Welcome to ซาวด์เบ้าท์อีสาน (saobao Esan). "Saobao" is a Thai anglicism "sound about" it's also the nickname given to portable tape cassette players in Thailand. This blog is aimed to share and document the amazing Esan culture through it's rich musical heritage. Molam (หมอลำ) and luk thung (ลูกทุ่ง) of course and also all kinds of music from northeastern Thailand in traditional or modern forms, usually from my personal collection of tape cassettes. บักสีดาฟังลำ!
In this series documenting the MOLAM culture of the Esan people (Northeastern Thailand) and the international scam selling "an fake idea of it" to tourists. I describe how some people from Australia, Japan, France,Thailand and USA... manage their filthy business without any kind of respect and with very little clue about THE MOST IMPORTANT POPULAR MUSIC SCENE IN HISTORY!
Many album covers and photos from my personal archives as well as some fun videos illustrate and document each parts... None of the "self claimed specialists" of course ever showed any photos they took at molam concerts in Esan as they generally DON'T attend any!
Those scammers also never promoted live Esan music and never supported Esan musicians in any way! It's purely a business and there is no time for respect in such business. As you will notice, I don't have much respect for such people while I deeply respect Esan people and their amazing cultural Heritage!
ประเพณี ศิลปะ วัฒนธรรม มรดก อีสาน
Traditions, arts, cultures, Esan heritage!
PART 1:INTRODUCTION, MOLAM, A CULTURAL SCAM!
This introduction feature for the first time a description of the molam scene. Nothing here is anywhere close to anything that spread in western medias during the last 10 years...
PART 2: THE GENESIS "HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA"
How could a simple tourist despoiled the musical culture of the victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide, started a business selling and performing this music... An inspiring business.
PART 4 PART 4: THE MISANTHROPE: "Dj MAFT SAI"
How could a man with no clue about Thai culture and music and no links with Esan people at all created an international scam business... And pretends to be the specialist of Esan music!
R.A.T.S: As there are many respectable westerners who documented music, I avoid any confusions and use the acronym for "Researchers on Asian Traditional Sound" to describe the self claimed specialists I mention here.
TOURISTA: As many surrealist terms such as "INSTRUMENTAL MOLAM" are used by scammers to describe the fake Esan music they produce, I suggest to call the distinctive "music" genre they sell TOURISTA. Tourista is the french word for "Traveler's diarrhea". As it basically smells like it, looks like it and sounds like it... As it's the kind of troubles tourists easily get in Thailand it's a perfect description and a good way to avoid confusion between molam and some simple minded crap for tourists!
Feel free to message me if you have any questions on the subject.
If peter doolan always failed to show
up with any Thai friends at the few concerts I met him, he came with
his "special" friend to the last show we attended together. That guy
introduced himself as edouard degay delpeuch, ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST...
Who never wrote anything about music at that time... And not much during the following 5 years.
That guy explained me that he was in Thailand to do some researches and
for that purpose was spending some time with some "specialists" named
maft sai and peter doolan... As you probably read the previous posts
you are sure laughing already about that poor little french guy wasting his time...
I never heard of that "ethno musico..." anymore after that concert and totally forgot about him until he showed up right next to me at
a concert and asked me some questions (he did not hide that he was
spying my private life online and that he knew some of my involvements
in the molam scene). I politely answered that I was busy but he kept asking questions on his own. I simply ignored him and he finally got the
message and disappeared.
I never heard of that guy anymore for years and totally forgot about him. Well that was until I received an email from
academia.edu (a website that stocks scholar publications). In that
email, I could see that edouard degay delpeuch wasen't pretending to
be an ethnomusicologist but was also writing surrealist papers to
try to prove it: “Masters of ceremony: a Wai Khru ritual from Phetchabun
Province (Thailand)”.
Some Esan parade music bands like there are hundreds in Thailand.
If it's in fact after reading that paper
that I found out that peter doolan was involved in "khun narin tourist trap", I was particularly surprised to see someone actually able
to get payed to publish on “Provence university press” some
documents (there is even a second one!) not only promoting a filthy tourist scam
with no links with local culture but also clearly stating how useless
his own publication was! “wai khru”, has already raised the interest
of several studies”... (Many exemples here). Funny to see the product sold by doolan is here showed in it's natural environment... (well almost).
