Dr. Yang Dao, Hmong Songwriter

Dr. Yang Dao is often known for his educational career—having been the first Hmong person in the world to ever receive a doctoral degree, he is renowned for being the groundbreaker for the path of the Hmong toward higher education. Born in Xieng Khouang Province of Laos, Dr. Yang Dao’s high school education at the Lao-French Lycee de Vientiane was interrupted in 1960 by the Lao civil war. In 1962, he was the recipient of a scholarship from a French high school and left Laos to resume his high school education in the city of Arras, located in Northern France. In June 1964, Dr. Yang Dao passed his French Baccalaureat examinations to receive his high school diploma.

Thanks to an undergraduate scholarship from the French Government and a super-scholarship from U.N.E.S.C.O. (United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Organization), he was able to attend the University of Paris to successively finish his French Licence (French bachelor degree) and his doctoral degree in social and economic development in May 1972. The title of his Ph.D. thesis, The Difficulties of Social and Economic Development of the Hmong Populations in Laos, was translated into English in his book Hmong at the Turning Point, edited by Jeanne L. Blake and published by WorldBridge Associates, Ltd in 1993. After his education in Europe, Dr. Yang Dao left Paris in June 1972 to go back to Laos. Since then he has gone down notable career paths, including being the Director of Human Resources Department in the Ministry of Planning of the Royal Lao Government, being nominated  by His Majesty the King of Laos Sisavang Vatthana as a member of the National Political Consultative Council, as an author and co-author of seven books on Hmong history and culture, as journalist for the French newspaper  Le Figaro, as a professor of French Language and Civilization in Paris, France and as a faculty member on Hmong history, language and literature at the University of Minnesota, Hamline University, and Metropolitan State University in the United States of America.

But a little known fact about the Ph.D earner: he is an accomplished songwriter and music composer. Ever since the days of his childhood, music has played a strong influence on Dr. Yang Dao’s successes as much as his education has. His father, Yang Mino, was not only one of the first Hmong people in the former French Indochina (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) to receive the French Certificat d’Etudes Primaires, a French Elementary Education diploma, in 1934, but he was also a very accomplished Hmong traditional and modern musician. “I got my musical talent and my love of music from my father,” Dr. Yang Dao said. Since age 12, he has honed his musical talents with his father and currently plays mandolin and harmonica in his leisure time.

But it wasn’t until before he attended the University of Paris that Dr. Yang Dao thought about writing his first song. When he attended school in Laos, around age 15, he would always find music as a way for him and his friends to have fun. “I would play the mandolin or harmonica and my Lao and Hmong friends would sing,” Yang Dao recalls, noting that they always played and sang along to their favorite Lao and French songs. However, Dr. Yang Dao’s life changed in the summer of 1965, when he and his newly married wife sponsored a small group of Hmong secondary education students scattered throughout the many provinces of in France. Dr. Yang Dao noticed that having been in France for many years caused this group of young Hmong students to become less fluent in their native tongues. “To help them maintain their Hmong language and remember their ethnic culture, my wife and I organized a summer camp for them in the countryside of the Loire-Atlantique province in western France,” Dr. Yang Dao says, and he continued on entertaining his friends through music. But what he realized was that throughout his entire life he had only ever been playing only Lao and French songs. “The Hmong were known for their folks songs (hais khwv txhiaj), but not modern music,” he said. Inspired by this thought, he went on to compose the first modern Hmong song “Nkauj Hnub Twb Tuaj Ci Iab” (The Sun is Rising), a song calling the young Hmong to build a new and beautiful life through education. Dr. Yang Dao then taught his group to sing it while he played the music to accompany them. They then recorded the song and sent it back to Laos for his family and especially for the young Hmong students there to hear it. From then on, Dr. Yang Dao committed himself to writing at least one song every summer break and from 1965-1968, he composed four Hmong modern songs including the well-known “Txoj Kev Sib Pab Ciaj Vaj” (When Cooperation Brings Prosperity).

When his classes resumed after the summer of 1968, Dr. Yang Dao devoted all of his time to his graduate education and doctoral dissertation, no longer affording to use his time to continue writing songs. After receiving his Ph.D in May 1972, Dr. Yang Dao left France and returned to Laos, as he vowed to his family as evident in the lyrics of the second song he ever composed, “Tam Zoj Lub Me Paj Nyuam Qhuav Nthuav.” A translation of the lyrics reads: “As a Blooming Flower, I Left you, my parents, to go study abroad, but I promised that I would come back soon to help you and our family build a better life.”  “My parents cried when they first heard it,” Dr. Yang Dao recalls.  After returning to his homeland, he became immediately involved in numerous administrative and political positions in the Royal Lao Government until May 1975, when the Vietnam War forced him and his family to leave Laos and take political refuge in Thailand, eventually returning back to France in 1976. Finally, in 1980, much time had passed and Dr. Yang Dao found himself yearning for his life in Laos, yearning for a way to properly express his feelings for the happenings of his life. From 1980 until 2011, Dr. Yang Dao has since composed six more songs, writing all of the lyrics and setting them all to music.

So what exactly inspires the first Hmong Ph.D to take the time to express himself through song? “There are many reasons,” Dr. Yang Dao says. “First of all, all of my songs are about love. The love I have for the Hmong people, the passion I have to inspire them to do well in life and to achieve prosperity, the nostalgia I have for my life back in Laos, the love I felt for my wife when she wasn’t near—I could never express these feelings except through song,” he says. “Words can be said, but only two or three people may remember them. A song, though, can reach many at once and those words stay forever in people’s hearts.”

Per popular request in October 2011, Dr. Yang Dao sent his songs with lyrics and music to Laos for a group of professional Hmong to sing and perform. This group was led by Nkauj Suab Nag Yaj and Foom Muas, members of a prestigious choral group from Vientiane, Laos. Dr. Yang Dao’s songs were then recorded and produced for the first time ever together in a compilation CD and karaoke DVD. A donation of $10 is asked for anyone interested in his first album, but Dr. Yang Dao expresses that mostly he wants to share his music with the world, hoping that his music and lyrics will inspire others to continue loving one another, strengthening kinship, and to promote global peace and international cooperation in order to let the world know that the Hmong have successfully made their imprint on the world.

Dr. Yang Dao encourages any young and aspiring Hmong songwriter to begin with the cultural basics: “Start with Hmong folk songs (hais khwv txhiaj),” Dr. Yang Dao advises. “I’m not saying you have to be able to sing the Hmong folk songs well, you just need to have a deeper knowledge of Hmong vocabulary and poetry. After that, study music—this is especially important with Hmong and tonal languages. You have to know about notes in order to compose music. Anything you want in life, you must have the courage, determination, and the perseverance to do it. Don’t let anything hold you back.”

Dr. Yang Dao truly believes music has always been in the background of his life. “My father lived until he was 82, blessedly without illness or disease,” he says. “He was a true musician. Every time he played music, anything troubling him would leave his mind. I believe music is a way for one to relieve themselves and let go of the troubles of life. I would encourage anybody to reach to music [for help.]”

Dr. Yang Dao’s CD and DVD compilations are available at Hmong supermarkets and flea markets as well as through Melody of Heart Video Production, via phone (763) 228-3429 or e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Dr. Yang Dao currently resides in Brooklyn Park, MN with his wife and family, where he teaches his grandchildren how to play the mandolin and encourages them to learn how to play piano, in order to ensure passing on his music legacy.

By Elizabeth Thao

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