Did You Know? Music in Vermont: Songs of loss and longing
The Vermont Folklife archive is full of amazing first-person accounts of everyday life in Vermont and New England–past and present. In this feature, we share these stories with you.
While interviews make up the vast majority of the audio and video recordings in the Vermont Folklife Archive, the collection includes a great deal of music as well. In fact, the two oldest physical recordings in the archive are of music: a series of acetate disk records from 1947 of a performance by Weed’s Imperial Orchestra in Saint Albans, VT, and a 1950 paper-backed reel to reel tape of a singer from Maine recorded by Middlebury College folklorist Horace Beck. To highlight these holdings, over the next several months we will shine a spotlight on music recordings within the Folklife archives. While not an exhaustive look at everything musical we hold, we hope it will give you a taste of the range of music in our collections–and perhaps a little insight into aspects of Vermont’s larger musical soundscape.
This month we feature songs of loss and longing. Although Vermont’s musical landscape is as diverse as its people, one common theme among the music recordings in our archive involves songs that explore the pain and desire brought about by separation from home and lovers.
First, we'll hear from Souphine Phathsoungneune, a Lao lam folk singer and traditional Opera performer, director and writer. In 1972, during the Laotian Civil War and Vietnam War, Souphine and his family fled Laos and escaped to Thailand. In 1980 Souphine, his wife Phady and their four daughters settled in Brattleboro, Vermont. Souphine was considered a moh lam, a master folk singer, and is credited with introducing and establishing the Lam Leung folk opera form in Laos from Thailand where he was born. Former VT Folklife Board Chair Leslie Turpin knew Souphine and his family well, and he worked closely with her on her dissertation. Leslie shares that "In addition to operas, Souphine was a famous folk singer (moh lam) and has written and performed countless story songs in the lam tradition. These songs are accompanied by the khene, a traditional bamboo reed instrument played in both Laos and northeastern Thailand. He has continued to write and sing songs and to train new singers throughout New England." Souphine served as a Master Artist in Vermont Folklife’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and was the 2009 the recipient of the Vermont Governor’s Heritage Award. He passed away in 2019. This song was recorded in 2007 in Brattleboro.
Through a translator Souphine explains:
So this song is kind of Missing Lover Song. The song start went, she say when Laos people come together at the temple or community and do some activity together, she have good time. And then when she came back home and now be alone and make her missing what she--her old life in Laos, missing family and missing her lover who be together when they was in Laos and she didn't know how he doing right now. Is he have another girls or make me feel very lonely and hoping he have a good time and have a good life and hoping to see each other again, and something like that.
Next, we feature the voices of Franco-American singers, Carmen Beaudoin Bombardier and Kim Chase. Carmen, who grew up in Burlington’s Lakeside neighborhood, is the daughter of legendary Vermont Franco-American fiddler Louis Beaudoin. For many years Carmen performed as a member of the Beaudoin Family, and with them received the Vermont Heritage Award in 2003. Kim Chase, a scholar, singer, teacher and advocate for Franco-American culture, was raised in Winooski, VT in a home filled with songs and stories tied to Francophone Canada. In 2018, Vermont Folklife partnered with Carmen, Kim, and musician and scholar of French-Canadian music, Lisa Ornstein on Revitalizing Franco-American Song in the Champlain Valley of Vermont,, a project that held a weekly “singing school” with the goal of introducing Vermonters of all backgrounds to the rich tradition of Franco-American social song. As a learning resource for the classes, the project created a songbook containing 12 songs and a nursery rhyme from the family repertoires of Carmen and Kim.
In this recording, they sing J'irai La Voir Un Jour (I Will See Her Someday).
Translation:
I will see her someday,
In Heaven, in my homeland.
Yes, I will see Marie,
My joy and my love.
Refrain
In Heav’n, in Heav’n, in Heav’n,
I will see her someday.
In Heav’n, in Heav’n, in Heav’n,
I will see her someday.
I will see her someday,
With angels I’ll unite,
To sing her praises.
And be part of her court.
Refrain
I will see her someday,
This Virgin oh so beautiful,
Soon I will be with her,
To tell her of my love.
Refrain
I will see her someday,
I will go near her throne,
To receive my crown,
In the eternal resting place.
Refrain
I will see her someday,
I’ll leave this earth behind me,
For the rest of my days,
To rest, no more to return.
Refrain
Finally, we highlight the voice of Chol Atem, from southern Sudan. After fleeing Sudan at a young age, he lived in refugee camps in Ethiopia and in Kenya. While still a young man, he applied for third country resettlement and was assigned to Burlington, where he finished high school. A number of songs in the Folklife Center collection feature Chol singing with a group of friends that he met in the refugee camps who all ended up together here in Vermont, but this particular song, for a friend left behind, features Chol singing alone.
This song was recorded in the early 2000’s in Lyndonville, VT.
Alright, this song is for one of our friend. When he was going to the traditional dance of what you guys call your club but before he leave there, there was a plot so he can't make it, he was having travel with a lot of water, so that's why we made the song up, and it go like: [song]
Next month, we'll continue our focus on the breadth of musical archival material in Vermont Folklife collections and feature songs about home.
The excerpts referenced in this episode were drawn from the following recordings:
Souphine and Phady Phathsoungneune recorded by Mark Greenberg on July 3, 2007 in Brattleboro, VT
Carmen Bombardier and Kim Chase were recorded by Andy Kolovos in the fall of 2018
Chol Atem was recorded by Mark Greenberg and Maria Schumann on January 26, 2007 in Burlington, VT
To access the full interviews please contact the Vermont Folklife Archivist.