A young "muay Thai" during a wai khru
Central Thai puppeteers demonstrate a wai khru for tourists
If edouard degay delpeuch could have
describe the wai khru performed by his friends from the tourista band
“paradise Bangkok international molam band” (just kidding... maft sai have no clue about such thing) or one of the many wai
khru performed in France (maybe some less than 50km away from his house!) by Southeast Asian artists and performers, he
traveled all the way to Petchabun to describe something he saw only
performed by amateur musicians of 1 unique group... Worst of all, some musicians
used in human zoo organized as a tourist entertainment (while Thailand have a huge amount of amazing cultural events).
"Association du Ballet Classique Khmer"
One of many well detailed wai khru performed in France
(looks like some little girls could teach mister edouard...)
Strange that such a expert did not take
the obvious chance he had to describe (like I do in this ongoing serie of
documents) how could some filthy R.A.T.S built a retarded business
scam on the amazing musical culture of Esan people and sell the most
simple kind of amateur Esan music as something incredible (edouard degay delpeuch even says "MINDBLOWING")! He was really lucky to be in the middle of the building of a human zoo, he could have been the first scholar to describe such process in action! It's incredibly stupid that he did not even notice that... And really disgusting that he ends up actively involved in promoting it using the French citizen's taxes and the reputation of French universities!
more parade bands... Already many more than
edouard degay delpeuch have ever seen!
Just before edouard degay delpeuch came
back to France, he probably realised that he had done strictly nothing worth
getting some governement's cash, his only option was to follow doolan
and to randomly choose a subject... the khun narin electric phin
band.
If I won't waist my time describing the
usual romanced “copy/paste” exercise consisting of writing a 17
(half sized) pages of a text based on 19 pre-exisiting texts (15 of those
being written by foreign researchers who also based their work on
copy/pasting texts by fellow researchers who also based their work on
copy/pasting (it goes on and on and on...)! If you can't consider the original source as accurate as you can't trace it, it's impossible to consider the work of edouard degay delpeuch as "serious enough to be published". (most studdies feature a large amount of non experienced descriptions, those usually lead to create "serious" documents you can't rely on).
I'll just correct some stupid affirmations and send you to read the paper I wrote on
peter doolan wich describe pretty well the khun narin electric phin
band scam.
The “tribute to master” ceremony, also known as “wai khru”: Definition of "ceremony" (from an online dictionary): 1 a formal religious or public occasion, typically one celebrating a particular event or anniversary.2 the ritual observances and procedures performed at grand and formal occasions.
The wai khru is a ritual practice happening before every single performance of performing artists and many kind of activities related to the transmission of a knowledge by a teacher (school kids, boxers, painters... perform the wai kru in different ways). If bigger wai khru can happen during important events, the wai khru performed by amateur musicians is in NO WAY a "ceremony" on it's own. Vocabulary should not be such a major issue for a self claimed "ethnomusicologist" specialist of "world music" (what an ugly word!).
In the case of music and performing arts, the wai khru is a "ritual path" from the status of person to the status of "performer". During the wai khru, the musicians "pay respect to the teacher" and ask some powerful divinities for protection and strength, Those often include Ganesha and Lersi "hermit" (2 important figures associated with performing arts you see on the photos). The wai khru performed by musicians can be seen in many forms and sizes, it's part of many other rituals performed before concerts (those are not documented or illustrated by any foreign studdies I guess).
I'm talking here about very basic knowledge on the subject that anyone can access as the subject as been described many times. "The observed situation is offered is a case, not as an example" (translated from french)... Sure it's an example, the only kind of (amateur) performance edouard degay delpeuch have been able to miserably document in Thailand! Edouard degay delpeuch could no compare what he saw to anything as he did not document else similar or different.
some random photos of
Mindblowing festivities and monk ordination.
obviously Edouard degay delpeuch is a filthy liar.
"mindblowing festivities", "monk ordination". Edouard degay delpeuch talks here about "observed situation" he obviously forget to document! Hard to trust him on this without any photos! Only one very bad picture showing the top of the head of 10 people... "mindblowing festivities"... Seriously? It doesn't take much to impress that guy, weird as anyoby visiting Thailand can really live some "mindblowing" moments...
