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Braden Wall

Introduction
The Laos culture is one of the most interesting cultures on earth with one of the most
difficult languages to learn. This paper will bring to light some of the many traditions and
beliefs, even bringing in some of the modern Lao American people that live here today. First
matter to be discussed is the interview that was conducted, second is the religion since it plays a
major role in the way they live their life, and third the music they have, because music is one of
the biggest influences in our life.
Interview
Annie Lund, my neighbor and one of my dearest friends is Lao American. She came over
here on a boat when she was about eight years old. Her parents were looking for a more stable
place with more opportunity for their children. They fled Laos and headed for America and all of
them have been here since. Living here for many years she has adopted our ways of living, but
still continues with her old traditions as well, the way she cooks, and teaches her children
spiritual Buddhist lessons is still her way of life. The life style they have is happy and simple,
adopted from her Laos culture.
Annie still makes all of the Thai food and grows all of her own vegetables in her own
back yard. All of her family still practices the Buddhist religion, her family use to always have
Buddhas over to help her kids understand the religion since they dont do worship. During our
interview she got so excited to talk about her old family traditions, how when she was still a
child in Laos her and her mother use to have tea (a popular beverage in Laos) and eating sticky

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rice (a very popular meal in Laos which is steamed rice that they put cinnamon and sugar on to
make a sweet

treat) and talk about how her day was at school. She also explained to me some of the customs
they have such as, dowry which is some sort of payment to marry a families daughter.
Laos is located on the north east side of Thailand, thus adapting many of their culture
ideas. The lao people are strong believers in family. Especially their elders. This leads to lay
people have a different way of settling arguments than most of us, life is too short to let things
get to you too bad. My friend displays all of this in her life. She welcomes everyone with open
arms. Thats what makes them such great friends, they care about other people before
themselves.
Religion
Religion is a concept of our lives that determines in many ways the things we do, and the
ways we act. That is no different in the Laos culture. In Laos about 60 percent of their population
is Buddhist. Along with this, at some point in their time on this earth men are supposed to
become monks. This is a great honor for men, getting praised from everyone around. It is
believed that taking care of the monks is the job of the town around them, and that every
morning the monks go on a walk, and gather offerings. Even the symbol of Laos is built around
the Buddhist traditions with the relics and the shrine. Here in the United States the biggest
religion is Christianity. In Laos there are a lack of christens, although there are some. This
minority of christens makes up only about two percent of the population.

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In Buddhism there are a few different branches. The lao Buddhist practice the Theravada
tradition which is the oldest version of Buddhism believed to be the closest to when it was
created. In this version they believe in the four main truths according to PBS.org these four main
truths are; Suffering is universal, the cause of suffering is attachment, suffering can cease and
there is a way

to end suffering. Doing these things will bring them better karma so that when they are
incarcerated they can become something better and keep moving toward nirvana. This shows
how seriously they take karma. You will have good karma if you do not take place in sinful acts,
such as sexual acts, or not dressing moderately etc
Putting all of this together in the way it works, they believe that each step of your life you
must do your best, and then when you die you will come back to this earth as something better,
such as going from a dog to a human. After doing this many times they can finally reach nirvana,
which usually takes quite a long time.
Boun Visakhaphusa is the day that is celebrated in honor of the birth of the Buddha and
all that was done during his life, they also use this time to pay their respects to their ancestors
that have passed on, leaving them with their family traditions. Paying tribute to those before you
is a large custom in Laos, it has been seen in many examples even throughout this paper.
The Lao New Year is also different than ours in the United Sates it is a three day
celebration that takes place starting with April 13 th and continuing until April 15th. During these
three days they take place in different activities, such as cleaning and washing. According to Dr

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Thongrith Phoumirath they do this at this time of year because that is when they believe the
world has made a complete rotation around the sun, thus beginning the New Year.
Music
The culture of their music is happy, and up lifting. The instruments they use to produce
the unique sound gives of this stress relief feel that only special types of music can do. The
timber is;

but not limited to, Saw Duang, Khlui, PI Nai and the most popular being the bamboo mouth
organ that you hear in almost every song. The song have faith by joe khoan lao is a religious
song that talks about the having faith, that god is there with you. It resembles the Christian music
that we have here as well. Even though Christianity is not the biggest religion over there this
defiantly is a powerful piece.
The most popular type of music in Laos is called lam saravane this is their form of more
slow song used for dancing and love songs. Even though it is a slow song it still has the major
sounding chords that provided that uplifting feeling. Most of the songs sound fast paced, the
language gives of that impression even if the song is meant to be slow.
The Lao people also enjoy some popular American music as well which in turn
influences their music. Influences such as love songs, fast beats, songs to get your blood
pumping. The music of laos and Thailand are almost identical. They even use many of the same
instruments. The lao music is divided into two categories, on being folk and the other being
classical. The classical music is more of a serous type used in ceremonial events like wedding
while the folk music is more of the popular music that everyone listens to.

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Luk thung or Thai country music was created to be more for the rural are, music that the
poor people listen to and the middle class and rich people of the area had their own. This is not
starting to spread more through Laos and is becoming popular in the middle class as well. This
style of country music is much like the country style here that we have in the United States, they
talk about the problems of day to day life and how to deal with them. Luk thung means child of
the field.

The folk music that was talked about earlier is called mor lam the reason to bring this up
again is because it is also like luk thng in that it was developed for the poor people to sing, it
developed at singing festivals in which it turned into its own style of music. In mor lam there are
usually two singers, most commonly one male and one female. In their vocals the person that is
singing is either call a mo or mor that way it can go with different types of the music such as mo
lam.
The lao pop music or L-pop that they have today is called lam luang this style of music
was developed in the 1960s and is also starting to get very popular in Laos. This style embraces
man of our genres here today. It often has the native lyrics to go with it, but more of a modern
sound with major cords and a large range. This is the closes genre they have to the music in the
United States.
Many of these different styles of music are used in theater, a popular form of
entertainment now days in Laos. When they first discovered it and stated to enjoy it many years
ago it got outlawed by the communist government but now it is not and they fully indulge in it. It
is even what created some of the genre that they like best.

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Conclusion
From this it can be seen that their music and their religion, which co inside together, map
out the way they live. There is so much that goes on inside of Laos that it cannot be put into one
five page paper, only three items were discussed here and there is so much more where that came
from. They have what looks like more different types of music than the United States and it
defiantly is more complex.

The lao are known as very good people throughout the world, to make good friends and
to learn great life lessons, even in their young years. They are happy and joyous and put that in
their music to make others happy too.

Braden Wall

Bibliography
Music of Thailand (2014) accessed on 10-29-2015 retrieved from
http://thailandmusicproject.weebly.com/thailand-instruments.html
Every culture, (2015) 10-29-15 retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Laos.html
Channapha Khamvongsa. Buddhist practices in Laos. (2009) accessed on 10-29-15 retrieved
from http://www.pbs.org/pov/betrayal/lao_buddhism.php
Dr Thongrith Phoumirath custom made (2007) accessed on 10-29-15 retrieved from
http://www.laopress.com/news/eculture.htm
Jeff Hayes Facts and detail, (2013) accessed on 10-29-15 retrieved from
http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Laos/sub5_3c/entry-2969.html

Braden Wall

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