Michel Martin （Host）： Now wed 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 thats not where shes making her mark now. She has become a YouTube sensation by singing in 3）Hmong. Thats the language of an Asian ethnic group that traces its roots to regions of China， Vietnam， Laos and Thailand. Heres “Raise Your Head High” from Jasmine Tierras 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 shes a really excellent singer， as well. Shes 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： Ive 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. Thats what took me to the competitions， was just hearing them say hey， yeah， you know， youre 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 youve 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 lets 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？

Tierra： The inspiration was my grandmother. All of my life growing up， she would just say things to me， if she sees me trying to rush to a certain goal， she would just say， hey， you know， take it one step at a time. Thats what I wrote this song off of because its true， you know？ In every aspect of your life， you really do need to take it one step at a time， whether youre trying to reach your goal， youre falling in love. You know you have to first crawl before you walk.

Martin： Speaking of crawl before you walk， you then decided to make a whole album out of songs in Hmong and English. How did that idea come about？

Tierra： You know， at first I told myself I was only going to do one. And I dont know how it turned out to be 12. But it started off with me just challenging myself. I， you know， this is something I never thought I would do， and why not just go ahead and take it all the way and see what happens.

Martin： Do you think theres something that people find particularly 7）intriguing about the fact that you are AfricanAmerican and singing in Hmong， as opposed to somebody else？

Tierra： I believe so. Ive even heard， because there are a lot of 8）Caucasian Mormon Americans who speak Hmong in Minnesota. So and Ive heard the elder Hmong speak and say that its， you know， its different to see an African-American speaking their language because theyre used to seeing， you know， the Mormon American Caucasians speaking their language. But I mean Im not the only African-American that speaks in Hmong there， but they find it more interesting.

Martin： Well， I was noticing that on the YouTube， on some of your YouTube videos—which are posted， both of your live performances and also videos attached to the， in support of the album—for the most part the comments are very positive which is what， she speaks Hmong better than I do， you know？ And， or she speaks Hmong than a lot of our kids do. She is to be congratulated. And people literally saying Im crying， Im crying tears of joy now. Why do you think it 9）evokes that， like tears？ Im just， Im interested in that.

Tierra： There is a little bit of 10）controversy going on at the moment with them wanting their youth to speak in their language more. Because， you know， you come to America and you do tend to want to， you know， to blend and you do kind of lose roots just a little bit naturally. And I feel as if theyre happy to see someone want to embrace it and help them keep it 11）enforced. And I believe thats where most of the appreciation comes from.

Martin： Well， lets hear another song too， that theres another one about that whole question of mom and appreciating roots， for example， and its called “My Mother.”（Soundbite of song， “My Mother”）

Martin： I can see a lot of people crying at that song.

Tierra： Oh.

Martin： I mean I think that speaks to a lot of peoples feelings about their mom， whether theyre Hmong or not. I do wonder though， does anybody ever 12）give you the business and say， you know， who do you think you are singing this music， this is not yours？

Tierra： I mean I expected that. You know， Im doing something different， of course， everyone is not going to be with me 100 percent. And I look at this as an opportunity to maybe break down some racial walls. And I just love singing no matter what language its in.

米歇爾·馬?。ㄖ鞒秩耍含F(xiàn)在我們來介紹一位嶄露頭角的歌手，她用歌聲跨越了語言和文化的障礙。賈斯敏·蒂拉是非裔美國人，從小唱福音歌曲，但并非這種音樂使她取得了今天的驕人成績，而是因為唱苗語歌而在YouTube引起了轟動。苗語是亞洲一個少數民族的語言，根源可以追溯到中國、越南、老撾和泰國的一些地區(qū)。下面我們來欣賞賈斯敏·蒂拉的首張專輯《一步一個腳印》里的歌曲《抬起你的頭》。

（《抬起你的頭》的音樂片段）

馬丁：事實上，賈斯敏·蒂拉演唱和寫苗語歌曲已經有幾年時間，贏得了歌迷，并在苗語音樂比賽中獲獎，甚至還在首屆年度苗語音樂頒獎禮上獻唱。她現(xiàn)在來到我們當中跟我們分享更多，當你第一次聽到苗語的時候，描述一下你的感受是怎樣的？

