We invite you to listen to Chao Yang discuss and demonstrate his music (real audio).
Chao Yang was born in December 1960 in Ban Nam (the Lao name for the village) near the Vietnamese border, about 15 miles from Dien Ben Fu. He had four brothers and four sisters. His grandfather was interested in Catholic missionaries, and studied with them. Upon returning from a trip to the mission in Hanoi, however, Chao Yang's grandfather concluded it was best to stay to Hmong traditional culture and religion. Chao Yang's father was also an avid learner, becoming a shaman at the age of 16. He spoke five languages and became the village mayor. The family grew sweet rice, regular rice, corn and raised chickens, buffalo. and other animals.
Chao Yang says that shaman are knowledge bearers. His eldest brother was also a shaman, had vast knowledge of medicinal herbs, and played qeej. A person is also "recognized" as having the potential to become a shaman when they fall ill and can only be cured by another shaman.
Chao Yang went to an elementary school in Ban Nam until communist incursion occurred, and Chao Yang's family were among those who decided to leave. They moved to a village set up by the U.S. C.I.A., named Moun Cha. There he studied a written form of the Hmong language called, pahau that his cousin helped to develop in 1959. Chou Yang and other members of his family eventually became soldiers. They fought with General Vang Pao, and moved form one place to another.
When he was 16, Chou Yang's father passed away. He was living with two brothers and his mother. He became very interested in Hmong culture and told his mother he wished to learn to play the qeej. From a cousin, he learned the basics of playing and how to make a qeej. After six months, Chao Yang was competent to play funeral music. By the end of the first year, he could play 8 or 9 songs. Chou Yang said that he "learned the words," meaning, he learned the text to the songs. Since the Hmong language is tonal, and qeej playing responds to language tones, by knowing the words he was able to play the corresponding musical melody. He learned to "dance" (dhiam qeej tawj qeej) and performed at the 1978 New Year celebration.
Chao Yang then searched for an accomplished teacher. He inquired far and wide until he found a player named Si Chu Yang. He learned much from this teacher. The teacher told him that the qeej was brought back from Heaven by someone who had died and gone over to the spirit world asking why their is death. The songs that are played on the qeej for funerals answer these mysteries.
When possible, just before the spirit of a person leaves, a special song is played on the qeej. During the funeral musicians play qeej songs that tell a story which Chao Yang referred to as the "Old Testament" of Hmong belief. It explains creation, and that people must die, just as leaves on a tree must fall to create soil for the tree to live. People die and give up their spirit so that others may be born. After these songs, the Hmong funeral drum is played. It is the only time the drum is heard because outside of a funeral, Hmong believe that the sound of the drum may cause death. Hmong used to grieve for many days. In the USA, where extended families, perhaps in the hundreds, travel from far to grieve together in rented funeral homes, the ceremony may last only a day. The Hmong also believe that if one falls asleep before the sound of the drum, they may die, so it everyone stays awake. Following the sound of the drum, the musicians play what Chao Yang called "New Testament" stories. These songs are more entertaining, perhaps comforting. Paper money and other effigy are burned to send on with the departed spirit.
This is some of what Chao Yang learned from his teacher, Si Chu Yang. He played for funerals ever since. At the end of two years, Si Chu Yang gave him a qeej which Chao Yang treasures to this day. He carried it with him through battles, while escaping across the Mekong River to Thailand, on the flight to the USA, and residences in Minnesota, Georgia, and finally Long Beach.
Chao Yang left Laos on March 17, 1979 with 70 people, many of them his relatives. They swam across the Mekong River, with the help of floatation devices made from reeds and logs, under hails of enemy gunfire. Many died in the crossing or were captured. Among the items that Chao Yang carried were eight days of rice, an AK-47 with 40 to 60 rounds of ammunition, and his treasured qeej sewn into a shoulder bag. Chao Yang stayed with a relative in Thailand until February 16, 1980 when he went to refugee camps in Bangkok. Wih the help of an American named Jerry Daniels Chao Yang to immigrate safely to the USA. Chao Yang flew took a flight from Bangkok to San Diego with Daniels, arriving in the on February 28, 1980. At the end of the year, Chao Yang moved to Minnesota and stayed there from October to January 1981, but was driven away by the cold of the winter. He moved south to Decatur, Georgia to a Hmong community most of whom were resettled there by the Columbia Baptist Church. Chao Yang got married on January 15, 1983.
He began teaching qeej to young children in Georgia in 1987. Some of his students were doing quite well by 1989. A close friend in Fresno, CA became ill, and Chao Yang flew to the west coast to be with him throughout 1989-90. He and his wife moved to northern California to be closer to the friend. They took up residence in Sacramento from 1990-1994.
Chao Yang and his family then moved to Long Beach where he has since been employed by Lao-Hmong Security. He has not played for funerals much since he immigrated to the USA because he does not have many friends and relatives here. Chao Yang has begun to talk to other qeej players. He began teaching his seven year old son to play.
By Terry Liu, PhD
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