Transitioning from The Songs of Memory Project to
Cultural Crossroads Asia
2024 Newsletter
Welcome to Cultural Crossroads Asia!
We are so excited to introduce you to our multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary initiative in Northern Thailand, which aspires to honor, validate, and support the multiplicity of ethnic peoples who share this corner of Southeast Asia. At the same time, we hope to inspire national and international visitors who are lured by the wonder of such age-old wisdom, traditions, and artistry.
Nouns and Verbs
With a mission to protect ancestral practices before they irrevocably disappear after hundreds of years of continuity, Cultural Crossroads Asia is founded on two complementary pillars:
– The Cultural Crossroads Asia Heritage Center, a valuable repository, dynamic showcase, and far-reaching social initiative in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has as its mandate to Preserve Material Culture, the objects and textiles that are primally meaningful to a people’s secular and sacred lives.
– The Living Legacy Project collaborates with ethnic communities in northern mountain villages to establish Oral Tradition Schools, engaging Master Musicians, Storytellers, and Musical Instrument Makers to impart their ancestral knowledge to ethnic youth, as a way to Sustain Intangible Culture.
Metaphorically, exhibiting material artifacts, the ‘Nouns,’ goes hand-in-hand with active efforts to keep ancestral wisdom and oral arts alive, the ‘Verbs.’ Activating the CCA Heritage Center and the Living Legacy Project together is the most powerful plan of action to ensure that time-honored traditions remain protected and perpetuated.
CCA’s Extraordinary First Year
of New Initiatives
Cultural Crossroads Asia Board of Directors
Cultural Crossroads Asia Foundation
Our Cultural Crossroads Asia Story – our Mission, Vision, and Blueprint – has been carefully developed over many years with the support of a committed consortium of Indigenous Leaders, International Advisors, and our CCA Board of Directors, comprised of respected cultural advocates: Dr. Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, Khun Suwaree Wongkongkaew, Dr. Prasert Trakansuphakon, and Victoria Vorreiter, who share their wisdom and experience, guiding CCA into the future.
Incorporated in Thailand in September 2023, Cultural Crossroads Asia is now also working to establish the CCA Foundation in the U.S. Until the process is completed, CCA is represented by our Fiscal Agent in New York, which provides us NGO status.
Here’s a Heads Up. . . As we grow and expand, please know there will be ample room for you to Volunteer, Intern, or Work with us. Please let us hear from you!
Cultural Crossroads Asia Website
Our multi-media site is not only a dynamic calling card for Cultural Crossroads Asia, highlighting Our Story, Commitment, Community, Collections, and Collaborations, it also offers the viewer Music to hear, Videos to watch, Books to read, Exhibitions to visit, and Crafts to purchase. Do take your time, there is much to explore.
Living Legacy Project
Akha Oral Tradition School
Through its Living Legacy Projects, Cultural Crossroads Asia supports collaborative initiatives in ethnic villages as a way to empower their communities to embrace the heritage of their forefathers and to pass it on to their descendants. The first of many Living Legacy Projects to come, the Akha Oral Tradition School, was launched in July 2023, in a small Akha village, Ban Saen Suk, in the mountains of Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Every week a class of twenty-two Akha youth are enthralled by Master Akha Musicians, Storytellers, and Instrument Makers who impart a trove of age-old melodies and lore they once learned from their elders in an unbroken chain. We are so proud of our Akha students for what they have accomplished and profoundly grateful to our Akha Teachers: Athu Pochear, Miju Manpo, Mawleu Jupoh, Apa Ayi, Abiya Pochear, and Asaw Jotaw.
Akha Students and Master Musicians
Recreate and Reclaim their Ancestral Intangible Arts
Akha Oral Tradition School
Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai, Thailand
July 2023 – December 2024
Our First Concert!
Akha Oral Tradition School
Living Legacy Project
Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand
24 February 2024
Our Second Concert for a Massive Akha Audience
1,500 Akha from Vietnam, Laos, China, Thailand, and Myanmar
Akha Oral Tradition School
Living Legacy Project
Akha Swing Festival
Doi Chang, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand
18 August 2024
Akha Oral Tradition School Workshop
Apprenticeship in Crafting Instruments
Our Akha Oral Tradition School needed three new drums – so why not make them ourselves! But seeing as fabricating an Akha Thang bass drum — from Forest to Festival — is a time- and effort-intensive endeavor, Cultural Crossroads Asia decided to sponsor a new Instrument-Making Initiative to complement our Saturday afternoon classes of songs, instrumental music, stories, dances, and martial arts.
So it came to pass that every Sunday for three months, from July – September 2024, six Akha boys from the Akha Oral Tradition School studied with Master Musical Instrument Maker Asaw Jotaw in their village, Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai, Thailand. In the process, these students learned how to transform a tree trunk, buffalo hide, rope, metal wire, varnish, and beeswax into the most beautiful, booming Akha bass drum, Thang.
