- Maa Vue, Maa Vue.
- The crowd chants Maa Vue, Maa Vue at a Milwaukee concert.
- Maa Vue, Maa Vue.
- Then she takes the stage.
[pop music]
Maa Vue is the headliner for a raucous evening of rock,
[rock guitar music]
rap
[rap beats]
and rhapsodic love songs.
[slow song]
All sung in the Hmong language.
- We do stick to the Western style
but we use the Hmong language.
Not a lot of people speak Hmong anymore.
It's dying.
Okay, so kind of crazy.
- Maa lives in Wausau but is in Milwaukee as part of six-city
nationwide tour with fellow Hmong language performers.
- We want to be able to establish
a Hmong music industry.
- Judging from the Milwaukee crowd's reaction,
they are well on their way.
[pulsing pop music]
Maa's YouTube channel is hugely popular in the Hmong community
and her most recent video has over three million views.
- "Rov Pom Koj Dua."
In English, it means "see you again."
And it's about how, when you didn't really break it off
with someone yet, or you felt like
that chapter wasn't closed, what would you do differently?
For some reason, people really liked that song
and that music video.
And just within, I think it was just within one or two months
we reached one million views.
[singing in Hmong]
- The language may be Hmong but the emotion is universal.
- Honestly that song, it was inspired by my listeners.
Because they were telling me their stories
and what was going on with them.
[singing in Hmong]
- The crowd loves hearing it live.
[crowd singing along]
- The audience enthusiastically joins in on the chorus.
[crowd singing along]
- I just love it when my listeners,
they are able to sing with me.
'cause music, when you can share it like that,
it's just a good feeling.
- The good feelings continue when Maa is joined on stage by
her collaborator David Yang.
[audience cheers]
- He's also a Wisconsin resident that lives in Madison.
It's crazy how so many talents, you know, reside in Wisconsin.
[singing in Hmong]
David Yang and myself, we are just the narrators.
I don't see myself as an actor.
- Some of Maa's reluctance to act out her songs
comes from her traditional Hmong views of what's proper
for a married woman.
- I don't want to do scenes like that
with a male that's not my husband.
Being married, that's a preference of mine.
- Many traditionally Hmong, including members
of Maa's family, don't approve of
her career ambitions.
- You just work hard.
If you want it badly enough, then you just keep
working at it.
- It's her husband who has been most encouraging.
- That's really what inspired me.
He told me, "Maa, why do you push away your dreams?
"You only have one life."
And, you know, it's so funny that a line like that
can make, you know, change and you see life
in a different point of view.
So he really changed my life.
- That relationship has also inspired Maa's music
like her first hit.
[singing in Hmong]
- "Nyob Ua Ke." Nyob ua ke means stay together.
And you know, I wrote that based on my relationship
with my husband.
When I wrote it, I was going through a hard time.
But you have to trust, keep working at it.
And eventually things will turn out well.
Just remember why you guys got together in the first place.
And that was the message that I wanted to send out there to a
lot of the young, married couples.
- It's a message that's resonated,
as seen in the YouTube comments.
- There was a listener who wrote to my song "Nyob Ua Ke."
She and her husband were pretty much at the point
of getting divorced.
- I took out my car and just drove.
Your song started playing.
- Her tears just came and she just realized,
why did I get married to this man.
- Memories of all the good and bad times
we had shared and overcame flooded me.
After it was over, I drove back home.
- I never realized, you know,
that music was such a healing thing.
To see people relate to it and be able to share their stories
like this, after just listening to a song.
It's powerful.
- One, two, three, Y-D-R!
- Ready to turn it up?
[crowd cheers]
- Powerful is also the surprising adjective that
describes Maa on stage.
Short of stature, but big in stage presence.
Online she's been called the "Hmong Adele."
- Adele is, she's phenomenal.
And the other person I look up to for inspiration is Beyoncé
'cuz she's just so fierce.
She's like the performer I want to be.
- These young Hmong fans certainly follow that
mainstream pop world as well.
- Yeah, they could be going to a Bruno Mars concert, right?
Or an Ariana Grande show.
And so when they choose to come to our show,
it just makes me feel inspired, motivated.
And I just feel really grateful that they are giving
their Hmong community a chance.
- No doubt because Maa speaks directly to them.
And Maa hopes, inspires them.
- They're just so supportive.
And I'm just glad I can show them this path is possible.
Wow, if she can do it, why can't I do it?
You know, why not? Why not dream big?
- Thank you so much, Milwaukee!
Make some noise!
[crowd cheers]