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 Well known Lao artists Sam and Aluna will feature at the first International Lao New Year Festival to be held on Saturday at the San Francisco Civic Centre Plaza in California, USA.
The event is organised by three national non-profit organisations, the Centre for Lao Studies, the Lao American National Alliance, and the Lao Heritage Foundation.
The grand event is expected to draw more than 30,000 people from inside and outside the Lao-American community.
The festival aims to showcase the best of Lao arts and culture, and to educate the general public about the Lao-American experience in the United States during the past 30 years.
The event will feature cultural activities such as an alms-offering ceremony, Buddha image procession and parade, baci ceremony, water splashing activities and traditional Lao sports and kite-making.
A Lao-style rattanball championship demonstration by the USA Takraw Association is set to be one of the highlights.
There will also be a performance by khaen master Bounseung Sinanonh, music by folk singers Jonny Olsen and Khamta Mounixay, a multi-ethnic fashion show and other traditional performances.
Apart from Sam and Aluna, there will be performances by Lao artists living in America such as Ketsana, Lila T, Alex San Dinero, Fantazma, Gumby, Evin After and Malyssa.
At the concert, Aluna and Sam will perform songs that have proven hits on Lao radio and TV music charts.
Aluna's first album went on sale in 2005, hitting the top of the radio charts and becoming popular among young people.
Since then she has performed at many big concerts in Laos. She also toured the US in 2005, performing four concerts in four states for audiences there.
In 2006 she twice played concerts in Japan with the Japanese group Gypsy Queen, and in March of this year she held her own concert in Nagoya prefecture.
Sam is a young man of many talents and his work in the Lao music scene includes writing, composing, producing and engineering 13 tracks of original music for his first solo album in 2008.
A fierce drummer and a knowledgeable writer, he has performed on many big stages in Vientiane and the provinces.
Along with InterWoven, his first official band formed in high school, he entered the Australian Youth Rock Battle of the Bands competition in 2000.
His band won third prize for best hard rock performance, and Sam won first prize for best hard rock drummer.
Sam graduated from an Australian high school in 2002 with top scores in music and enrolled in a degree of Bachelor of Arts, majoring in recording arts at the JMC academy and SAE Sydney.
Over the years he has exp lored digital composition and recording, and having a tertiary degree in recording is proving another step forward.
By Phoonsab Thevongsa
April 10, 2009
Vientiane Times
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