More " mindblowin festivities" (sorry to focus on Esan, honestly
there are some beautiful events all around the country)
The only document found during researches (a business card)
On this only document found in Thailand by edouard degay delpeuch, that expert describes a phin, one of the most iconic instrument from Esan, as a kind of "Lao luth".* If Petchabun is not technically in Esan** and if the musicians he describes are "of Lao origins". Those people, like the Esan people of Lao origins have Esan culture, listen to Esan music and eat Esan food, it's indeed vrery close to the Lao culture but anyone who been to both places long enough (and all the Lao and Esan people) will confirm that it's very different!
Various other kinds of Parade bands:
Central Thai / Sino-Thai / khmer-Esan
It's particularly interesting to see edouard degay delpeuch clearly remove every traces of Esan identity in his description of khun narin eletric phin bands while the documents used and listed at the end of his paper are often about Esan music! If the phin is clearly one of the most important symbol of Esan music (not Lao), the music performed by the khun narin eletric phin bands is most of the time excerpts from themes from Esan songs (not from Laos). I have no clue why the duo doolan/degay delpeuch both try to eradicate any traces of Esan culture from the product made out of the music of khun narin eletric phin while it sure looks like it and sounds like it and like nothing else! In this document promoting their business it's different... Though equally stupid.
*Quoted from doolan (about Waiphot Phetsuphan from central Thailand): "a full isan music combo... that means electric phin
shredding, classic northeastern bass & liberal use of cowbell." ** Many communities in central or northern parts of Thailand call themselves Esan (never Lao as far as I could see). Some villages even have the inscription "Esan" written on walls at some places such as temples.
hong and nak heads from 2 different phin.
Note that edouard degay delpeuch describes the phin on the picture he shows as having a "nak head" (นาค) ornament while it's fact a "hong head" (หงส์) swan in Thai. If you can't blame that guys for the copy/pasted wrong information (well you should, he get payed a lot for that... You pay taxes? Now you know where it goes!), you can't blame me for showing that everything he says himself is often pure fantasy!
Ganesha on the left, Lersi on the right
and some molam wai khru in the middle
"But the 20th century* is marked by the emergence of recording and mechanical reproduction, directly competing with the master and the machine in the field of transmission". (translated from french). This is supposed to be the central part of his paper, explaining the role of the teacher since "recorded music replaced them". It's totally surrealists that edouard degay delpeuch is talking here about amateur musicians performing part time in an informal band playing loops of borrowed themes from 4 or 5 famous songs (which they can of course practice to play themselves or with little help from friends) and literally apply that example to the whole Thai (Esan) professional music. Every single professional Esan (and Thai) musicians playing traditional music or orther forms such as luk thung and molam has been learning from a teacher and in most recent cases (last 40 years), been in a propper school to learn his job!
Studdents of the Mahawitalai Natasin Khon Kaen practice the role of teacher
by transmitting their knowledge to younger studdents
The Thai government promoted the development of "mahawitalai natasin" (school of dramatic arts) all around the country during the 70's. Such development of professional teaching takes a major part in the preservation and transmission of local and national musical culture and is also an important part of the development of the Esan identity (it applys to other parts of the country at a lower level).
The Mahawitalai Natasin Nakhon Rachassima Pong lang studdents ensemble
If a musician can't read a musical score, he CAN'T play in any molam troupe for exemple (all the professional Thai musical ensembles also need a teacher). It's not only stupid to make a general case of the lowest performing level of music from Esan (sold as "mindblowing psychedelic rock" to tourists) but it's also insulting for all the professional Esan musicians and their teachers (but obviously edouard degay delpeuch never met any of them!).
Many exemples in professional Esan music (luk thung and molam) clearly show the major importance of the relationship between the teacher and his apprentices.
Some early 21st century tapes (on Topline Diamond records)
Noknoi Uraiphon solo
Noknoi Uraiphon and members of Siang Esan
Lookprey Uraiphon solo
Maitai Uraiphon solo
Maitai and lookprey Uraiphon on duo
Maitai and Lookprey who learned with Noknoi Uraiphon are now both successful band leaders!
Obviously Esan teachers never stopped to do a very good job!
(Siang Esan kids on stage)
The luk thung beloved legend Noknoi Uraiphon still give her name to many of the singers who grew up practicing under her teaching in the Siang Esan (It used to be a very common practice in the lukthung scene). It's usual to see some of her very young family members getting their first practice of the stage during holidays (including babies!).
Banyen Rakkaen and her daughter / Angkhang Khunchai and her daughter
Many famous molam teach their knowlege to the younger generation, a practice that starts at home with their own kids! In Esan, the transmission of the cultural heritage is something serious.
