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Performance: Fresno Musician Receives National Honor For Traditional Laotian Music

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Bounxeung Synanonh playing the khaen.
Kerry Klein

It’s not every day that a musician from Fresno is honored by the National Endowment For the Arts with a prestigious national fellowship. But Bounxeung Synanonh one of the leading performers of the traditional Lao instrument the khaen recently received national recognition for his artistry from the group.

Blind since the age of 15, Synanonh came to the United States as a refugee in the 1980’s. Today he teaches young Lao musicians how to play the bamboo mouth organ, and travels to perform in front of Laotian audiences across the country. He joined us on Valley Edition to perform and talk about his life and career.
 
Click below to watch a video of Synanonh playing the khean.
 

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Ezra David Romero is an award-winning radio reporter and producer. His stories have run on Morning Edition, Morning Edition Saturday, Morning Edition Sunday, All Things Considered, Here & Now, The Salt, Latino USA, KQED, KALW, Harvest Public Radio, etc.