I didn't realize there are still many pianists out there interested in this song (I do recall folks asking for sheet music back in '99). Here's a little surprise video for you folks who have always wanted the musical to listen to for "playing by ear". This is the "original" music, just no vocals. For questions, comments, or sales inquiries, please contact: DAVID YANG.
Randon Rant about Hmong people:
The Hmong people are recently from SE Asia. Some speculate they may have descended from nomadic "Amazons" from the steppes off Central Eurasia or from Caucasian travelers like the "Churchon man", but this has never been proven. Legends say they share common ancestry with modern Koreans through their patriarch, Chiyou, also known in ancient times as the God of War. Chiyou is considered by the modern state of China was one of the three founding fathers of the ancient nation; this means Hmong people descend from an ancient and once powerful race with a long legacy. While the Chinese call the Hmong by the name "Miao", meaning weeds, Hmong refer to themselves as "Hmong" between kin.
Hmong people migrated southwards from China into SE Asian to escape persecution and genocide over the last several centuries from the Qing dynasty. The Chinese classified Hmong as either "cooked" or "raw", depending on how they submitted or were sinicized. The "raw" were uncontrollable and include many of the Hmong that moved into Indochina. Those that were "raw" were often massacred in genocide war, or rounded up and forced into stockade villages and forced to assimilate by wearing Chinese dress and adopting Han culture.
Hmong who refused Chinese oppression often moved away from China to seek better opportunities and headed towards Indochina (Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma). Specifically, they were attracted to the cash crop opium. This created a mass exodus of Hmong into the poor soils of the Indochina highlands, where the Hmong transitioned into up slash and burn agriculture to help fertilize the soil. The new lifestyle meant frequent migration, as they would have to move again once the fertility had been depleted to find virgin forests to start the process all over again.
After the French colonial period passed, Hmong were finally recruited by both sides during the Vietnam conflict, specifically the U.S. CIA forces and localized Lao and Vietnamese communist forces to fight each other. The Hmong were reputed to be tenacious warriors, much like modern Ghurkas, in their native home terrain.
The pull out of the U.S. from SE Asian signaled the beginning of the end for an independent Hmong people. Soon, Hmong were hunted and slaughtered like animals by the Laotian government, even to this very day. Many Hmong died or were massacred en route to refugee camps in Thailand. Those whom made it have either continued living in Thailand as either refugees or formalized immigrants, or have emigrated to western countries, such as U.S., Canada, France, Australia, UK, French Guyana, and at Venom559's and Hmong Dubb Jet Li's house.
The Hmong language, both Der and Green (Leng), is highly interchangable and understood between traditional Indochina Hmong speakers and a number of Western Miao groups, whereas Eastern Miao speakers are almost completely foreign to Hmong. However, speakers of either language can quickly learn the other's by studying and learning the differences in vocabulary, pronounciation, and language mechanics. Overall, the languages are still similar enough that some one group can learn the others with some work.
Common stereotypes and misinformation portray the Hmong as originating from Indochina, specifically Laos. Hmong were also depicted by Hollywood (Gran Torino) to be "ooga, booga" pygmie wannabe thugs squeezing into a beat up Honda Civic like more sardines than could fit a tin can, but Hmong are not the Whooper virgins of Chiangmai that Burger King made fun of and Hmong certainly did not come from Laos like Clint Eastwood would like to portray. Proof of this is in the traditional funeral rites, where the spirit of the decease is guided through chant and song from its body to the place of rest among the ancestors, which is somewhere in Eastern China. Saying that Hmong are from Laos is like saying the Pilgrims in the New World (N. America) were from a boat --- yes, while they did step off a boat, they certainly didn't develop their people or culture on that boat!
First and second generation Hmong living in the West have a lot to appreciate and much to learn about their colorful past. They inherit with them an ancient legacy as old as time itself. The next time someone asks what you are, you can say, "I am Hmong, you know, from China?" Because we certainly aren't from Laos, as I've just proven in the statement above.
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If i recall David wrote this song to his ex. LOL.
5fingersolo 2 years ago
@5fingersolo
I'll just say "LOL".
hmongtownrecords 2 years ago
wow i really appreciate what you wrote in your information. You've definitely done some research and its nice to have someone summarize it in a easy quick read.
trancebot 2 years ago 3
@trancebot
Thanks! Glad you appreciate the info.
hmongtownrecords 2 years ago
how come this sounds funky???
i'm just wondering but overall it's really nice...
voiceofexpression 3 years ago
This is a low quality version meant to be published online. The high quality version is on file with the original holder.
hmongtownrecords 2 years ago