Stop talking about teachers, mindblowing music
and other things you have no clue about
edouard degay delpeuch...
A young talented Esan kid
*There was no real diffusion of recorded music in Thai rural areas before the 60's. At this time, only some teachers, temples and some wealthy people owned a radio... It really starts to spread at homes in the 70's...That's a very little part of the 20th century left! Can you imagine, waiting all day long at the house of the teacher or at the temple to ear 2 or 3 times in a day the song you are looking for? It doesn't make sense at all! It's only during the 80's with the development of tape cassettes that it became possible to imagine people practicing on their own (some mid 80's tapes, usually by the composer Soraphet Pinyo, feature some instrumental versions to practice singing). I believe that edouard degay delpeuch read a common fact about young molam learning to sing by listening to tapes during the 80's and as he had no ideas about what he could write about for his "work" simply applied that fact to an amateur instrumental band.
Probably the biggest molam wai khru ever performed.
It features many of the most important living personalities of the lam ruang to klon, lam klon and lam sing scenes (khru) as well as many young mo lam and no khaen.
"The wai khru is performed apart from the festivities, directly on the "sound system"* itself, generally subtracted from the general attention". (translated from french) This little sentence is not innocent at all, it shows the evidence that edouard degay delpeuch is an expert, an important person who can access some special well kept practices while in fact nobody would even notice it or care (he insist using both "apart from "and"subtracted from"). The wai khru is nothing hidden, it's just performed before the performance. I attended many wai khru including some showed to the audience (for pedagogical purpose) or directly on the stage, as an introduction to the show or as part of the show itself. As the whole experience of edouard degay delpeuch on Thai music is limited to observing an amateur music band, his point of view is very limited! (hilarious to see edouard degay delpeuch describing one of the 2 small wai khru he ever attended as being "Spectacular"...). *"sound system" stands obviously here as one more "reggae" reference and describes the loudspeakers and amp on a trolley. It have strictly of course no links with reggae, it's directly inspired by the trolley used by the Chinese parade bands to carry their drums.
An exemple of wai khru performed on stage at the beguining of a lam ruang to klon performance
(note that the right photo is the part hidden by 2 the panels on the top left)
I could keep going but it's far more than obvious that this guy is fooling people.
historical moment:
The leaders of 2 of the biggest molam troupes perform the wai khru together.
I also invite you to see the photos
illustrating this paragraph, they show a few samples of the many
variations of wai khru. As described, some of those wai khru happened during some particularly important events and all look pretty different.
"klong yao Esan": Another kind of parade band playing in a professional way.
about 20 trained musicians (same set up as for khun narin +
a long drums " klong yao" section and about 100 perfectly synchronised dancers.
SUCH BAND COULD NOT EASILY GET FOOLED BY HUMAN ZOO PROMOTERS
NOTE: In the document (I did not read)
named: “The Mindblowing career of Khun Narin Sin Phin Prayuk : Thai
musicians and World Music perspectives in front of new media
revolution” edouard degay delpeuch sure gives a point of view very
very far from mine and I really doubt he mention how could some
amateur music was taken out of it's cultural context to become the product I described as a modern human zoo in a previous post. I like the recurring use of the white neo-colonilalist term “world music”*.
Since I met
him about 5 years ago, the “ethonomusicologist” edouard degay
delpeuch pretty much published nothing else I noticed but those 2 papers promoting the business of his friend.
If you are curious about the "teacher/apprentice" relationship in Thai music, the movie "monrak transistor" is a good introduction.
*NOTE: Additional documents on the "world music"
racist concept.
If edouard degay delpeuch obviously
talk about things he have very little clue about, I will now talk and
comment about a document I did not read as I doubt it ever been published... So sad, it would have been hilarious for sure!
I just demonstrated that edouard degay
delpeuch have apparently no interest for what he talks about and how he can bring discredit on the amazing Esan cultural and musical heritage by using extreme superlatives to describe microscopic events (while it'svery easyto show realamazing events).
An "expert"describing and promoting such little things as "mindblowing" or "spectacular" leaves no doubt on the idea that you could not find anything much interesting around.
I also detailed his intentional cultural spoliation and the promotion of his friend's human zoo using the reputation of french universities. I will now talk about his surrealist thesis subject:
"Thai funk: study of world music
at the time of local questioning"
edouard degay delpeuch
In fact, I will focus on what obviously inspired edouard degay delpeuch for his thesis subject as it seems like this joke will never get published.
