Kongdeuane Nettavong

Kongdeuane Nettavong is a devoted librarian, writer and artist, born in 1947 in Northern Laos. Among many projects of importance to the development of her home country, she initiated the Archives of Traditional Music in Laos (ATML) Project, which records sound and audiovisual documents of the many minority ethnic groups in Laos and encourages the training of the new generation in traditional music. A music lover who plays the khen, she is president of the Khen Club, which manages the centre for teaching the new generation how to play the instrument. Educating the young generation and helping in transforming knowledge into social progress is her main focus. She was over decades the director of the National Library of Laos and continues raising funds and supporting projects that improve the intellectual infrastructure of Laos.