"Stranger than her clothes was that, like the Mosuo girl I had met back in the old town in Lijiang, Numa Lamu sang constantly. She would sing under her breath, then launch into song at the top of her voice without a shred of embarrassment ...
The most consistent difference I have found between peole who remain attached to pre-modern traditions and we moderns is our neglect of song. For us, art is a thing that professionals make according to the tastes and disposable income of an educated middle class; for them it is common and vital, like breathing.
Numa Lamu began a song that rose up and down a scale erratically and then settled into soft breaking notes. She ladled another cup of milk butter tea.
What a people for our world, I thought. Pray God it never finds them."
Patrick Holland 2011
Riding The Trains In Japan: Travels In The Sacred And Supermodern East
Transit Lounge, Yarraville, Australia
p. 143
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