As I mentioned before, edouard degay delpeuch based his researches on Thai music on 2 people I describe as FILTHY SCAMMERS. I just described the links with doolan and this thesis seems to focus on maft sai and his "thai funk" compilations.
"Thai funk" and other western dominant influences have been constantly sticked to Thai and especially Esan popular music since the beginning of the compilation business.
some clueless compilations for tourists
"Thai funk", "dancehall", "groove", "soul", "jazz"... If you read such descriptions, there is no possible doubt: Esan (and Thai) music is deeply influenced by black American music, even better, (if you remove the word "jazz") influenced by some particularly low quality black American music (personal point of view)!
Of course, none of those people describing such obviously "huge influences" have any kind of clue about Thai music and of course did not live in Thailand during the time when such influences could have appeared (you can only be influenced by the music you are actually exposed to).
The self claimed expert on the subject: maft sai clearly stated: "I didn’t know anything about Thai music when I moved back to Bangkok".
If I did not live in Thailand during that period of time either, I collected lots of music and attended many concerts. As I have many friends deeply into music I could also share points of view with them.
I actually lived with some people who grew up there and who could spot some traces from some hit songs in some of the luk thung and molam I was listening to all day long. Quite often, things I never noticed myself : Some themes borrowed from songs that had some big success in Thailand, songs from India, China, Japan and sometimes of course Occident...
Globally, the main influence in Thai music is Thai music! Many songs "answer" previous success or copy some elements, Thai and Lao traditional and classical music are also often "sampled" in luk thung songs and modern lam...
Indeed it can happen to find some stuff copied from western music but it's by far not what anyone with a clueon the subject would notice first (no like on "Khmer rock" where it's obvious).
From my experience, Thai people have no kind of interest for "black music" and basically are usually obsessed by white skin. TV, advertising, fashion and cinema clearly promote such concept and there is (as far as I know) only 1 man of African origins on Thai soap operas (I did not notice any forms of racism and only a ew African people in Thailand). The only famous "black man" is the Thai-American golf champion Tiger Woods. I saw very very few tapes of Michael Jackson and Bob Marley (something like 10 tapes out of a million) while they had a real "international" fame. I never heard any of those "Thai funk", "dancehall", "groove", "soul", "jazz" played anywhere during my 5 years in Thailand (I did not spend much time at westerners places).
Generosity and sincerity...
Music is an international language.
Obviously, the people behind such compilations have their own musical culture and just put random words they know to describe the music they want to sell (They obviously never waste their time at Thai concerts or cultural events).
There is so much amazing music from Africa and from the descendants of the horrible human slavery, I have no interest for funk or reggae.
The most surrealist example comes from maft sai and is the main subject of the university thesis of mister edouard degay delpeuch: THAI FUNK!
If maft sai is seen by music tourists as THE molam specialist, he is also behind a unique concept: Thai funk and even better: LUK THUNG, THE ROOTS OF THAI FUNK, a serie of compilations by the man with no clue about thai music.
I heard a lot of things about music in Thailand but I never ever heard anything about "Thai funk". If I look at the shitty covers of those tourist compilations, I can read the word "Esan" on the "volume two" and on "luk thung! the roots of thai funk" most of the singers pictured are Esan luk thung, I own several albums from those singers so I know about their music a little: Thepphon Phetubon, Dao Bandon, Soraphet Pinyo, Saksayam Phetchompu and Sanai Omwong (who is not Esan but of Lao origins). On the small picture I have I can't read the labels from the 7'vinyl pictures but there is a for sure a majority of Esan music in those too!
Thepphon Phetubon, Dao Bandon, Soraphet Pinyo, Saksayam Phetchompu and Sanai Omwong
If I have strictly no interest for "funk" I must admit that I don't see the relationship between Thepphon Phetubon, Dao Bandon, Soraphet Pinyo... and funk. If luk thung (Esan) is one of the dominant form of popular music in Thailand and if it had really been the "roots of Thai funk" I am sure that I would have seen some tapes by some famous Esan singers with the word "funk" written on the covers, I would have heard some of the most influent singers, songwriters and composers of Esan music mention "funk" in interviews (including those on that "roots of thai funk" record cover), I would have seen Thai books and foreign books on Asian popular music mention such music scene that seems to have been important enough to produce 3 compilations for tourists... NOTHING.
