Bounxeung Synanonh

Bounseung Synanonh has been playing the kaen for over four decades. Bounseung learned the kaen from elders in his home village of Savannakhet, Laos. As a boy, Bounseung had such passion for the kaen and desire to learn that he would follow a kaen artists around his village, listening to and mimicing the instrument’s sounds. Bounseung learned the kaen entirely by ear, as most Lao musicians do. Through a combination of this type of self-learning and his dedication to practice hours at a time, Bounseung became one of the best kaen players in his village, and today, is considered by many the best kaen player in the United States. In 1987, Bounseung performed for President Ronald Reagan at the White House. He also recorded with the World Music Institute under the direction of Terry Miller, a world-renowned ethnomusicologist. In 2007, he performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. He is a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow.