Nine-in-One Grr! Grr! a Hmong Folktale for narrator and orchestra

Notes
In this charming folktale from the Hmong people of Laos, a mother tiger wants to learn how large her family will be. She travels to the kingdom of the great god Shao, who tells her she will have nine baby tigers every year as long as she remembers his words. She travels happily through the forest singing “Nine-in-One Grr! Grr!”  But the clever Eu Bird is worried about the prospect of a world full of tigers and sets out to trick Tiger into forgetting her all-important song…

The story is told with narration between sections of music, with all narration cued by the conductor. 

Nine-in-One Grr! Grr! was commissioned by the St. Paul Civic Symphony and ArtStart. Children arrived one hour before the performance to participate in arts activities, including creating puppets representing Tiger and Eu Bird and making rain sticks. They were cued during the performance to wave their puppets, or play their rain sticks as the story was narrated. Performers included Hlee Vang, storyteller, Cheng Vang, soloist on the qeej (a traditional Hmong instrument) and the children’s qeej ensemble from the Hmong Cultural Center of St. Paul. The ArtStart program was designed by Carol Sirrine, Director and Founder. Edouard Forner led the St Paul Civic Symphony.