Musician and documentary filmmaker VICTORIA VORREITER, whose work is best described at creating a “cultural Noah’s Ark,” offered a peek at her latest cultural preservation project, "The Music of the Golden Triangle and the Cycles of Life," during a multi-media event at our client The Golden Triangle, a 23,000-square-foot, not-to-be-missed powerhouse of Asian antiquities, artifacts, and all things rare located 330 North Clark Street, Chicago.
Following the success of her previous documentary project “The Music of Morocco and the Cycles of Life,” with screenings by the Smithsonian Institute and the National Geographic Society, Victoria established Resonance Productions, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving ancestral songs and ceremonies of traditional peoples.
Following the success of her previous documentary project “The Music of Morocco and the Cycles of Life,” with screenings by the Smithsonian Institute and the National Geographic Society, Victoria established Resonance Productions, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving ancestral songs and ceremonies of traditional peoples.
Since 2004, Victoria -- a native Chicagoan -- has lived in Chiang Mai , Thailand , trekking through the remote villages of the Golden Triangle region, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas where Laos , Myanmar , China , and Thailand once knew no boundaries. Her mission has been to document the ancestral songs and ceremonial rites that mark the passages of life – from infancy, adolescence, and adulthood to old age -- among the indigenous tribes that still inhabit the region.
Through breathtaking photography, digital music recordings and video, Victoria has captured a remarkable spectrum of over 60 ancestral songs and rites for such ceremonies as healing, baby naming, blessing for the hunt, thanksgiving of harvest, courting, wedding, the New Year, soul calling, ancestor worship, fertility festival, and funeral. "Indigenous peoples in these inaccessible hills have depended for millennia on oral tradition to transmit knowledge, history, and beliefs. How long these time-honored customs can continue, with the encroachment of 21st century technology, is in doubt. My work documents the majesty of these tribal rituals before they disappear," said Ms. Vorreiter.
As leaders of Chicago's arts, culture, and business scene packed the The Golden Triangle, Vorreiter unveiled an exhibit featuring video footage, photography and digital recordings from her documentary, slated to debut in March 2009 at the Jim Thompson Museum in Bangkok . That same evening, The Golden Triangle launched a limited-time-only collection of rare, handmade artifacts from the Golden Triangle region, including tribal paintings, jewelry, clothing and costumes, basketry, and jewelry.
