Aspects of audience engagement at a Rawang music performance

I wanted to share a video clip from the Rawang USA conference I attended in Ft. Worth, Texas in July 2026, recorded by a friend who happened to also be attending. The conference was composed of people from the Rawang ethnic group in Burma who have resettled in the US, many of them after years of living in Malaysia as refugees. 

This was toward the end of the last day of the conference, and a prominent Rawang pastor named Nvnghø Rvmseng sang a song about leaving home in the mountains of Burma long ago, describes how he cries alone here in a foreign country, and how one day soon he will return to his mountain homeland. It was just him singing live, backed by recorded instrumentation, karaoke style. 

There were no lyrics on the screen, but the screen showed first a panning of the crowd, and then scenes of the Rawang homeland viewed from the air, and later the conference title (Rora Himal, lit. together footprints). 

He uses a few techniques and situational cues to get the audience involved: 

1. The song evoked a situation (being an immigrant and missing home) that all the adults in the room had personally experienced. And since this group had also been interacting at the conference for an evening and two days, they shared an emotional solidarity.

2. The song had been launched on YouTube two years previous, in 2024, with a different singer, and with Burmese subtitles for accessibility for those who didn't understand Rawang well. NH Sønrvm was one of the actors in the music video, as was Saray Mary, who can be seen in the audience at the conference. This must have primed the audience, at least for those who had seen the music video before.

3. Early in the song, he walked up and down the first row, and then came back up on stage.

4. He repeated the song a number of times, and he often called out the first phrase of the chorus as a telegraph signal to the audience to join in.

5. During a musical interlude, he invited them to wave their arms and phone lights to the rhythm.

6. At times, he let his voice fade out or backed away from the mic and let the audience carry the melody.

7. At the end, he said in Rawang, "No matter where we are, we are all Rawang people", and pronounced God's blessing over all of them.

The way he centered the audience as participants produced a powerful shared moment. 

I thought of writing up this experience, both because I was moved by the experience (as you can see from my arms cheerily windmilling in the back of the room at a couple places in the video), and because I want to encourage worship leaders to think more about how to involve the congregation more as co-participants in the singing, through explicit cues and instructions, rather than simply expecting the congregation to follow a music team performing at the front.

Here are the lyrics, with my attempted translation into English.

MVRØT SHØNGNI SHAQ

Longing melody/tune sound/voice

The sound of a song of longing

V:1 Mònggàng dvjà angpvnpvn rvt vdè chø̀m kèní búng vdu yàngì 

World situation various.kinds because one's.own house from leave should/happen -PAST.years-3intrans

Because of various kinds of world situations (problems), it was necessary to set out from (my) own home

vrúm màshá we wv́ngzà móng kaq sv̀ng  Chø̀mtaq làngrángà 

Far unknown NMLZ foreign country TO TO house-at/on leave(?)-1SG(?)-TOWARD-1SG-PAST(?)SG

I left home to come to this far unknown foreign country

vpè nvng vmè ngà vnvmrì gø pàmvràcè èvl nøng máé, nøntnie lé

my-father and my-mother my my-sibling-PL also well-DIM N1-exist -2PL Q-EXCL miss-1PL-NPAST EXCL

Father and Mother and my siblings also, are you guys OK? I/we miss you! 

V:2 Wv́ngzà móng kaq tukyv̀ngà gø tvraq wvt lwe ngà móng kaq svng tiqnicè gø vná malúnò 

Foreign country TO arrive.1SG-PAST.years-PAST.1SG also rhododendron flower be-NMLZ.but my country TO TO one-day-DIM also forget NEG-deagentivizer-be.able.to-3OBJ

I arrived in this foreign country years ago, but the rhododendron flower is (back at home), and not even one little day can I forget my country

wv́ngzà laqyarì dvhø̀ taq ngà v́l mvnàm 

foreign custom-PL among at I live be.comfortable

I'm not comfortable living among foreign ways

ngàò rvzì móngcè é nøntne lé

I-POSS mountain country-DIM EXCL miss-NPAST EXCL

My dear/little mountain country! I miss you! 

