© 2024 KVPR | Valley Public Radio - White Ash Broadcasting, Inc. :: 89.3 Fresno / 89.1 Bakersfield
89.3 Fresno | 89.1 Bakersfield
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
78 new monthly members to go to reach our March goal! Start a new monthly gift today, or increase your existing monthly donation to help us reach the goal.

Mass Shooting Victim And Well Known Singer Xy Lee Honored At Three-Day Funeral

Laura Tsutsui
/
Valley Public Radio
Inside a building on the Fresno Fairgrounds, family and friends gathered to mourn Xy Lee. There were conventional floral wreath arrangements, but also a large heart and guitar arrangement, commemorating Lee's musical legacy.

At the Fresno Fairgrounds inside the Industrial Education building, a large photo of Xy Lee holding a guitar hung above a stage. Beneath it, family and friends gathered around an open casket. There were floral arrangements in the shape of a guitar and a huge heart. 

Credit Laura Tsutsui / Valley Public Radio
/
Valley Public Radio
Yeng Lee is musician Xy Lee's uncle. He says that hundreds came out to the three-day funeral, some from around the world.

“Right now, they are going to start playing the ritual, the Hmong ritual, to send the spirit back to its original place,” said Yeng Lee, Xy Lee’s uncle. 

The traditional songs are supposed to help the spirit return to its place of birth, and reincarnate. One man plays a qeej, a traditional wind instrument made of bamboo, while another beats a drum, to send Xy’s spirit back to Laos.

Credit Laura Tsutsui / Valley Public Radio
/
Valley Public Radio
Nhia Pheng Vang plays the qeej, a wind instrument made of bamboo and played during traditional Hmong funerals. The song is necessary to help Xy Lee's spirit return to where he was born.

It’s the final day of a three-day ceremony that brought over 400 people, Lee said. Some of them came all the way from Laos and Thailand. 

“I’d say that for the past two days it’s been very hectic and harsh, because he’s a famous international singer and he has lots of fans,” said Yeng Lee.

Lee said he and Xy were close, especially after Xy’s family immigrated to the United States in 2010. 

The 23-year-old singer was killed in the mass shooting in a Southeast Fresno backyard where friends and families had gathered to watch a football game. Police say they’re still investigating the crime.

Laura Tsutsui was a reporter and producer for Valley Public Radio. She joined the station in 2017 as a news intern, and later worked as a production assistant and weekend host. Laura covered local issues ranging from politics to housing, and produced the weekly news program Valley Edition. She left the station in November 2020.
Related Content