[Tlc] L-award

[justinm at ucr.edu]

FYI.
Thanks,
justin


Dear Members and Friends of LHF,

This message is sent on behalf of Leslie Turpin, whose message is below.  Please note the link to the Vermont Public Radio story, and spread the word.  Thank you.

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Leslie Turpin's Appeal for colleagues of Souphine's and scholars of lam leung:

I am writing because an elder Lao/Thai Lam Leung master, Souphine Phatsongneune, has just been selected to receive the Vermont Heritage Artist Governor's Award for 2009.

Vermont Public Radio story by Susan Keese: http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/72239/

Because he was a participant in my doctoral research and because I nominated him for the award, I have been asked to introduce him at the event. Souphine was born in Song Neune, Thailand in the late 1920s and moved to Laos as a young man where he became nationally recognized as a traditional folk singer, Lam Leung director, performer and writer. His troupe in Laos was called Sau. Siang Pin. Many people have told me that he was so popular that he was considered the equivalent of Elvis Presley in Laos. During the war, he was hired by the USIS to work as a /lam patana/ singer in the rural areas of Southern Laos. He escaped from his home in Paxhe, in 1974 and continued to train singers in Thailand and Ubon camp before coming to the US in 1979. Since living in Vermont, he received funding from the Vermont Arts Council to create one Lao Opera that was performed in VT in 2004 and he has continued to write several songs, some of which I have recordings and copies of. He has already re!
!
ceived 3 Vermont Folklife Heritage Apprenticeship Awards which were awarded to him to pass his singing tradition on to the Lao Community in Brattleboro, VT. He also worked with a troupe in Rhode Island and wrote an opera for them which they performed in the 1990s and which was the basis of a doctoral dissertation by Jean Bernard. I will be introducing Souphine (stage name Banana: Ajaan Guay) at a ceremony at the Vermont State House on May 13. I would like to ask a favor.

Would it be possible for you to spread the word to Lao people in your circle of colleagues and friends, who might have heard of his work or even worked with him in Laos? Because he was extremely popular as a singer (particularly in rural areas) there, I would like to find Laotians in the US who worked with him and can attest to the contributions he may have made to them as singers or musicians.

This is the first time that a Southeast Asian has received this award in Vermont. Because there are so few Laotians living here, they are somewhat invisible to the rest of the state. I would like to be able speak to the Governor here about the national significance of Vermont choosing to give this award to him. Only one artist from the state is chosen each year, so it is quite an honor. It would also be great to have a short note from NAFEA that I could read in my introductory remarks. I would also like to be able to put Souphine in touch with anyone who might have known him well. He is in his eighties now and ahs already had throat cancer. I've written to Phitsamay and LANA and the Lao Heritage Foundation to ask for statements. I have statements from two American scholars of this art form (Terry Miller and Jean Barnard). My e-mails to the Lao Heritage Foundation bounce back so if anyone knows a direct way to get in contact with them, that would be very helpful!

Hope all is well with everyone.

Thanks so much,
Call me if you have questions.
Leslie 802 387-5694 (home)

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______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu