Leuangtengdong: Analysis of a Hmong Song

Abstract

This article is an analysis of ‘Leuangtengdong’, a Hmong song melody which was recorded and transcribed by Jähnichen in 2000, while documenting a collection of Hmong songs in Laos. This new article is an effort to analyze melodic patterns of the song while considering its historical and social contexts through the personal gaze of the author with a specific background in singing and social experience. It is important to mention that the language sung in the song was unkown and that the emphasis of the analysis is on the musical shape. Finally, there is a conclusion regarding this song fitting in Jähnichen’s hypothesis on Hmong song melodies which states that most musical phrases do not repeat; all lines are different in pitch, order and length; pitch order and intervals can indicate a specific type (of song); singers do not know which type they sing, only analysis shows; and analysis cannot prove ethnic groupings. "Very interesting is the general characteristic of generating absolutely individual melodic lines in each example and in all the other recordings there was no one song with a repetition of a single melodic line. Avoiding repetitions is therefore a remarkable sign of Hmong song melodies.” (Jähnichen, 2011: 126). The given core hypothesis was the point of departure in this analytical article.