Breath and Bamboo: Diasporic Lao Identity and the Lao Mouth-Organ

The ethnic Lao people from mainland Southeast Asia closely identify with the kheen, a free-reed mouth-organ made from bamboo. This almost codified connection between a musical instrument and a people is the result of a nationalist discourse that began at the turn of the twentieth century-a discourse that was primarily designed to create distinct Lao and Thai identities. Over time the image and sound of the kheen has become an important element in the embodied experience of 'being Lao' and this sensual experience grew in importance after 1975 when revolution in Laos created the Lao diaspora. In the diaspora today people's experience of, and relationship to, the kheen varies greatly. In the sound of the kheen first-generation migrants hear the Laos of the past sound but the generation born and educated in the diaspora lack the embodied experiences from which memories are made. However, the kheen retains some significance for the young Westernised Lao person as a marker of Lao identity even though they may not particularly like the sound itself.