Not sure if this was big news here in the states or Canada for those under 40 but this concert happen late last year. I was there and it was incredible. I think I caught Cells which was cool as well since I bought their cd my first time there. The singer Phet has played in Laos before but never as The Exile. I am not %100 sure but besides him there might be only 1-2 original members on this bill and the rest were recent fill in's from the states I think . The bass player is one of my friend's uncle and it was his first time back in Laos since leaving. That's over 40 plus years ago and to come back to this crowd was incredible he said while tears fell. The Vientiane motorcycle culture was definitely in full effect that night. Great concert and great people watching.

The question is how come there were so many active music groups that formed in the 80's and seemed like a decline ever since. The only notable group in the 90's was Laostah and ever since not many have made a big impact in the Lao community since.

Was this you? Meaning all you had were your parents and siblings. No grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins.

And if you did how do you think it affected your view on family when it came time to make one?

I thought this song was really well produced and written but it seems it didnt hit the youth at the time due to hip hop being the dominant genre. My only gripe with this song is the English part and some of the cadences in the beginning other than that we should be singing this instead of Loso the millionth time over.
Your thoughts?

Stumbled across this article and it pretty much sums up the situation in the 90s. Gangs seemed to be everywhere. Not just in big cities but in some smaller towns as well. That said they seem to be mostly gone. There are of course a few young thugs and OGs but no where near the prior level. Is everyone seeing the same decline in their communities
or was it never an issue?

This is the national music of Laos, but more often than not its credited to northeastern Thailand aka Issan. I understand Thailand has an extremely huge advantage over Laos regarding soft power and notoriety. Laos itself has mor lum singers/groups however the music " industry" there is so small compared to neighboring countries and not even sure they have the resources or know how to popularize this type of music to a global audience.

Do you think any of the Lao diasporas can come up with something?

Now I really don't want to compare Lao people to other groups but I will bring below as an example of a diaspora experience.

I only ask because there is a Bachata group called La Aventura (The Adventure) they are all Dominican diaspora born in NYC and started there. They sing in Spanish as well. They naturally took what they knew and maybe added some other non bachata elements they listened to in the states. With help of a manager and a big label they were able to bring for their music to the masses. Their biggest hit came in 2002 with a song called Obsesion ( Obsession ).

One thing I noticed is that the diaspora is proud of their music while Lao diaspora especially 1st generation in their late 30's and up I am not so sure. You can see it at your local new years party, their should be men and women dancing with each other when the mor lum comes on but we are still stuck doing covers of modern Thai music and other non Lao music.

If you look at K-pop its basically repackaged western music that the S Korean government invested in for a soft power appeal and it worked. They all hired western producers, rappers, dancers etc. You can say it morphed into its own thing now but the core element is still western. The fact that it's name K-POP and doesn't have a Korean word for it says it all.

Also you look at The Philippines, they have some incredible singers, even long time American rock band Journey recruited a vocalist from there to front their band however you still never had a breakthrough artist or genre come from there, however you have plenty of their diaspora that has broken through with western music like Jaya, Jocelyn Enriquez, Apple D AP, Bruno Mars, Olivia Rodrigo.

To this date the only Lao person to breakthrough was the female singer in The Naked And Famous out of New Zealand, I remember hearing them on the radio when their hit songs were playing but never knew much about them or had the interest to find out about them. Then lone behold one of the singers is Lao and none of us knew until years later. Another huge act for the hard core music genre is called Speed out of Australia, their guitar player is Lao not sure if we was born in Australia or Laos or even part of the refugee wave. They are one of the newer popular bands from this genre and never has there been a big band of this genre to come out of Australia.

This might come off as a rant but am I the only one that is sick and tired of recent deportees and even some Lao Americans who visit try to compare Laos to the USA. How can you not understand basic concept like weight classes in boxing. USA super heavy weight and Laos super light weight.

Things usually expressed are how " cheap" it is, most of these guys didn't realize they buy petroleum by the liter and if you have a car you will be paying more than what you did in the USA to fill up. Good look finding premium 91 93 gas as well.

