Folklife Gallery

Mai Vang Lee

Hmong traditional song

Now a member of the Missoula Hmong community, Mai Vang Lee was raised in Laos with traditional Hmong values and beliefs. Beginning when she was twelve years old, she learned traditional singing from her grandmother, mother, and sister. This music, called kwv txhiaj in the Hmong language, originated in China hundreds of years ago and is very important to maintaining Hmong cultural identity.

A tribal people living in Laos, the Hmong were our allies in Vietnam. When the United States lost the war, they were forced to flee to refugee camps in Thailand. To compensate them for this terrible loss, our government brought groups of Hmong refugees to several areas of the United States, including Missoula. Missoula's Hmong are doing their best to become good U.S. citizens, but they also face the tremendous challenge of adapting their tribal customs to life in a modern, western, high-tech society. They want to keep what defines them as a people to help strengthen them for their new life in this country.

Mai was the recipient of a MAC folk and traditional arts apprenticeship award to teach Hmong women's singing and songs to young girls from her culture. "Traditional singing is extremely important, especially in Laos, because it was the only way to communicate with the opposite sex," Mai wrote in her application. "Singing enables the development of love relationships and communication between lovers. The New Year time back in Laos was for men and women to seek future spouses. Traditional singing was a way to communicate feelings, emotions, and experiences."

Mai also says that she wants to share the beauty of her culture with others, both from within her community and beyond. She hopes that this could "reduce prejudice and discrimination against non-whites in Montana," and that "the celebration of culture will increase self-awareness in others to understand and be proud of their origins too."