Singing as Social Life: Three Perspectives on Kwv Txhiaj from Vietnam
Despite the recent influx of predominantly foreign-produced recordings of Hmong popular music, the vocal art form of kwv txhiaj still plays an important role in the daily lives of many Vietnamese-Hmong people. While previous studies of Vietnamese-Hmong music have tended to focus solely on the music...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Hmong Studies Journal
2012-12-01
|
| Series: | Hmong Studies Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/obriainhsj13.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797957292575948800 |
|---|---|
| author | Lonán Ó Briain |
| author_facet | Lonán Ó Briain |
| author_sort | Lonán Ó Briain |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite the recent influx of predominantly foreign-produced recordings of Hmong popular music, the vocal art form of kwv txhiaj still plays an important role in the daily lives of many Vietnamese-Hmong people. While previous studies of Vietnamese-Hmong music have tended to
focus solely on the musical sounds, this article attempts to illustrate how kwv txhiaj is made meaningful in live performance by contextualizing the musical examples with ethnographic data. Using Timothy Rice’s Time, Place, and Metaphor model (2003) as a theoretical basis, three
contrasting case studies of singers and their songs are examined: an elderly woman sings a song she learned at the time of her marriage at the age of nine, a younger woman sings while planting rice in her fields, and another sings about the importance of education at the local government
cultural center. Based on fifteen months of fieldwork in northern Vietnam, this study examines a representative sample of performances from the Sa Pa district of Lào Cai province in an attempt to uncover what makes kwv txhiaj a vital aspect of Vietnamese-Hmong culture. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:02:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-55afefeb7af54b44bfc4d6bb125aa7a7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1091-1774 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:02:06Z |
| publishDate | 2012-12-01 |
| publisher | Hmong Studies Journal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Hmong Studies Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-55afefeb7af54b44bfc4d6bb125aa7a72023-01-09T18:41:59ZengHmong Studies JournalHmong Studies Journal1091-17742012-12-01131127Singing as Social Life: Three Perspectives on Kwv Txhiaj from VietnamLonán Ó BriainDespite the recent influx of predominantly foreign-produced recordings of Hmong popular music, the vocal art form of kwv txhiaj still plays an important role in the daily lives of many Vietnamese-Hmong people. While previous studies of Vietnamese-Hmong music have tended to focus solely on the musical sounds, this article attempts to illustrate how kwv txhiaj is made meaningful in live performance by contextualizing the musical examples with ethnographic data. Using Timothy Rice’s Time, Place, and Metaphor model (2003) as a theoretical basis, three contrasting case studies of singers and their songs are examined: an elderly woman sings a song she learned at the time of her marriage at the age of nine, a younger woman sings while planting rice in her fields, and another sings about the importance of education at the local government cultural center. Based on fifteen months of fieldwork in northern Vietnam, this study examines a representative sample of performances from the Sa Pa district of Lào Cai province in an attempt to uncover what makes kwv txhiaj a vital aspect of Vietnamese-Hmong culture. https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/obriainhsj13.pdfvietnamhmongmusicsung poetry |
| spellingShingle | Lonán Ó Briain Singing as Social Life: Three Perspectives on Kwv Txhiaj from Vietnam Hmong Studies Journal vietnam hmong music sung poetry |
| title | Singing as Social Life: Three Perspectives on Kwv Txhiaj from Vietnam |
| title_full | Singing as Social Life: Three Perspectives on Kwv Txhiaj from Vietnam |
| title_fullStr | Singing as Social Life: Three Perspectives on Kwv Txhiaj from Vietnam |
| title_full_unstemmed | Singing as Social Life: Three Perspectives on Kwv Txhiaj from Vietnam |
| title_short | Singing as Social Life: Three Perspectives on Kwv Txhiaj from Vietnam |
| title_sort | singing as social life three perspectives on kwv txhiaj from vietnam |
| topic | vietnam hmong music sung poetry |
| url | https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/obriainhsj13.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lonanobriain singingassociallifethreeperspectivesonkwvtxhiajfromvietnam |