42 MANIVANE KHAMMANI (KHAP LAM THONG THINE)

Today, last album from the serie of lam Lao tapes from the great PK promotion. This time with a more "synthetic" take on traditional Laotian lam styles.

Another long play tape this week. It's pretty nice that Laotian tapes are usually over 50mn as when you find a singer you like it's almost impossible to find more than one tape (exept for Phouvieng Vathalisack, the 90's superstar who released quite a few recordings of both lam Lao and pleng Lao, a variant of Thai luk thung). Usually modernised lam Lao don't follow the shorter "pop" format that became an international standard in popular music. I guess it's because the production of 7' vinyl has been pretty small in the country and did not have any impact on the lengh of the songs. The protectionism of state radios and the rather small size of the country probably also helped keeping the songs formats unstandardised (wich is really enjoyable).

various traditional Laotian dresses

The tape we have today KHAP LAM THONG THINE features MANIVANE KHAMMANI singing 8 different kinds of lam Lao and 2 khap (khap thoum and khap ngum) in a modern style were most of the instruments are played on keyboard and drum machine. The result is surprisingly good and original. It's rich, ingeniously produced and it keeps the deep hypnotic feeling that you can often find in more traditional versions, Manivane's voice feets perfectly here... 

I guess I should post more Laotian tapes every once in a while as there are not many avaialable online and those are usually exellent.

TRACKLIST:

MANIVANE KHAMMANI ມະນີວັນ ຄຳມະນີ

KHAP LAM THONG THINE ຂັບລຳທ້ອງຖິ່ນ
01 ເຊີນອ້າຍເມືອເມືອງຊຽງ (khap thoum)
02 ກອນພະຫຍາຍ່ອຍ (lam saravane)
03 ວອນອ້າຍກັບຄືນ (lam Phu Tai)
04 ສາວນາບໍ່ລືມຖີ່ນ (lam khonsavane)
05 ຄອຍອ້າຍຜູ້ຢູ່ຊາຍແດນ (lam bansok)
06 ຄິດຮອດເມືອງຊຽງ (lam phuan)
07 ຜົວຂີ້ເມົາ (lam siphandon)
08 ເອີ້ນອ້າຍຄືນຖີ່ນ (lam phoen)
09 ສາວຕັ່ງຫວາຍໝາຍຮັກ (lam tangwai)
10 ກອນພະຫຍາຍ່ອຍ (khap ngum)

 Next week, back to Esan!

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN ESAN AND LAOS (AT THE MARKET)

Various photos taken in Laos and Esan at markets.

2 Stereoscopic pictures taken with  a Verascope camera.

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN ESAN AND LAOS (IT'S PARTY TIME, LET'S DANCE!)

Today, some pictures of Laotian and Esan people
 dancing on molam and other kinds of music...

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN ESAN AND LAOS (LIFE ON THE MEKONG)

The Mekong is the natural frontier between Esan and Laos. Nowadays, the Mekong is still  used for it's fishing resources, transportation and also for the trade of goods as an easy way for border crossing.

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN ESAN AND LAOS (MUSIC: VARIOUS)

Early 1900's wax cylinder phonograph recording in Laos.

-Field recording by Alfred Raquez, a french photographer who took quite a few of the pictures featured in this ongoing serie (right).

-1912, Albert Sarraut sharing some fields recordings with some Hmong people (left).

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VARIOUS KINDS OF MOUTH ORGANS.

 
There is a pretty nice book published by UNESCO about
Laotian ethnic minorities cultures available for free.

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VARIOUS MUSICIANS

A mahori ensemble (left).

A classical Laotian ensemble during new year celebrations (right).

Musicians in villages.

A luth player

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN ESAN AND LAOS (WORKING: VARIOUS)

 Women picking tea in Northern Laos.

 Fishing in the Mekong.

Boxers during training

Tacking the buffalo to the veterinary / A tattooist at work / Gold panning.

 Lumbering.

 Building roads and bridges.

Vegetables sellers.

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN ESAN AND LAOS (WORKING: TRANSPORTATION)

An important local personality and his horse.

 Railway used for transportation of merchandise and passengers.

Transportation by canoe on the Mekong.

 buffaloes used for transportation of people and goods.

an elephant caravan.

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN ESAN AND LAOS (WORKING: RICE FARMING)

In Esan and Laos the production of rice is one of the main farming occupation. Even nowadays, most of the families in rural areas own their own paddies where they produce the rice for themselves and their relatives living in cities. Traditionally, in Esan and Laos the rice grow in flooded paddies and the main variety produced is sticky rice "khao niaow". This rice is usually steamed and served at every meals, it's also used pounded and toasted (in "Larb" salads), as flour (usually to produce various kinds of sweets and desserts) and can also be used while still unripe as a popular snack during temple fairs.

Mens with buffaloes plowing the fields.

The rice is growing in a flooded paddy (left).

Women in the rice paddies during the harvest (right).

Back to the village with the harvest (left)

Some women are pounding the rice to remove the skin (right)

Details of the mashing pillons.

Rice kept in the attic

Neak Sre (Rice People), the Cambodian movie directed by Rithy Panh gives an interesting view of the life in South East Asian rural areas.