“Indigenous Harp Singer: Development’s Societal Perils and A Moment’s Pause” takes you on an adventure to somewhere rarely seen by the public eye: into the rural mountains of northern Thailand and Kayah, Myanmar.

There, in the wake of ‘development’ and an encroaching modern world culture, the traditional cultures of indigenous peoples are literally vanishing as modernity is shifting centuries of learning and indigenous knowledge aside.

It starts with the road, for with the road comes the global market system — the city.

In this video, with road construction and capitalism looming, Myanmar’s Toni Oo, who is indigenous ethnic Kayaw, skillfully plays her “zither.” Having mastered this bamboo constructed traditional harp instrument, she performs two ancient ethnic Kayaw songs — about love and nature.

While Toni Oo is sharing her musical gift, other villagers walk us through their community. Together, we discover and observe culturally traditional activities such as rice processing, wood collecting, spiritual practices, all-natural jungle food preparation, music, and courtship dancing.

We are granted a glimpse into their lives.

With a blending of heavy and light-heartedness, this ‘documentary for dialogue’ addresses some of the nuts and bolts of ‘economic development,’ while leaving space for viewer interpretation. … This is a documentary for dialogue.

Jalae Jamuu, this video’s star-performer, resides in “Pumuen” village, a 58-household 300-person community of ethnic Black Lahu peoples. His quaint locale, comprised of bamboo constructed houses encompassed by villagers’ livelihood supporting cash crops (e.g., tea and fruit), was established in the 1970s. Around 1880 is when the earliest inhabitants of this highlands area immigrated from Myanmar to this location.

A cultural facet their ancestors brought with them, and still in-part practice, is folklore that they originate from the gourd. This is why the Lahu traditionally use the bamboo and gourd constructed flute (kaen namtao) as their cultural heart-center. This vitally important instrument is hence utilized as a mechanism for facilitating aspects of their socio-ecological functioning; this includes connecting with ancestral spirits and with each other on Earth. Largely due to ‘development’ impacts, Jalae is the only remaining local Lahu villager who can skilfully operate this sacred device.

“Sacred Sound of Indigenous-Deep Meanings” offers a meaningfully layered glimpse into this instrument’s nuanced sounds. This is while preserving some of this practice’s root indigenous-deep meaning … before it’s too late.

The ethnic indigenous Chorng people in Southwestern Cambodia’s Areng Valley have lived in the area for centuries.

The 1,200 or so post-Khmer Rouge villagers remaining there (off-the-grid) live naturally from the surrounding forest and have fairly intact cultural traditions.

This, however, is also under threat as the global market system is perforating their cultural social fabric.

This documentary will be about an old indigenous Chorng man who is the last who can play the traditional instrument — the flute, called “ploy” — that his peoples use to connect with the spirit realm, and with each other. He has one student, who will also be included in the film.

The wise elder reveals quite candidly about the importance and power of this traditional instrument. He also reveals his feeling-sentiments related to him being the last of his kind.

We are all indigenous to Planet Earth.

Let’s go jungle-fishing in off-the-grid Myanmar.

In this 3-minute clip (one part of my documentary, “Indigenous Harp Singer: Development’s Societal Perils and A Moment’s Pause”), we go fishing with the ethnic indigenous Kayaw people in Kayah State, Myanmar.

Using indigenous knowledge passed along for generations, the men have built a sand and rock-constructed fish trap – “a home,” as the English speaking villager tells us – for unsuspecting river fish.

The fishies eventually become our fire-grilled lunch.!.

This is the partial ‘voice’ of Nabu Sri, an elderly ethnic Lahu woman who tells us of what life was like 40 years ago in her village located high in the mountains of northern Thailand.

She contrasts these sentiments with what it’s like now that State economic development phenomena have perforated the social fabric of her culture.

Will you join with us in observing and preserving our natural roots?

For with each older generation that the modern world is losing — their ‘traditional’ knowledge with them, amidst our supposed capitalist ‘development progress’ and a resulting homogenizing world culture — it is as though monumental segments of an ancient societal iceberg are sliding into the sea.

Nabu Sri passed away one year after she was interviewed for this Project.

Her ‘voice’ is one of 11 voices included in The Indigenous Voices Multimedia Project: A Moment’s Pause.

As part of a United Nations (UN) International Trade Center (ITC) community based (inclusive) tourism project in Kayah, Myanmar, my tasks during this project (March 2017) involved media documentation as well helping the team create Program training videos. …

Community based tourism (CBT) essentially involves tourists spending time in rural ethnic indigenous villages — learning about and experiencing the culture, such as their food, arts and crafts, music, overall lifestyle, etc.

CBT is also a way for villagers to use their cultural capital to earn financial income while also padding the effects of State-led economic development related phenomena.

This video is a sampling of what the finished training video will be.

“The Moments’ Pause Project: Reminders of Our Natural Roots” is a research, multimedia, culture preservation, and social capital building initiative that — during a global era of increasing political tension and societal unrest — is tending to this world We all as a global community share.

This Project is about taking a moment’s pause to observe and to become reminded of the socially binding commonalities that all humans share. … These are our core needs to be loved and accepted, to be accepting and loving, as well as our necessity for having a nourishing natural environment that includes familial and community connections.

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To better understand this overall situation, I have as the foundation of this Project used the seamlessly paired integration of documentary-style photography, prose, and in-depth interviews.

Pulling from my book, Indigenous Voices: Glimpses into the Margins of Modern Development, included in this Project are the “voices” of villagers 14-84 years old, from three different ethnicities in northern Thailand, and from villages existing at different points on a development continuum.

They open up the doors of their homes and help us understand.

On May 11, 2018, as a result of this “For the Love of Yaki” documentary (and overall) Project, “Yaki” Lawa experienced some much needed physical therapy, and received a new wheelchair. …

This treatment wasn’t so comfortable for her all of the time. However, Lawa was happily participating. This is while she actively engaged Ken the caring and skilled therapist from Karma medical (康揚輔具), the company that has donated this therapy (and the premium quality wheelchair). Yaki’s family member also received some healthcare training.

Good things are happening. …

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