CHO: Wv́ngza móngtaq ngà wawa nèci vyǿngò angnirì mvme luq bǿi/yó rvzì móng sv̀ng tiqni taq nø màyàngó jø̀ngjǿng ngà ngamwa tukrang lé

CHORUS: foreign country-on I alone-alone eye-tear flow-1SG-NMLZ(?) 3POSS/the-day-PL many/very be.many-PFV EXCL.

Mountain country OBJ/TOWARD one-day LOC.ON TOPIC NEG-INDIR?-see-3OBJ really/truly 1SG suddenly arrive.1SG-DIR.toward.center-1SG EXCL

In the foreign country, there have been many days when I have cried alone! 

One day, suddenly, I will arrive back at the mountain country. 

Pre CHO: Wv́ngza rvgaq ngà vl vdòng we ígø ngà rvpcèrì shøtshúcè vl lúnshì 

ngàò mvsø̀n nvrø̀m vdongtaq vtvngshaq dvbònge....

foreign land 1SG live/exist inside NMLZ be-also 1SG.poss family-child-PL parent-DIM/child live get-R/M 1SG-POSS soul heart inside-LOC.on most be.happy-1SG-NPST

Even though it's a foreign land where I live, my family’s children and parents can be there, my soul and heart are exceedingly happy... 

Aspects of Participation in an Evangelical Worship Service

Sometimes I think I'm a passive spectator in a church service. And I've unfairly written that judgment, thinking that was the end of the story, unless something changed. But last night I came back and noticed a number of aspects of participation that I hadn't paid attention to before. All of them involve the body, cognition, emotion, and coordination with others and with the Divine. Each aspect has the potential to activate the embodiment of truth and love - connecting and participating with others for their good because of something you are learning about reality, and receiving care from them as well. 

Walking in, I exchanged greetings by name with two or three people and received a bulletin and printed list of scripture verses and prayer topics. I held the list, wondering what it was for.

Singing, I held and shifted through whatever posture of worship felt meaningful to me while coordinating my voice with others, alternating between (mostly) listening to unfamiliar parts and joining with familiar parts. The songs activated memories, because the worship leader had told me two weeks before that they would play two particular songs, and I had previewed them on a streaming app to learn the tune.

During greeting time, I shook hands and made eye contact with two or three people around me, coordinating facial expressions and coregulating emotions, exchanging names, recent holiday experiences, and details about where we live, our families, and our travels.

During the responsive reading, I listened to the leader read the first part, and joined my voice with the congregation in the second part, coordinating my tempo to match theirs.

During the sermon, I listened to the pastor expressing care for listeners' difficult situations during the introduction to the sermon and opening prayer, which activated feelings of being seen, understood, and comforted. 

I stood for the scripture reading.

I raised my hand in response to questions.

I heard movie quotes and saw movie images, which activated powerful shared cultural memories related to the Bible story.

I wrote notes in the bulletin and filled in missing words in the blanks.

At the end of the sermon, the pastor revealed the purpose of the list -- to guide a few minutes of prayer for the world, the church, and ourselves. A family of three sitting next to me invited me to join them and lead out in the prayer time.

It was easier for me to notice experiencing embodied participation when I visited an Orthodox or Anglican service -- maybe partly because it was unfamiliar and I had to consciously make meaning of it. But intentionally focusing my gaze on the familiar allowed me to see that participation was here, too. One advantage I found with the familiar was that I already knew some of the people, and other people I had seen their names before, which meant for deeper conversation. One fellow I met mentioned that he's visiting from out of state, and hasn't been able to find a church in his hometown, and so I was able to write to a friend near his hometown and ask for local church recommendations for him.

As Louis Agassiz said, "a pencil is one of the best eyes." So I'm writing down what I saw, in hopes that I will remember it next time I feel jaded with the ordinary.

Further reading:

Bob Tierney. 'Let's take another look at the fish: the writing process as discovery.' https://teach.nwp.org/lets-take-another-look-at-the-fish-the-writing-process-as-discovery/

Matthew Lee Anderson. Earthen Vessels. https://matthewleeanderson.com/book/earthen-vessels/