Mekong Delta Blues<br>I’ve been in love with rivers since I walked the banks of the Lackawanna River in Scranton, Pennsylvania as a boy-where/how did they begin?, where do they end?<br>As a teenager I watched the news and “body counts” as people we knew were dying in a far away place they called the “Mekong Delta”. I was listening to a lot of Musiq, too, especially the blues of another Delta, the Mississippi.<br>Years later, living in Thailand and employing the phenomenal cultures of the great Mekong River, 5,000 kilometers, I traced it to its beginnings of snow and ice in Tibet where they call it La Qu, down to Kunming where it becomes LanCang and on to the Golden Triangle of Laos, Myanmar & Thailand. The Sacred Serpent, Payanak, guided me further to Cambodia as that Great Kong empties into the lake, Tonle Sap and onto Vietnam where it empties into the South China Sea at that very Mekong Delta. <br>I am honored to share it as a musiqal journey at this Chicago Thailand Festival and thank all-the Thai Consul General, P Chawn, Big Nic, Hon, Ajarn Tong and all the performers who have gathered here to share our cultures-especially our Thai and American Cultures celebrating 190 Years of Kinship.<br>That Mighty Mekong is under threat-dams and the weight of humanity are taking the lives of fishermen and cultures. Go see it soon. I’ll take you, or at least bring it to you tonight via Musiq, story and dance. Der Nai Der-You Rock, Chicago. Let us all rock on this eternal River of Love we call life! <br>In Peace & Joy, Todd Tongdee
