Monday, December 31, 2012

A Song For Hmong New Year



This Hmong Chinese folksong, or more like "kwv txhiaj" with musical accompaniment is called "Tag Kis Twb Yuav Mus" by Laj Tsawb (Chinese: Zhou Xing Lan).  She is Hmong from Yunnan Province, China.  The only thing I can make out from the beginning is her singing about the sky being bright upon the Hmong homeland, making it a good time to gather hemp (used to make threads to spun into cloth) and then I don't understand a word afterward until she starts singing about a young man courting a young lady.  In the lyrics, Laj Tsawb talks about how the young man leaves his doorstep to court the young woman, and they talked so well, but can he bear to leave her behind since he must leave early the next morning (in the old days, guys and girls from the same village usually don't court since they may be related, so the young men would have to travel to nearby villages or to other areas to court young women; thus the lovers don't often get to meet one another except for the New Year's festival). 

Since I don't understand everything, I won't attempt literal translation.  But basically, if I'm correct, she starts out singing by admiring the simple lifestyle of the Hmong people and used that as a transition into talking about courtship of a young couple.  It's a kwv txhiaj suitable for this time of the year, especially for young or more mature couples who will have to part ways after the New Year's festival ends.

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