133 Gisa Jähnichen The Last of their Kind: Khmu Flute Songs Khmu People Khmu people live scattered (see Figure 1 and 2) over the provinces of Northern Laos, Vietnam, in some parts of Thailand and Southern China as well as in Myanmar (and as immigrants in the United States), and are possibly the “most indigenous” population of that land‐locked area. Figure 1: Map of mainland Southeast Asia with areas of Khmu settlement. 1 Living areas of Khmu in Vietnam do not reach the coast line as indicated here through the inclusion of whole provinces. From an external viewpoint such as from an anthropologist, they can be divided into dialect groups such as Khmu Rok, Khmu Yuan, Khmu Leu or Khmu U, classified according to adaptability to the respective state system they belong, by differences of traditional clothing or even into groups of different cooking styles. Seen from the Khmus’ viewpoint, they divide themselves into village clusters, called tmoey, but not in a strictly systematic way. They need to know who are their neighbours, where are their closest relatives, which cross‐ information might be important to them. This differentiation seems to be sufficient for self identity. The village as a social and cultural entity is the definite centre of their lives. Khmu people – as far as known – have never 1 Premsirat, Suwilai and Thawornphat, Mayyree (2002): Dictionary of Khmu in Thailand. Salaya, Mahidol University Thailand. Accessible via: http://www.archive.org/details /rosettaproject_kjg_map‐1. Last visit: August 10, 2011.