Meet Porjeng.
We asked him about water. He answered, but what he really wanted us to know about was his music.
We caught him playing the Kaen Lao, a traditional wooden pipe instrument, as part of the New Year celebration happening in the village that day. The whole village had gathered for the event. It was Kin Chiang, the Lahu New Year. And I was right in the middle of it, and Porjeng was playing the same songs that have marked this celebration for generations.
The instrument looked like nothing we’d seen before. The sound it made was even more unexpected, melodic, sweet, unhurried, completely disarming.
We came asking about water. We left thinking about that sound.
