Meli (Akha Side Flute) - Living Legacy Project - Cultural Crossroads Asia

Akha men perform on a varied assortment of bamboo flutes for pleasure, reflection, and courtship. The meli, a side-blown flute measuring thirty to forty-five centimeters, is designed with a blow hole cut into the side of the top end, which is closed by a bamboo node or wood block, and four to six finger holes at the other, open end. Young men, like the accomplished musician Mawleu Jupoh, play dulcet melodies on their meli based on Akha love songs, birdsong, sounds of nature, or improvised tunes late into night. Under the auspices of Cultural Crossroads Asia, a sweeping multi-cultural initiative in Northern Thailand, the Living Legacy Project aspires to stave the loss of ancestral oral traditions in SE Asia, for should one generation fail to pass on what it knows to the next, thousands of years of knowledge may quickly, quietly disappear. https://culturalcrossroadsasia.org/or... One such project comes through a series of Living Legacy Videos featuring Master Akha Musicians, Storytellers, and Artisans who 1) perform their instruments, 2) reveal their significance, and 3) demonstrate how to fabricate them. Enjoy these sounds and sights of the Akha of Northern Thailand. If projects like this resonate with you, please consider supporting our efforts to honor, share, and sustain endangered intangible traditions. Donate https://culturalcrossroadsasia.org/do...