黑人女歌手高唱苗語歌
滋味人生
Michel Martin （Host）： Now we’d like to introduce you to an 1）up-and-coming singer who is using her voice to cross boundaries of language and culture. Jasmine Tierra is African-American. She grew up singing 2）gospel music， but that’s not where she’s making her mark now. She has become a YouTube sensation by singing in 3）Hmong. That’s the language of an Asian ethnic group that traces its roots to regions of China， Vietnam， Laos and Thailand. Here’s “Raise Your Head High” from Jasmine Tierra’s 4）debut album which is titled “One Step at a Time”.
（Soundbite of song， “Raise Your Head High”）
Martin： Jasmine Tierra， in fact， has been singing and writing songs in the Hmong language for years， winning fans and even competitions in Hmong music. She even performed at the First Annual Hmong Music Awards. And she is with us now to tell us more. When you first heard the Hmong language can you describe it for me？
Jasmine Tierra： It sounds like a melody. When they speak they use different tonations for each word.
Martin： And how did you first get interested in the culture？
I understand that you had moved around a lot when you were growing up， but that you settled—your family settled in the St. Paul area？
Tierra： I attended Arlington High School in St. Paul， Minnesota， and the population was 57 percent Hmong. I befriended a girl named Panyia Kong. And she’s a really excellent singer， as well. She’s Hmong. And she gave me some of her albums—her Christian Hmong albums. At first it started off with me just listening to the CDs， and then I would come back and then she would start singing one of the songs， and then I would join in with my broken Hmong.
Martin： How did you get the idea of actually try to master enough to sing at a Hmong music festival？
Tierra： I’ve always had a lot of 5）guts growing up. So my friends， my Hmong friends， they told me that， you know， they would let me know their opinions on how they thought I sounded when I sung Hmong songs. That’s what took me to the competitions， was just hearing them say hey， yeah， you know， you’re pretty good. And I just wanted to test my own self and I got on stage in front of thousands of Hmong families. Everyone was pretty shocked at the first Hmong New Year event that I performed for. I even saw people cry tears of joy.
Martin： Really？ Wow. Are any of the songs on the album songs that you’ve sung in competition or these are all songs that you wrote？
Tierra： All songs that I wrote. None were sung at the competition.
Martin： Oh， OK. So let’s just pick the title track then， “One Step at a Time.”
（Soundbite of song， “One Step at a Time”）
Martin： What was the inspiration for this song？ And why did you decide to make it the 6）title track？