An article to be written

Internet is an interactive medium. Today we will test whether that also applies to Thailandblog. In this post you will find a nice tableau of luk thung artists. The story has yet to be written. By who? Yes, by you reader.

In Bangkok Post of March 20 there was an article about the CD label R-Siam. The accompanying illustration shows some of the 90 solo artists and groups assigned to the label. Now I can summarize that article, but this time I think it would be much more fun if the readers of Thailandblog write the story. So comment and tell us who your favorite artist or group is and why. Or tell about a concert you attended by him/her/the group. In this way, all the reactions together form a story.

My favorite is Jintara Poonlarp, ​​top left with red skirt and mischievous smile. I like to listen to her. Jintara once sang about the tsunami. Mind you: she sings tsunami and not tsunami. A poignant song, although I don't know what she sings exactly.

Because I think this is a bit of a thin beginning of our joint story, I asked Hans Geleijnse to make a good start.

Hans Geleijnse writes:
No, but among all those heat petits I recognize from their TV faces I discover Jintara Poonlarb, the Thai version of the Zangeres Zonder Naam and compelling interpreter of a tearjerker about the soul anguish of a mia noi. Jintara has passed forty without too many visual hairline cracks and comes from the Isan. You have to love it, but her music certainly sounds more Thai/Asian than many Western clone material from the R.Siam stable.

Thai pop culture is Western-oriented, both in clothing and music, and there is no longer any doubt about the influence of that culture on social developments since the birth of Rock & Roll. The moment that tug-of-war about Thai culture can be definitively placed on a Thailand blog as a nostalgic pastime of old farts is inevitable.

Perhaps the trend towards mainstream Thailand started years ago with Tata 'sexy naughty bitchy' Young, a cross between Madonna and Britney Spears. At every concert given on local stages today you can see her heirs perform, enthusiastically listened to by father, mother and their school-aged children. What will probably remain very Thai is the sound mix: hard, no midtones, a lot of shrill highs and booming lows.

I like the original, but also find what comes out of the culture mixer fascinating. And probably because I'm an old fart too, my Thai favorite is Sek Loso, a man who, like Cliff Richard, looks more youthful with each passing day. A great musician and - that creates a bond - keeps the media and fans busy with an undoubtedly dramatically ending life dominated by sex, drugs and rock & roll.

Rick writes:
Well, I don't really have any favorites. Likes to listen to pai pongsatorn, buaphan, bao wee (third video), Tai Oratai, Jintara, but also Deep O Sea (fourth video). When I'm messing around in the house with this music in the background just wonderful! We have quite a lot of this music and that is especially useful during parties; then the ladies can go wild with the karaoke. haha.

Tino Kuis writes:
Thai music rarely appeals to me. I soon find it boring and monotonous, also because I don't understand the words, often Isan. I only know of two exceptions: Carabao and Phomphuang Duangchan.

Carabao ('that old hippie', Dick) is an exponent of the 'Pheua Chiwit' genre, the 'life song'. Simple music, recognizable subjects, socially critical but not sentimental. His song 'Made in Thailand' became famous. ('Thailand is the most beautiful country in the world, everything is good here, but when we go to the store, we prefer to buy Japanese'). I was very moved by his song 'Mae Sai' about the fate of a bargirl ('little bird in a cage'): video 5.

Phumphuang Duangchan is called the 'Queen of the Luk Thung'. Everyone still knows her, including the youth, although she died in 1992 at the age of thirty. Her cremation in Suphanburi was attended by XNUMX people and by Princess Siridhorn.

'Luk Thung', Loe:k Thoeng, literally 'children of the (rice) fields' is about village life, but from the seventies of the last century more and more about the experiences of the many who moved to the big city for a better life pulled. The songs are about saying goodbye to the village, the high expectations, the many disappointments, the exploitation, the struggle for existence and especially about the nostalgia for the village of birth and the distant lover ('does he still love me or does he have someone else? ?'). Phumphuang experienced it all herself and she sings about her own experiences, which makes it so oppressive. A text (from the song 'I try my luck'):

Poor as a louse, I risk my happiness
Napping on the bus, a man tries to hit on me
He promises me a good job, gropes me everywhere
For better or for worse, I follow my star
What will come, will come. I risk my happiness.

Another song:
I really miss the rice fields
Do you also wonder when you will come home?
I came to town to be a star
It's hard but I'll survive

I pray every day that I may become famous
Then I return home
And sing for their admiration.

I was once at such an open-air concert where Phumphuang songs were sung. Where the spectators first laughed, shouted, talked and clapped, they now fell silent and listened attentively and engaged. This was also their life. See video 6.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NidCHfmQCUY&feature=share&list=PLCEEE491261F8A9C1[/youtube]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/OhhnjcA2xEY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7anlj8izk8[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TARnc2MYLjs[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC_KxGDprbE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBnZ7GpvweU[/youtube]