賈斯敏·蒂拉：那就像是悅耳的旋律，他們說話的時候每個字都用不同的語調。

馬?。耗阍鯓娱_始對這種文化感興趣的？我知道你在成長過程中頻繁搬家，但后來你定下來了，你的家人就定居在圣保羅地區(qū)。

蒂拉：我在明尼蘇達州圣保羅的阿靈頓高中讀書，那里57%的人都是苗族。我跟一個名叫潘雅·孔（音譯）的女孩做了朋友，她也是個很優(yōu)秀的歌手，并且是苗族人，她給了我她的一些專輯——一些有關基督教的苗語專輯。剛開始我只是聽聽CD，回來聽她唱其中某首歌，接著我也用蹩腳的苗語一起唱。

馬?。耗闶窃趺聪氲酱_確實實嘗試去掌握這門語言，并在苗語音樂節(jié)上演唱的？

蒂拉：我的成長總是充滿著勇氣，我的朋友，我的苗族朋友告訴我，你知道，當我唱苗語歌曲時，他們會就我的發(fā)音讓我知道他們的意見和想法。僅僅因為聽到他們說：嘿，是的，你知道，你很不錯，所以我參加了比賽。而且我也想考驗一下自己，站在舞臺上，面對成千上萬的苗族家庭。對于我首次在苗族新年盛事中的表演，每個人都非常震驚，我甚至看到有人喜極而泣。

馬?。赫娴膯?？哇。專輯里有沒有你曾在比賽中演唱過的歌曲？所有歌曲都是你寫的嗎？

蒂拉：所有歌曲都是我寫的，沒有一首曾在比賽上演唱過。

馬?。号?，好的。那么我們選一首主打歌曲——《一步一個腳印》。

（《一步一個腳印》的音樂片段）

馬?。哼@首歌的靈感來源是什么？為什么你決定用它做主打歌？

蒂拉：靈感來源于我的奶奶，在我成長的生活中，她教導我很多東西。如果她看到我在努力沖向某個目標，她會說：嘿，你知道的，一步一個腳印。那就是我寫這首歌的原因，因為那是真理，你知道嗎？在生活的每一方面，你真的都需要一步一個腳印，無論是努力實現(xiàn)目標，還是談一場戀愛。你知道學會走路之前你必須先爬行。

馬丁：說到先學爬再學走，你決定出一整張專輯，里面的歌曲都是苗語和英語，這種想法是怎樣形成的？

蒂拉：你知道，剛開始我告訴自己準備錄一首，不知道怎么結果是錄了12首。但是從一開始對我來說就是個挑戰(zhàn)，你知道，這是我從來沒想過會做的事情，那為什么不繼續(xù)前行，全力以赴，看看結果如何。

馬?。合鄬τ趧e人，你是個非裔美國人，卻用苗語演唱，你覺得人們會不會對這一事實產生特別的興趣？

蒂拉：我相信會。我聽說過，因為有很多摩門教的高加索裔美國人在明尼蘇達州講苗語。我聽到有年長的苗族人說：看到非裔美國人講苗語感覺很不一樣，因為他們習慣看到摩門教的高加索裔美國人講他們的語言。但我的意思是，在那里我不是唯一講苗語的非裔美國人，只是他們覺得更有趣而已。

馬?。亨牛伊粢獾皆赮ouTube上，你發(fā)布在YouTube的一些視頻，包括你的現(xiàn)場表演和用于宣傳專輯的錄像，當中的評價都是非?？隙ǖ模┤缬校核v苗語比我講得好，你知道嗎？或者，她講苗語比我們很多孩子講得多。她值得可喜可賀。而且人們還用文字表達自己正在哭，正在喜極而泣。你覺得為什么會引起了這些情緒，比如眼淚？我對此很感興趣。

蒂拉：他們現(xiàn)在為此有些小爭論，希望年輕一代更多地講自己的語言。因為你知道，你來到美國，當然想融入進來，自然就會多少失去部分根源。我覺得好像他們很樂意看到有人追捧這種語言，幫他們把語言傳承下去。我相信那就是大部分正面評價的初衷。

馬?。亨牛覀円瞾砺犃硪皇赘?，這首歌是關于母親和對根源正確評價的例子，歌名叫《我的媽媽》。

（《我的媽媽》的音樂片段）

馬丁：我能看到很多人因為這首歌而哭。

蒂拉：噢。

馬?。何业囊馑际俏艺J為歌曲說出了很多人對自己母親的感情，無論他們是不是苗族人。但是我想知道，有沒有人曾經訓斥你說：你以為你是誰？敢唱這音樂，那不是你的歌。

蒂拉：我希望是這樣。你知道，我在做與眾不同的事，當然不會每個人都百分百支持我。我把這件事看作是打破種族隔閡的契機，而且我只是喜歡唱歌，無論那是什么語言。