OSHKOSH, Wis. — Wisconsin is home to one of the biggest Hmong populations in the country.
On Sunday, The Paine Art Center and Gardens hosted an event celebrating Hmong culture. Oshkosh musician Lee Dong Xiong uses the language of his people to honor the past. He said being able to blend his culture into art is important to him.
“I feel like we’re being so assimilated that we’re losing our language,” Lee Dong Xiong said. “English is being spoken mostly. I want to preserve it through use of music and making it sound modern and stuff.”
Lee Dong Xiong said he’s listened to Hmong music since he was a child. He said he wants to use his voice and music to inspire the younger generation to be proud of their Hmong heritage.
“That would help the new generation,” Lee Dong Xiong said. “Maybe they want to listen to it more. Because it sounds good, they actually want to understand it, to really understand the meaning of the song.”
Vang Xiong attended the event to see his daughter perform. He said seeing her dance on stage brings him happiness because she is keeping the Hmong culture alive.
“They work so hard to coordinate their dances and things like that,” Vang Xiong said. “So, yeah, definitely going to be proud of seeing her dancing in the most traditional Hmong clothing and being able to perform out here tonight.”
Co-curator of the Mao Lor Exhibit, Chong Moua, helped plan and emcee the event on Sunday. She said being Hmong is something she takes pride in because the people are what make the culture.
“Being Hmong to me means being allowed to be Hmong and being recognized as friends,” Moua said. “Not as something that is foreign, or something that’s strange, or something that’s not welcomed here in the United States.”
Lee Dong Xiong said when he was younger, he took his heritage for granted. Now, he reflects on what his parents used to preach when he was younger.
“When I was younger, I didn’t really think that was important,” said Lee Dong Xiong. “As I get older, I start to see the importance of why they were trying to teach me that way.”
Being Hmong is something many of the people in Oshkosh said they embrace and celebrate.