Honestly, except from the legendary maft sai who "didn’t know anything about Thai music" I NEVER HEARD OF THAI FUNK! Hilarious to see that edouard degay delpeuch was going to write his thesis on something that doesn't exist! I really have no clue about what's in the mind of that man?
By the way, during the late 60's and 70's, some documents state that there was a pretty "anti-American" feeling in Esan (described is Esan literature and documented by foreign scholars). It's mentioned that the US army (based in Esan cites such as Udon Thani) spread alarming information about the fast development of rebellious communist groups in Esan (declassified US secret service will later prove it was in fact a tiny minority). At the same time, US troops were heavily bombing the extremely dangerous Laotian farmers to protect the world against their buffaloes and bamboo sticks...
Esan themed movie posters
If such paranoid US propaganda in Esan was a way to justify the development of US military bases in the region (the closest place to China they could access), the investments helped the creation of roads and airports (used at first by soldiers) and the money given by Americans to the Thai government clearly helped the modernization and opening up of Esan. Thai government that feared a communist development invested some of the American funds in the promotion of the Esan identity as part of the Thai identity. Such development can be seen in the growing of an Esan themed cinema as well as some major identitarian evolutions such as the creation of term luk thung Esan!
Some of the many Esan themed albums tittles:
"Esan our home" (early 70's) Angkhanang Khunchai
"local (cultures and traditions) from Esan (mid 80's) Duanphen Amnuayphon
"Esan heritage" (late 90's) Banyen Rakkaen
Unlike the Marshall plan in France that developed a strong interest for American music, The American Investments in Thailand incidentally ended up "supporting" the growing of Esan culture.
If taking for granted all the western references and the vocabulary strangely sticked to Thai and Esan music. Esan music would have many American songs covered (like it happened in Europe). Many forms like hard rock or hip hop performed by locals would be widely spread (like those are in Europe) and teenagers would listen to such music and not molam. In Thailand, such copies of foreign music mostly target the Sino-Thai community of Bangkok.
I personally made some experiences, when I heard of the death of some famous western superstars, I asked some friends "did you see that David Bowie died?" everybody asked me "who?" I ended up showing some photos, still no answer, I finally showed the "Bowie bolt" portrait and 1 friend said he saw that on a t-shirt. When Lou Reed died, same story... I can't stand it anymore! (ok, that one was easy). Last but not least, when Gorge Michael died... Remember that I affirmed in the first post that molam was the biggest cultural gay community in the world... Nobody I asked had a clue about him. It's not a lack of culture, Esan people have their own culture and they are more than happy about it.
An hilarious parody of superman
during a likey performance
Most of the time if you read what EM records and maft sai say they always mention reggae as their main musical reference (roots, dancehall, sound system...). The influences attributed by such people does not relate to Esan music but to their own minimal knowledge. I personally consider reggae as one of the poorest form of music while many people consider it as something pretty boring... Some love it.
a famous french joke even says "Do you know what a rasta says when he stops smoking pot? What's that stupid music".
Joey Boy (quoted by j.mitchell)
If this Thai singer is obviously dreaming about international fame,
he express a common Thai point of view on American culture.
Another concept constantly spread by clueless specialists is the idea of an highly Americanised Esan music. There is no doubt that such concept comes from the "Cambodian scam" I previously mentioned. If I actually don't understand how could such idea came to the mind of "specialist". I personally studied the subject pretty well... I mean the fact that Esan people always protected their music from any western cultural invasion... not the supposed Americanisation of Esan music.
It's interesting to note the very important western influence on Esan music, when I mean WEST, I mean a few kilometers west, in Bangkok and central Thailand.
Pretty much all the exterior influences in Esan music have been first filtered by central Thailand.
A well known example is the southern Thai /Malay theatrical performance called likey (or dikey) which had been adapted in central Thailand before it arrived in Esan where it gave it's theatrical visual aspect to Esan story telling lam ruang to klon.
Michael... Lamsing!
