Songs of Memory

20^th Anniversary
2023 Newsletter

The Arc of Life in Seven Songs – Songs of Memory in the Golden Triangle
25^th Asia Pacific Society for Ethnomusicology International Conference
“Ethnomusicology: New Direction, Ideas, Research, Findings, and Theories”
Siem Reap, Cambodia
4 – 6 March 2023

Why Music Matters:
The Power of Music and the Importance of Music Education
(Virtual Presentation)
Russia Suzuki Association
Moscow, Russia
16 April 2023

A Bounty of Bags in the Mountains:
Functional, Festive, Devotional, Defensive
Cover and 14-Page Spread
Pah Thai Magazine / Thai Textile Society
Volume XI, Issue No. 2 – Autumn 2023

May 2023
“Dear Victoria, It was a delight to read your article!  I love the way you write: your sentence structure, your vocabulary, the way you express nuance.  And this is just the form! The content is fascinating.  Your knowledge of the many ethnic groups of the Golden Triangle is truly impressive. I am certain our readers will be as delighted as I by your article, which, as seen from your photographs, is superbly illustrated.”

Bedazzling Kaleidoscopes in Cloth
The Art of Karen Weaving
An Exhibition of Textiles, Artifacts, and Photographs
Heart Space Gallery
Cham Cha Market
Chiang Mai, Thailand
19 November – 31 January 2024

April 2023
“Victoria, you are such a fine photographer! These are portraits in the finest painterly tradition. The subjects reveal themselves to us to a degree that is uncanny. You actually produce something much rarer than other photographers – intimate portraits of strangers. Of course, without technical mastery this intimacy would be wasted. As viewers we completely trust your framing and composition, focus, and light.  All we have to do is engage with the people who are always presented with dignity and affection. You should be very proud of your work.”

Songs of Memory Book and Recordings
Hmong Songs of Memory Book and Film

April 2023
“Victoria, Let me say with highest praise that your books represent something that I genuinely cherish as I hold each one in my arms while studying their content. There really is no way I can express how impressed I am with all you have done in your life to achieve such a profoundly deep understanding of the subject matter of the various indigenous peoples of Thailand, Laos and Burma. It is one matter to have this kind of scholarly understanding, but quite another to be able to assemble such a myriad of facts and then display them in print publications which are themselves works of inspiring art. You are able to capture the inner essence and peace of a scene, a privileged moment in a religious ceremony, a musician’s pose, or the intimate look of innocent faces of mother and child or husband and wife – each gives exquisite meaning to the word ‘body and soul.’ This really distinguishes your book.

There is something more that entitles you to high credits for authorship. Not only is the book printing done in the most perfect manner possible, but the research and its written content is entirely compelling. It is a display en regalia of the extraordinary scholarship and esoterica of a topic that you have given very serious study over two decades. As one reads your two books, it is immediately obvious that the prose is of the highest order and defines you and your special interests in ethnology.”

Preview:
Songs of Memory Book / Flash Drive
https://tribalmusicasia.com/book.php
Hmong Songs of Memory Book / DVD
https://tribalmusicasia.com/hmong-book.php

Order:
https://tribalmusicasia.com/Journals/orders/

International Libraries Requesting the Songs of Memory Book/Recordings in 2023
Musical Instrument Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art; British Library, London; Bibliothèque chez Ville de Paris; University of Strasbourg; University of San Diego; École Française d’Extrême-Orient; UCLA School of Music; Payap University; Chiang Mai Arts and Cultural Center; Chiang Mai University; Mahasarakham University School of Music; Kent State University; Hmong American Peace Academy, Wisconsin; Grant Union High School, Sacramento; Dartmouth College; Bangkokthonburi University, Thailand; Naresuan University, Thailand; Royal Academy of Cambodia, Phnom Penh; University of Wisconsin, Greenbay; Minnesota Orchestra; Rangsit University Conservatory of Music, Thailand; Rajabaht University Chiang Rai; Yunnan University, Kunming, China; Central South University, Hunan, China; Library at KALM Village; Thai Hill Tribe Foundation; Cambodian Ministry of Urban Planning; Australian National University, Canberra.

Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Megan Graham, professor of Psychological Anthropology, shared my photo-essay on the Hmong response to Covid-19 with her graduate students. “Your beautiful piece, ‘Hmong Ancestor Wisdom: Surviving Covid-19,’ fits into our upcoming three-week cycle dealing with different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic, including the moralities that inform health security practices, such as mandatory masking, imposed curfews, lockdowns, and quarantines in different countries. The Hmong’s sense of communal responsibility for its members and ritual practices, such as the defensive spirit gate and protective symbols on individual homes, offers a fascinating glimpse into another way of managing the uncertainties of the pandemic. This is a fine opportunity to appreciate the traditions and rituals that are being mobilized by people from other cultures with whom we are sharing this moment in our collective history.”

Cultural Crossroads Asia
Sights, Songs, Stories, Spirits
Preserving, Sustaining, Innovating
Traditional Wisdom of SE Asia

www.CulturalCrossroadsAsia.org
Facebook: Victoria Vorreiter
Instagram: vvorreiter

In this ‘soft opening,’ we are beyond excited to introduce you to Cultural Crossroads Asia (CCA), a dynamic new initiative founded on two pillars:

1) To ‘Preserve Tangible Culture’ through artifacts, documentation, and media that will be showcased in a Cultural Crossroads Asia Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  (Coming soon!)

2) To ‘Sustain Intangible Knowledge’ through the Living Legacy Project (LLP), outreach programs in ethnic communities to engage with highland youth so they recognize the irreplaceable value of their ancestral heritage and pass it on their own children.

 In July 2023, Cultural Crossroads Asia launched its first partnership in the Living Legacy Project – Akha Oral Tradition, a six-month course that meets every week in Ban Saen Suk, an Akha village in the mountains of Chiang Rai, as six Master Akha Musicians instruct twenty-one Akha boys and girls in their age-old songs, instrumental music, stories, life lessons, and instrument-making practices.

This year, the world mourned the passing of two powerful Spirit Intermediaries – Shebeu, a Puli Hulai Akha Nyi Pa; and Rhiav Lis, a White Hmong Txiv Neeb – who were long ago summoned in their dreams by shaman ancestor spirits to carry on the age-old practice of conversing with spirits, calling back souls, and restoring balance between the supernatural realm and the mortal world, all in order to heal the afflicted.  Theirs was a noble, selfless calling that required countless hours of training by visible and invisible mentors and an abiding devotion to helping others.

The vital importance of these Master Shamans goes beyond this, however, as Shebeu and Rhiav served as faithful guardians of age-old lore, time-honored knowledge, and esoteric practices. Truly, they were the living links in a dynamic chain of Oral Tradition that has been passed from shaman to apprentice over millennia.

To Shebeu and Rhiav’s family, friends, and community members, their passing is deeply heart-rending. For fundamentally these matriarchs were sisters, wives, mothers, and grandmothers to their thriving extended families. But for the Akha and Hmong ethnic diaspora as a whole, nay for the world, the loss of their voices and their treasure trove of wisdom is incalculable.

It has been the honor of a lifetime to know Shebeu and Rhiav Lis and to document – in photographs, books, and films – some of the ceremonies they performed. What a privilege it is that my photograph of each was displayed on their caskets during their funerals. I trust these records provide a living memory for their families and a cultural archive for the wider world.

Now their ‘Cycles of Life’ spiral into another carnation, another passage.  May Shebeu and Rhiav Lis experience peace of body, mind, and heart in the ancestor world, where they will be greeted with welcoming music and loving embraces.