Double-challenged by a Woman of Courage from a Proud Hmong Hillside Community
She Is a True Road Runner. Every morning, She Walks Six Hours South, Sells Her Goods at the Market and Walks Six Hours Back North... And She's a Juggler of Many Tongues!
Today’s postcard: Double-challenged by a Woman of Courage from a Proud Hmong Hillside Community comes from Writing Home from the Road: Out and About Walking in South East Asia. It tells of a day trek in the mountains and rice paddies around Sa Pa - a frontier township and capital of Sa Pa District in Lào Cai Province in north-west Vietnam. It is one of the main market towns in the area, where several ethnic minority groups such as Hmong, Dzao (Yao), Giáy, Xa Pho, and Tày live.
Today’s music was inspired by the original track that I found most representative of the type of ethnic singing that I heard in the mountain huts of north-west Vietnam at that time.
Now the postcard:
Double-challenged by a Woman of Courage from a Proud Hmong Hillside Community
* Confucius (551–479 BCE, a Chinese philosopher and educator whose teachings have greatly influenced Chinese culture and education.
** “Niob zoo” means “Hello” in Hmong,
*** “Koy nyob li cas lawm” means “How are you” in Hmong.
The rice paddies:
and the native speakers:
I chose this postcard because of Magda. It was her who put Umza by Montoya on repeat on Friday morning:
Its ethnic chant got me thinking about Jacob Groening’s Kopru Ortas, so I played it back to her:
This made me show her my favourite folk quartet: Sevim Seyhan, Meryem Seyhan, Zekiye Bakır, Reyhane Alkan from bilingual Hemşin people of Armenian origin inhabiting the Turkish region of Rize:
And finally, Sevim, Meryem, Zekiye and Reyhane made me think of the Vietnamese folk song that originally accompanied the Sa Pa postcard in Other Eyes for Johnny Rocco:
Also, there are at least three more songs in Other Eyes for Johnny Rocco with ethnic chant in them:
Here is the full playlist for the time being. It may grow with time:
There should be Get Giddy in the City next week. And remember my dear subscriber that whatever’s been published before, can be found in the archives. Also, if you can’t find our post on a Monday, don’t think that Nova Literary has forgotten about you. No, never! Check your Spam, Social or Promotions inbox tabs and we’ll surely be there. Finally, it is a good idea to click open in browser in the top right-hand corner of your newsletter message.