Our Akha youth are now taking orders! Please contact us with your request: CulturalCrossroadsAsia@gmail.com
Cultural Crossroads Asia YouTube Channel
The Living Legacy Project envisions a multi-faceted approach to support the transmission of ancestral oral traditions. This plan of action takes many forms, one of which is through Audio-Video Documentation that will appear on our Cultural Crossroads Asia YouTube Channel. It is hoped that these videos will inform and inspire the ethnic peoples of Southeast Asia and their diaspora worldwide, as well as an international audience thirsting to learn more about traditional music, practices, and beliefs.
Please enjoy this video that showcases the First Concert of our Akha Oral Tradition School students, performed in Ban Saen Suk on 24 February 2024, after just seven months of lessons. We could not be more proud of them.
Exhibition
Bedazzling Kaleidoscopes in Cloth
The Art of Karen Weaving
Heart Space Gallery, Cham Cha Market
Chiang Mai, Thailand
19 November – 31 January 2024
Presentations
Purpose Earth Grant and Virtual Awards Gala
16 April 2024
The Living Legacy Project, under the auspices of Cultural Crossroads Asia, was honored to be one of ten recipients, out of 130 applicants, of a generous grant awarded by Purpose Earth. “Your project stood out amidst a pool of remarkable initiatives, and we are genuinely excited to embark on this journey alongside you.”
Thank you, Purpose Earth, for showing your trust in our Akha Oral Tradition School.
https://www.purposeearth.org/grant-recipients/the-living-legacy-project
Akha Oral Tradition School
Imparting Ancestral Songs, Stories, & Ceremonies
to Akha Youth
- World Music Center Conference
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
19 April. 2024
Announcement - Northern Illinois University School of Music
April 2024
Announcement - Chiang Mai International Rotary Group
4 June 2024
Purpose Earth Fundraising Gala: Emerge
Charcoal Factory
Chicago, Illinois
24 October 2024
People are the Real Journey
Cultural Crossroads Asia Fundraising Event
Home of Marsha and Phil Dowd
Chicago, Illinois
31 October 2024
Books, Films, Recordings
Nan Palin
Award-Winning Filmmaker
The Songs of Memory Books, Films, and Recordings now reside in more than 100 International Libraries, Universities, Cultural Centers, and Museums, and, thrillingly, are part of the curricula in classrooms at Universities and Grade Schools with an interest in Southeast Asian Studies and traditional ethnic music, religion, and culture.
Some of these institutions include: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; British Library, London; Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; Bibliothèque chez Ville de Paris; Library of Congress (US, Thailand, Jakarta); École Française d’Extrême-Orient (Paris, US, Laos); Ethnological Museum, Berlin, Germany; Ethnography Museum Geneva, Switzerland; Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, Germany; Xieng Khouoang Museum, Laos; Royal Geographical Society, Hong Kong; UCLA School of Music; University of Strasbourg; Leiden University; University of San Diego; University of Wisconsin; Yale University; Wesleyan University; Dartmouth College; Cornell University; Harvard University; Australian National University, Canberra; Royal Academy of Cambodia, Phnom Penh; and Universities throughout Thailand.
Educational Curricula – Artistic Media
February 2024
Victoria, I discovered your amazing book (Songs of Memory) while visiting Chiang Mai and I have been wanting to own it! It would be an immense pleasure to meet you. Treasure unearthed. . . Happy Days.”
Nan Palin
Award-Winning Writer, Director, Film Producer
Writing a Film Set in Ethnic Villages of SE Asia
Hmong American Peace Academy (HAPA)
22 November 2024
Dear Victoria,
I would like to sincerely thank you from every place in my heart for doing everything you possibly could to get us some of your Hmong Songs of Memory Books! When I started this job three years ago, my greatest challenge was to find ways to incorporate Hmong Culture into my classroom. Through your beautiful and educational work, I’ve been able to grow and develop so many opportunities for my students and I can’t wait for them to have even more of your resources in their hands! Thank you thank you thank you!
Jena Metzler
Hmong American Peace Academy (HAPA)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
21 November 2024
Dear Victoria,
Thank you so much for your gorgeous book. I spent the evening immersed in its richness. I am certain the Songs of Memory Book and Recordings will be an important source to cite in my work going forward, particularly for your description of the musical element of shamanic practices which I haven’t encountered in detail from other sources. I will of course recommend this be added to our collection at my university.
Eden Blackwell
PhD Candidate, University of Alabama
To order Materials from Resonance Press, please visit:
https://culturalcrossroadsasia.org/resonance-press/
New Photographic Website
Victoria Vorreiter Photography
https://victoriavorreiter.com/
Welcome to the Landing Page of Victoria Vorreiter Photography. The Gallery and Shop will be open soon, giving you the opportunity to surround yourself with images from Southeast Asia that reflect a moment in Time, Place, Experience, and People that will never again be, for the age-old practices seen here are swiftly, silently disappearing.
“People are the Real Journey.” For over twenty years, this mantra has inspired my quest to document the ancestral Sights, Songs, Stories, and Spirits of the peoples of the Golden Triangle.
While my archival work is composed of numerous media and outreach projects, this site is solely devoted to my Photographs. It would be a pleasure to share these timeless images with you.
In Memoriam
Abiya Pochear /Arbyaq Bawrcaeq
Beloved Ulo Akha Mother, Friend, Musician, and Teacher
at the Akha Oral Tradition School
December 1956 – 2 December 2024
Our hearts are breaking with news that our treasured friend and beautiful fellow teacher, Abiya Pocher, unexpectedly, peacefully passed away yesterday. The teachers and students of our Akha Oral Tradition School and all the Akha who knew and loved her mourn her loss, as Abiya, above all, represented Pure Joy. Every photograph of her radiates her glowing inner light.
Abiya was also passionate about traditional Akha culture – every aspect of it – from Akha ancestral beliefs and rituals, Akha arts of weaving, tailoring, embroidery, and cuisine, to Akha oral arts including singing, storytelling, dancing, and crafting musical instruments. . . . Please read more.
Richard K. Diran
Adventurer, Documentarian, Cultural Hero
Author of “The Vanishing Tribes of Burma”
3 November 1949 – 17 July 2024
Richard and Junko Diran with Aung San Suu Kyi
Introducing “The Vanishing Tribes of Burma” Exhibition
Yangon, Myanmar
September 2013
Richard Diran – Mentor, Hero, Friend – and Victoria
Bangkok, Thailand
15 November 2004
How to describe Richard? He – his life – was as multifaceted as the gems that he explored and the jewelry he fabricated. Richard was a fine painter and sculptor, who dipped his paintbursh into the mythic, supernatural, even surreal depths of primal dreams. He was an art dealer and restaurateur, whose enterprises were ignited by his gifts as a master raconteur. No one told stories better than Richard. And he was a swashbuckling adventurer, who swore like a sailor and traveled the world.
Richard K. Diran was also the acclaimed photographer of The Vanishing Tribes of Burma, the seminal book that revealed the glorious multiplicity of ethnic peoples who have lived under the jungle canopy for hundreds of years, to a great extent unknown to the world. His work, a labor of love, fascination, and commitment to documenting more than forty distinct ethnic groups over twenty-five years, led him on meandering mountain paths through all corners of Burma. . . . Please read more.
Gratitude to Donors
of the Living Legacy Project
Celebrating our One-Year Anniversary
“Happy Birthday to Us!”
Akha Oral Tradition School
Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai, Thailand
20 July 2024
You have been the wind in our sails, allowing CCA to launch the Akha Oral Tradition School this year. Amazing! Incredible! Look what you have helped manifest!
Such generosity of spirit has opened the way for our class of twenty-two Akha students to acquire wisdom and skills from some of the last remaining Akha cultural guardians, connecting them to their ancestors and to each other. That you saw our mission as an opportunity to help sustain a vibrant culture, as well as children’s lives, is deeply meaningful. We at Cultural Crossroads Asia are so grateful to all of you.
Semester 1
(July 2023 – March 2024)
Verity and Warren Kingston
Dorée Huneven
Sara and Terry Miller
Joanna MacLean
Helen Brunner
Gerald Adelmann
Amy and Mark Conroy
Phijitra and John Schorr
Beth and Barry Brooks
Semester 2
(May – August 2024)
Marsha and Phil Dowd
Purpose Earth
Chiang Mai International Rotary Club
Sara and Terry Miller
Maria and Neil Nehring
Carol Andrix
Semester 3
(September 2024 – March 2025)
Joanna MacLean
Sara and Terry Miller
Thai Textile Society
Janet and Tom Murphy
Monique & Paul Sochaczewski
Steve Epstein
Helen Brunner
Karen and David Stokes
Martine and Ilya Levinson
Susanne Baker
Karen Vorreiter
Johnny Doyle
Mathieu Guyonnet-Duluc
John Schorr
Eden Blackwell
It Takes a Village: Untold Appreciation goes to these specialists who made my lifework possible this year.
Tim Davies, Webmaster Extraordinaire; Suchart Robmeechai, Tech Guru; Suporn Promchaisoon, Photo Professional; and Inyasiri Khun Noppajohn, Master Filmmaker; Sughrit Kraseirsook and Jaroonroat Kraseirsook, Legal Marvels.
If Cultural Crossroads Asia resonates with you,
we would be honored to have you join us
and to receive your support.
