Concert by Akha Youth
Living Legacy Project
Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai, Thailand

After eighteen weeks of inspirational teaching by our six Master Akha Musicians and dedicated practice by our twenty-two students, our Akha Oral Tradition class has just presented its first public concert in Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai, Thailand.  The accomplishment and poise the young people demonstrated made the hearts of everyone in the audience glow.

For those who have been following our Musical Journey on Facebook as it has evolved week after week since July 2023, you will surely appreciate the extent of knowledge and skills that have been passed on from one generation to the next. This slide show of our concert hopes to show the outgrowth of the children’s progress in music and in presentation after one semester, so that now they too are able to share what they know with their families, communities, and visitors.

Yet for all that, the ancestral wisdom they acquired goes beyond singing songs, recounting stories, dancing dances, and playing and making musical instruments (hu le peu whistle flute, mae li mae lo reed pipe, chu du buffalo horn, pi pa leaf, and che lae cymbals, beu leu gong, thang drum, and bau chang bamboo beaters).

The steady, weekly classes we offered also infused the children with a sense of identity, unity, and pride. Perhaps this is the true purpose of what our teachers are attempting to impart – an invisible, indefinable, primal connection to Akha heritage.

Gulung guma deh to our wonderful Akha Master Musicians and students. Massive appreciation goes to our donors, who believed in the Living Legacy Project vision and set us on our way. And massive thanks to all of you for traveling this path with us these past eight months. This first outreach initiative in the Cultural Crossroads Asia has been moving, humbling, and wondrous.

Akha Oral Tradition School Concert
Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai, Thailand
24 February 2024

This video brings alive the Music, Dances, and Personalities of our Students and Teachers
that go with their Photographs.