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February 2016

Sabaidee! We have lots to look forward to this year and the activities have already begun! Check out the articles below to:

View the Women and Folktales project videos
Take a peek at our Seeds of Culture exhibition opening in September
Learn more about the cotton shawl made for TAEC by Tai Lue artisans
Meet our intern, ethnomusicologist Marie-Pierre
See our calendar of holidays for 2016.

We look forward to hearing from you or seeing you soon!

Women and Folktales Videos Now Online

After a year of hard work from storytellers and filmmakers in Laos, we are excited to announce that the Women and Folktales videos are now on TAEC’s newly launched YouTube page! These 19 live clips and three animated shorts feature Hmong, Kmhmu, and Tai Lue women telling traditional stories in their native languages. Working alongside the Luang Prabang Film Festival with funding by the US Embassy in Vientiane, we visited villages across Luang Prabang Province to work with women who keep the oral tradition of storytelling alive in their communities. We look forward to introducing these stories to a wider audience, including children at local primary schools, the Lao diaspora, and friends of TAEC around the world.

To view the English-subtitled videos, click here.

To view the Lao-subtitled videos, click here.

Please share widely!

DVDs will also be available later in the year.

Seeds of Culture Exhibition Planning Underway

Opening to the public on 13 September 2016, our next special exhibition explores how nature influences culture. Seeds of Culture: From Living Plants to Handicrafts looks specifically at Job's tears (mak deuay), a grain familiar to many in Laos as a snack. Highlighting the importance of local knowledge about plants – how to use them, and how to conserve them – held by ethnic minority groups in Southeast Asia and around the world, this exhibition will share how natural materials are used for clothing, as decoration, and in ceremonial items.

Creating a new exhibition requires time and expertise. We are honored to work with our guest curator, Dr. Yukino Ochiai of Ryukoku University in Japan. Her research in Laos began in 1999. Dr. Ochiai says, “By displaying the whole process from living plants to seeds to items in this exhibit, I hope to share an idea with TAEC visitors; how material culture is based on plant diversity and the environment.”

If you would like to support this new exhibition, donations can be made at TAEC in Luang Prabang and in the US via the Luang Prabang Fund for Culture and Conservation.

Stay Warm This Winter with a Tai Lue Cotton Shawl

Cotton shawls made in Hongsa District, Xayaboury Province showcase the traditional techniques of spinning and weaving cotton by Tai Lue artisans. Producing cotton thread is a labour-intensive process, involving a variety of tools to clean, spin, and treat the yarn before setting up the loom to weave. Woven by hand, the naturally dyed handspun cotton creates subtle patterns when black threads create the warp and white threads provide the weft. By using only white thread, a pure white textile will be produced. Soft and elegant, the large size (74 x 180 cm) is perfect to keep you warm this winter!

Tai Lue cotton shawls are available to purchase on-line and in our shops in Luang Prabang.

Meet Intern Marie-Pierre, Ethnomusicology Student

Marie-Pierre Lissoir studies the song khap of the Tai Dam ethnic group in Houaphan Province of Laos. A PhD candidate at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and La Sorbonne-Nouvelle in Paris, she will intern with TAEC for several months this year. Her research includes not only the singing of the Tai Dam ethnic group, but also the social context, how the musical techniques and knowledge are linked, and how they are verbalised and shared.

She says, “Starting with music, you can approach a very wide range of topics and disciplines, and that's what I love about music and ethnomusicology. The musical dimension can lead to several paths, and that's what I would like to show in TAEC as well.”

In addition to helping to catalogue the TAEC permanent collection with objects from 30 ethnic groups in Laos, Marie-Pierre will create a special series, Music and Soundscapes: Discover Another Side of Laos. Between 9 February and 4 March, we'll share new sounds and information about musical traditions in Laos five days each week.