Sound Field Season 5: How Do You Preserve a Thousands-Year-Old Musical Style?
Premiere Date: May 9, 2024 Format: 1 x 9-minute episode
Description
In this episode of Sound Field , TPT’s music education series for PBS Digital Studios, host Arthur “LA” Buckner delves into the world of Hmong folk singing in Minneapolis with artists Tiffany Mai Nhia Xiong and Gaosong Heu. This episode highlights the deep historical roots of Hmong musical traditions that originated in China and migrated through Southeast Asia to America after the Secret War. We explore Hmong cultural preservation through music, focusing on the styles of lug txaj and kwv txhiaj, which are performed and cherished at community gatherings like the Hmong New Year and weddings.
Impact
Joua Lee Grande, a Twin Cities-based filmmaker, worked with TPT as part of a PBS Accelerator Fellowship in 2023–2024. For her work with Sound Field , she opted to explore a musical tradition from her culture, Hmong folk singing. Using the Sound Field platform as a launchpad, the intention of the video was to build awareness of Hmong culture and music techniques, for younger adult music fans as well as YouTube’s broader audience. The video performed very well, and it was evident from the 280 comments on the YouTube channel that it resonated with Hmong viewers living in Minnesota and beyond and introduced Hmong folk singing to new audiences. “I really appreciate my Hmong culture being talked about their importance to this world and its people. It’s really heartwarming to see other people be interested and talk about my culture, whether its the food, songs, clothes or lifestyle. Especially as a kid I felt like us Hmong people weren’t really being seen for who we are and our culture, or wasn’t being talked as much as other cultures, so I thank you for making this video and keeping our culture alive.” – YouTube Comment
Distribution & Reach
Platform
Reach (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024)
Streaming
1 episode available | 0.25 hours available | 70,815 streams
Social Media
5 posts | 180 engagements
122
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator