The Hear and Lao

The photo that grabs us the most on Todd Sanchioni’s Web preview of “The Changing Face of Laos Through Its Music” is predictable. We like hot guys playing guitars; shut up. The photo is a classic in so many ways: It shows a young man in a t-shirt, lost in concentration on a six-string acoustic. His mouth hangs open a little; he’s playing a D chord, and we know how he feels. D is majestic. But the picture gets its power and its place in the exhibit on account of this: He’s on the back seat of a moving scooter, the background blurred, the driver’s face mostly hidden by a helmet. Still, our guy is rapt, and he’s a monument to making music. To get this image, Sanchioni traveled to the small, land-locked, Communist country and looked up all the musicians he could find, from the hip-hoppers of L.O.G (Laos Original Gangstas) to the traditional “qeej” players to the rock band the Cells. The photographer went one step further, though, and also made audio recordings of them all. As you walk around the gallery looking at the black-and-white prints (film, incidentally, 35mm and Mamiya 6X7) you can also listen to the music. We’d be happy with a single strum of that D nearly drowned in scooter buzz, but there’s so much more.
March 26-April 18, 2009