Abstract
The Song Poet is a collection of Kwv txhiaj (Hmong songs) by Kao Kalia Yang and her father Bee Yang. The songs were the senior Yang’s way of honoring Hmong traditions and history. The collection symbolized his careful selection of language to communicate softly with family, even during the war. His nurturing words accompanied his family’s survival through those difficult moments. However, at one point in his life, the songs refused to unfold, disrupting the happy chapters. To honor her father’s legacy, Kao Kalia Yang completed his songs in The Song Poet. The album begins with a note on Bee Yang’s life story with multiple identities in Laos (his homeland), Thailand, and America. To beautifully raise his seven children amid adversity, he utilized his gift of oral language to mold adversity into beauty obfuscating the boundary between reality and fantasy. His Hmong songs shielded his children against life’s unfortunate moments and protected them against trauma. In this memoir, the four perspectives are interwoven into coherent song tracks.
Recommended Citation
Chap, Vikrant
(2024)
"A Review of The Song Poet,"
Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement: Vol. 19
:
Iss.
1,
Article 4.
DOI: 10.7771/2153-8999.1317
Available at:
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/jsaaea/vol19/iss1/4
