Secret Glow, Hmong band from MN

[yamchild]

Secret Glow is a new Hmong band from MN...  Although I think the singer has been singing for years.  They are working on a full album.  Watch out for these guys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaKVFVp5fLk

http://youtu.be/mkHa75ul4I8

[r3b1rth]

Honestly... I can't pinpoint it exactly yet, but these new Hmong songs are painful on the ears.  It's not eloquent enough.  The vocabulary is unnatural and limited.  Kuv, Koj, Peb, Wb, Hlub, Mob.  I don't mean to pick on them only.  I mean almost all of the new Hmong singers are painful on the ears.

Instrumental and mix-wise, they are okay.

[jon_jon]

Honestly... I can't pinpoint it exactly yet, but these new Hmong songs are painful on the ears.  It's not eloquent enough.  The vocabulary is unnatural and limited.  Kuv, Koj, Peb, Wb, Hlub, Mob.  I don't mean to pick on them only.  I mean almost all of the new Hmong singers are painful on the ears.

Instrumental and mix-wise, they are okay.

i agree.

can't hmong ppl sing about anything else besides "love"...songs....

[michaelvang85]

Honestly... I can't pinpoint it exactly yet, but these new Hmong songs are painful on the ears.  It's not eloquent enough.  The vocabulary is unnatural and limited.  Kuv, Koj, Peb, Wb, Hlub, Mob.  I don't mean to pick on them only.  I mean almost all of the new Hmong singers are painful on the ears.

Instrumental and mix-wise, they are okay.

I think the issue is.. that even though the talent is there, technology is there, and the means of promoting to a mass audience is there, a lot of the new artists seem to write their songs as translations into hmong from english composition rather than composing in hmong; if you can get the gist of what i'm saying. The eloquence of the hmong language is lost if one sets out to write a song from an english mindset.

For example, I want to express love and happiness. So I take the english meaning into perspective... Love and Happiness. Which will in turn be translated into something like 'kuv hlub koj thiab kuv zoo siab'. Let's say, if we don't look at it from an english perspective for it's meaning, we can word it differently, such as 'kuv txoj kev kaj siab nyob nraim ntawm txoj kev hlub uas zwm rau kuv nrog cev.' .. something cheesy like that. yes, cheesy, but the word play is from a hmong perspective rather than one that seeks an english/western meaning.

[pseudonym]

Honestly... I can't pinpoint it exactly yet, but these new Hmong songs are painful on the ears.  It's not eloquent enough.  The vocabulary is unnatural and limited.  Kuv, Koj, Peb, Wb, Hlub, Mob.  I don't mean to pick on them only.  I mean almost all of the new Hmong singers are painful on the ears.

Instrumental and mix-wise, they are okay.

nag. nag. nag.

first, Hmong folks nag about Hmong singers not singing in Hmong enough.
then when they DO sing in Hmong, Hmong folks point out that their Hmong sucks.

 

[VCL]

nag. nag. nag.

first, Hmong folks nag about Hmong singers not singing in Hmong enough.
then when they DO sing in Hmong, Hmong folks point out that their Hmong sucks.

 

 

Best part is....if you listen to most of the "English/American" songs these days, it's no different as well. Yet do we hear a complaint?   

Damned if you do......Damned if you don't

[r3b1rth]

nag. nag. nag.

first, Hmong folks nag about Hmong singers not singing in Hmong enough.
then when they DO sing in Hmong, Hmong folks point out that their Hmong sucks.

 

That's what YOU'RE doing right?  At least I'm not hearing impaired, you mother father beach.  I'm just dyslexic. 

[r3b1rth]

I think the issue is.. that even though the talent is there, technology is there, and the means of promoting to a mass audience is there, a lot of the new artists seem to write their songs as translations into hmong from english composition rather than composing in hmong; if you can get the gist of what i'm saying. The eloquence of the hmong language is lost if one sets out to write a song from an english mindset.

For example, I want to express love and happiness. So I take the english meaning into perspective... Love and Happiness. Which will in turn be translated into something like 'kuv hlub koj thiab kuv zoo siab'. Let's say, if we don't look at it from an english perspective for it's meaning, we can word it differently, such as 'kuv txoj kev kaj siab nyob nraim ntawm txoj kev hlub uas zwm rau kuv nrog cev.' .. something cheesy like that. yes, cheesy, but the word play is from a hmong perspective rather than one that seeks an english/western meaning.

Thank you, for understanding my point of view.  I still listen to Luj Yaj and oldies type music because the music touches my heart.

I think a lot about releasing modern music in the future and have the songs written and sung in fluent hmong.  If the quality is not there, then I'm not working hard enough.  The same expectations are for other artists too.  Constructive criticism is the key.  Not nagging.  Why is that so hard for people to understand?

[r3b1rth]

BTW Yamchild.  Sorry Secret Glow is being trolled on.

[yamchild]

R3birth, no worries,   it's a good discussion...

But I support my Hmong bands and singers from the US no matter what!

[r3b1rth]

That's true.  The support is there of course.  We're all family.  The biggest thing is having the wisdom to see what isn't working and find something that is.

And the best part about it is that maybe it's already in the works because we all have the desire to make things better.