Many westernised forms of Thai music exist, in Bangkok and central Thailand (they spread in Esan too but with almost no links with molam or luk thung esan). Some forms like brass bands spread since the early 20th century because of the interest of the royal Thai family for western culture. Many other "urban" forms of occidentalised music (mostly targeting the Sino-Thai community of Bangkok) developed during the last century: Luk krung, literally "half child" clearly describe a form mixing occidental and Thai music, string (from guitar strings), shadow music (from the band the shadows), phleng phua chiwit (a kind of rebellious "rock" in old bikers outfit)... If some westerners sometimes find and insist on some western influences in Esan music, such influences pretty often come from those Thai westernised forms more that actual western music.
It's interesting to note that none of those specialists who describe such influences almost ever mention influences of places like India or China which are obviously the biggest influences in a part of the world that used to be described as "Indochina" (check all the Indian and Chinese influences in your own culture, it's already amazing 10000km away so imagine next door). "Specialists" also never mention any Islamic influences while it's particularly important in central Thai culture (which then spread in Esan).
Thai luk thung experts usually describe the main western influences behind luk thung as from the 30's: Cuban superstar Xavier Cugat (cha cha cha...) and the Parisian (French Caibbean) biguine. Such influences evolved and became the structure of the orchestras you can see during the main molam and luk thung
concerts: 12 musicians featuring 2 or 3 percussionists
(western and electronic drums, congas...), a large brass section (2
saxophones, trumpet, trombone...) 1 or 2 sets of synthesisers, 1 bass and
2 guitars (often tuned as phin). Sometimes some Esan instruments such as
khaen, saw fiddle or pong lang are added. Such ensembles vary from one
band to another (and can slightly vary from one concert to another). I
could be wrong but I think such ensemble never been described by any
westernershile it's the dominant form in Esan popular music for about 40 years.
Unlike the clueless information you can read everywhere, people like maft sai or peter doolan never helped Esan music to be played in Europe or USA. Many of the most famous Esan singers happen to sing all around the world and it was already the case 20 years ago!
"lom pat thung. lom pat thung!" (The big wind is coming)
Laos, Cambodia, Korea, Japan and also France, Sweden, Netherlands or USA. Such concerts happen during cultural events or are organised by migrants. If there is some Lao and Esan people where you live, there are some luk thung and molam concerts!
"PEOPLE FROM OUR HOME,
PEOPLE FROM THE SAME VILLAGE..."
Pai Phongsathorn singing "Khon baan diow khan"
not in Yasothon but in Amsterdam! (Netherlands 2011)
During the late 70's Esan music faced competition against some "modern cultures" spread by movies and television. Esan historians describe molam troupes "tricking" the young audience attending temple fairs (where they could watch movies or dance at mobile disco or either attend molam) by playing some foreign music as an introduction to their shows to grab the attention of the younger audience expecting something "trendy". Such practice (probably started with the fake cover of "Marina" by Benjamin) was still common in the early 21th century (though it lost it's original intentions). I could observe it a few times: The dancers enter the stage and some international success (such as lambada) is performed in an instrumental well modified version.
For the same purpose of "grabbing teenagers attention" some lam recorded during the early 80's feature an intro "stolen" from western international hits which then switch for some heavy lam as soon as the lyrics starts. It's often noticed by westerners though it remains a very minor fact (less than 0.1% of the lam recorded during the 80's): Kraftwerk (das model, Germany), Boney M (rasputin, Euro-Caribbean), Kaoma (lambada, Brasil, France), Izhar Cohen & The Alpha Beta (A-Ba-Ni-Bi*, Israel). It's pretty hard to call such "borrowed elements" and American influence and if The Shadows (Apache, England) also been "sampled" (over 25 years after it came out) it have to be seen as an influence from the Thai "shadow music" more than from a direct influence from England.
Some "stolen" exotic intros
*A-Ba-Ni-Bi is an unusual example of a "western" song that had been covered by many Thai singers (in various Thailanguages versions). The most famous Esan version is by Noknoi Uraiphon (Siang Esan).(ok, Israel is not really "western" but for most Thai people the west is seen as a global thing "prathet farang": western countries).
While Esan faced foreign cultural "concurrence", the Esan music scene always answered in fun or tricky ways to keep the teenagers concerned about their culture. The best example is "rock" on the covers of the "rock Esan" albums, you always see the word "rock" (sometimes many times). There is an effort to make the covers looks like something "not usual" but once you listen to that "rock", It's not only not rock but also "very Esan". Only the name and an idea of how it should look is used while the music is sure of a new kind and sure made to target younger audience but not at all what could have been expected (it even often cover some verypopular luk thung and molam hits).
DON'T ASK FOR MOLAM!
