27 year-old Jonny Olsen, the first American khaen player and the first western khaen playing champion, recently released his second DVD entitled "Jonny Yark Pen Khon Lao or Jonny Wants to Be Lao."
Three cuts from that DVD are featured here for your enjoyment: "Kerd Phit Born," followed by "Sieng Khaen Thaen Jai," and "Seun Maa Fone."
Jonny was a rock singer and musician before he discovered Khaen, Laos' national instrument, and fell in love with it. Surprisingly, the band he was with for four years before quitting in 2003 to seriously learn how to play khaen was called L.A.O., an acronym for Life All Over.
He spent four months in Laos last year to work on his new DVD. He fell in love with the country, its people and culture. Jonny says he wants to marry a Lao girl, particularly a morlum or folksong singer, and to live in Laos and play khaen forever.
To learn more about Jonny or to order his DVD, please go to: http//www.myspace.com/jonnyplayskhaen