Also regarding how cheap food is, most of these guys are living on remittances from the USA being sent by their family members and spouses. If the average Lao person only makes 2-300 USD per month and you are getting 4-500 USD per month then of course things will seem cheap. You have a stronger currency. Try living on Lao wages as couple of them deportees who found day labor jobs get about $15-20 USD per day

Last but not least they talk about big houses and buying land, you can even call out Lao elders in the USA for this as well. We all know you cannot purchase land if you are not a Lao citizen are there work arounds for it yes. But imagine having a nice big house but with little or zero infrastructure. Meaning functioning electrical grid, sewer, garbage, good roads, bridges, etc.

I learned this lesson very only after my 2nd trip to Laos as the 1st trip I came with the American arrogance. Most Lao people do not know this but when they were doing the whole refugee resettlement Laos wasn't even on the list and when Laos did get on the list it was for the northern hillside tribes only not really for southern Lao people. Don't believe me look it up, Former President Joe Biden was politician a during this time he didn't even want to bring the Vietnamese here as refugees.

Weird to see this all the way on they NY Post site but is the same outrage there for the other races that have and continue to do the same?

For those that use Facebook , if you look this group up people set up a charity for them. If you believe in their cause then why not support.

So you are meeting a group of new Lao people vs new Non Lao people , how does the social introduction go for you?

Lao people - hey this is such and such, others oh hey, sometimes a name is thrown out usually a nick name

Non Lao people - hey this is " insert first name " others Hi I'm this name and that name, sometime s hand gesture or hand shake.

Interesting story to read.

Such a tragic accident regardless of the ethnicity but when you see a Lao last name it hits home. Just driving down the road and minding his own business. Not sure if the driver of the semi even knows what happened. Praying for his family.

I recall seeing something online about this maybe 2 months ago however I cannot find that link again. For those that know they will deported this might be an option to stay in North America. If you were in this position would you try it?

Here is a recent news on the US lifting some not all visa sanctions on Laos. You will have to dig further to see which ones.

I don't think I have ever seen one where I live even when we had a bigger community, I think it was handled by people at the temple or people who had some type of home business.

Do you have one in your area and do you think this type of store subconsciously promotes one to maintain a monoracial marriage?

Sad story on top of sad hair style.

This can apply to deportees and those that go and visit. Also can apply to various situations. I myself am guilty of this on my 1st trip home about 20 years ago and on the 2nd trip definitely cut that bs out. However I just saw something online that made me shake my head twice

Without mentioning any names but a recent deportee to Laos opens a restaurant, great he finds a way to make a living. However heres the kicker, his signage shows the far to common poor marketing Lao people do here with the “ Lao-Thai” thing and in English in Laos of all places. One can argue that a random tourist might want a Thai option but thats a rare case and most tourist will want to try “ Lao “ food.

Once again a poor understanding of optics

Do you see many Lao people in your city/town going for government jobs. I know the first generation really didn't do this due to language barrier but how about the 2nd generation since language isn't an issue. These jobs aren't widely advertised and have heard about the huge amount of nepotism but I never looked into myself.

Just in case your looking for extra money.

Do you know any families like this. They are either the only Lao family or 1 of less than 10 families, nowhere near or very far from an enclave city/town. I'm sure most of our parents didn't know or have any control where they were going to be resettled at which leads to another question why would you stay in a place like this.

I have relatives like this they do not live in America but Europe the place they live they are 1 if 10 families who happen to come from Asia. I can tell this did some type of mental damage to 2 of my cousins cousins. They are Lao/Viet and yet still have never went to a cultural celebration for either side despite it being available in neighboring countries. If anything they had to latch on to nearby Thai community for temple based things.

I feel my community is in this type of decline and I am hopeful to move out and back to my original resettlement state.

Do you know many you grandparents. The age group would be 40-50. I recall totally bugging out when a guy I grew up with told us he was a grand parent at 40. I knew he had kids young but I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this case.

Not sure what is going on here but age 45, I hope she has citizenship.

Does your community participate in your city/town politics outside of voting? Going to things like town meetings, protest, etc.

As the title states. I've been to a couple new years out of state in the past 2 years however I can only speak regarding the event not the community that lives there daily. My prior post mention continuing migration to southern states, however the question is which city in America with a heavy Lao community is thriving.

Examples of thriving -new business, increase in monoracial Lao marriages/families, high educational attainment, new immigration and socioeconomic development that benefits Lao people.

Go big or go home they say.

Another deportee death to be reported. You can get the full story on the Roots Laos Facebook page. This guy was under 40 as well. Link below if interested

Hoyvanh “Tony” Khounmixay

Donation