(Toy Mouakdaeng) Rock Esan
This example is of major interest, it shows how Esan music plays with cultural Invasion. The video was recorded at the hard rock cafe in Bangkok and you can see how they took some serious care about each details. It's pretty amusing .
Hard rock cafe
a "hard rock" band is getting ready to play
An Esan Marylin enters and interrupt the musicians
"hey hey, can you play molam please"
the musicians show their faces... They are Esan.
"sorry Phi*, we are a rock band, we play rock, you know, rock"
*the term Phi (used to call older persons in a polite way)
seems to be used to show that asking for something
out of fashion like molam might come from someone old
the band plays a little to show what "rock is"
but Marylin insist and ask
"I would like lam toeideuh kha deuh*"
*deuh and kha are the same polite words, deuh is Esa and Kha is Thai. Used 3 times shows that she really politely insist.
and then it goes!
Not much to add as it's quite obvious: Western modern music genres are
named and portrayed. It's full of inside jokes making fun of western
musical cliches and self mockery. Other "rock" songs are not usually fun like this one but usually very Esan oriented.
The oldest exemple of western cover by an Esan singer I know is particularly interesting. In 1960, "Marina" (Rocco Granat) is a huge international success covered in many countries. In Thailand, Benjamin gives his very own version...
"Marina, Marina, Marina..." Benjamin
Just like the Toy Mouakdaeng exemple, Benjamin makes fun of the foreign cultural invasion. If it starts like a cover to grab the young people's attention, the effort is stopped by the audience "NO, NO, WE DON'T WANT THAT" and replaced by something way more Thai introduced by laughs...
During all my time in Thailand, I've almost never been exposed to western music (maybe 1mn per week while walking in the street). My molam friends never listened to non Esan music in front of me and I only saw 2 western songs covered during molam concerts. If I have been asked about my favourite singers and talked a lot about music, it was only about molam and Esan music.
I once been asked by the neighbor of a friend when I was in his village "why I was listening to molam and not linkin park". Likin Park and Justin Bieber is pretty much all I could often (visually) notice as having some interest from some young Thai. As this video shows, Linkin Park is the only foreign band performing Esan music!
LIKIN PARK!
I think I said it all on the subject, Ok, Dao Bandon wears a cowboy hat and said "America" in 1 song, Ok, hongthong Dao'Udon says "hot dog' and "jeans" in a song and Yenjit porntawi have an album named "I love you" Ok some singers pose on the covers of some 80's tapes wearing western sports brands (but they do it as a copy of Japanese fashion). All those examples don't make Esan music as Americanised as some people would like you to believe.
To consider that some cultural forms have some influence on another culture, you must see an interest about such forms. It's clearly not the case here.
People like "maft sai" never tried to have a pertinent point about anything, he just noticed that journalists would take any crap he would say as facts and that they have better things to do than wasting 2 minutes checking for information.
Yenjit porntawi
"I LOVE YOU"
This was the last post on what I consider "the biggest cultural scam", as you could notice I am not particullarly friendly with the people mentioned and deeply in love with Esan culture and music. I still don't understand how such disrepectful buiness could have spread that well. I won't mention smaller scammers and tricky people involved in that business at a lower level. If you ask, NO, nobody in Esan sits on the roof of a bus to watch a silly Dj and basically nobody in the molam scene seems to care about any foreign point of view on the way they should live their wonderful culture (and that of course include mine!).
I belive that a different point of view was more than necessary, now it exist. It won't stop neo-colonialism, it won't stop any filthy business on the culture of "so called" poor people but it exist.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
-All
the photos signed "Saobao Esan" are all taken by myself. Those only
show regular events in their most usual forms. Nothing unique or
exceptional, nothing tricky. What you see here happen very often.
-All the tapes and other formats cover pictures signed "Saobao Esan" are from my personal collection.
-Everything
you read here is part of my personal researches and not some
copy/pasted unverified information. If you want to quote anything from
my work, you should contact me first.
-The documents I
quote are not information and can't be seen as "work", those are
fraudulent propaganda I compare to facts. Such propaganda not only
discredit Esan culture but it also fools YOU. The people paying those
frauds are either victims or "partners in crime", Their reaction (or
absence of reaction) following my publications will show their
positions.
All the people mentioned in this serie of
documents are welcome to express their point of view here (I can add
more document showing they are clueless liars upon request).
