).
[19] Within the classical and vocal music repertoires there are certain genres and pieces which are
typically Lao, but these are too specific to fit the definition of figure used here.
[20] Email correspondence, 18 February 2004.
[21] All material published in the Lao PDR must obtain approval from the local branch of the
Ministry of Information and Culture. See VMGO (VMG 1997), Article 6.3.
[22] In early 2004, a Vientiane Times article ran a report on how pop and rock music produced in
the Lao PDR is winning fans in neighbouring northeast Thailand who call Lao stations 97.25
FM and 103.07 FM to request songs (Souknilundon 2004).
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