After giving you a few options to buy Esan music at a decent price and in a respectful way, both in Bangkok and online, today I made a short selection of 10 records produced out of Thailand by serious people: Ethno-musicologists, organizations involved in cultural preservation and passionate people... All those records focus on traditional music (molam and other Lao/Esan music genres) and have been recorded on both sides of the Mekong. Those records are a good introduction to modern forms of lam and most of those were produced with an educational purpose (not like the overpriced tourist compilations and the fake Esan music sold by filthy scammers). You should be able to easily find those at your local record store or at least online.
01: LAOS, MOLAM AND MOKHENES SINGING AND MOUTH ORGAN (maison des cultures du monde)
Let's start with a very good record! The focus here is pedagogy, 18 clear exemples of various local genres of molam (lam tangwai, lam saravane, lam phutai...) and some khap. It feature some renowned musicians and lam lao singers, it's not only educative but also a gorgeous CD. Off course, it comes with a well detailed booklet.
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| Laotian orchestra |
02: ISAN SLETE, SONGS AND MUSIC FROM THE NORTH EAST OF THAILAND (globestyle)
The only "commercial" record of this selection. Recorded in Esan and made for the occidental market (the band even toured in Europe). Everything is pretty nice here and you can expect quite a few different traditional instruments. If you want to ear something different from the same musicians, some of the members of this project were actually part of the Saman Hongsa molam sing band.
03: LAOS, LAM SARAVANE, MUSIQUE POUR LE KHENE (Ocora radio France).
Well, OCORA... No stupid tourist trap here for sure! If the radio France team has done a huge work all around the world to record some great music since 1957, this recording (and the booklet) are a nice example of their passionate work. 45mn of pure traditional lam Saravane (plus 5 other songs) recorded by Jacques Brunet. It's pretty different to what you can usually ear in Esan and totally worth adding to your records collection.
04: MUSIC FROM THAILAND AND LAOS (Arc music)
2 words only: David Fanshawe! It should be enough to make you want to listen to this record... Well I hope so! 68mn of really nice straightforward field recordings in Thailand (not only in Esan) and In Laos by one of the masters of the genre. If the cover isn't very nice, the booklet is well detailed.
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| Hmong musicians |
05 LAOS, TRADITIONAL MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH (Unesco musical sources serie)
This one is pretty different as it focus on the musical traditions of southern Laos, 8 tracks mixing ceremonial music and local forms of lam. Some parts with vocals and some pure instrumentals. Quite an interesting recording.
06 VISION OF THE ORIENT, MUSIC FROM LAOS, Nouthong Phimvilayphone (Amiata Records)
Also featured on the Ocora record in this list, the Laotian khaen master Nouthong Phimvilayphone is the main musician on this record focucing on the Khaen. 12 tracks with various combinaisons (with flutes, accoustic phin, percussions, vocals...).
07 MUSIC FROM NORTHEASTERN THAILAND (World Music Library)
08 INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC OF NORTHEASTERN THAILAND (World Music Library)
09 MOLAM SINGING OF NORTHEASTERN THAILAND (World Music Library)
Ok, most of the recent releases from this label looks like they live in a world without any access to internet but those 3 CD's are part of a huge collection of traditional asian music published in the early 90's and featuring some classy minimalist cover designs. If you can skip the CDs 07 and 08 as I'll post some very similar tapes later, you should not miss the "molam singing" one as it's a particulary nice introduction to traditional molam. 16 songs beautifully performed by the queen of lam: Chawiwan Damnoen. Some Lam Phloen, lam toei, lam Phu Tai from both Esan and Laos traditions... Voice and khaen only off course.
10 LAOS MUSIC OF THE NORTHEAST (lyrichord)
Recorded in the 70's this last record of the selection is sadly only availble on vinyl but you should be able to find it online or in second hand record stores. This record is particulary interesting as mister Terry miller, the 70's specialist of Lao/Esan music is behind it. For those interested, Terry miller also wrote traditional music of the Lao : kaen playing and mawlum singing in Northeast Thailand (If someone have a PDF version of this book, let me know) as well as the garland handbook of Southeast Asian music.
As you can guess, the following posts will focus on Lam Lao with a selection of great tapes from the 90's...
08 INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC OF NORTHEASTERN THAILAND (World Music Library)
09 MOLAM SINGING OF NORTHEASTERN THAILAND (World Music Library)
Ok, most of the recent releases from this label looks like they live in a world without any access to internet but those 3 CD's are part of a huge collection of traditional asian music published in the early 90's and featuring some classy minimalist cover designs. If you can skip the CDs 07 and 08 as I'll post some very similar tapes later, you should not miss the "molam singing" one as it's a particulary nice introduction to traditional molam. 16 songs beautifully performed by the queen of lam: Chawiwan Damnoen. Some Lam Phloen, lam toei, lam Phu Tai from both Esan and Laos traditions... Voice and khaen only off course.
Recorded in the 70's this last record of the selection is sadly only availble on vinyl but you should be able to find it online or in second hand record stores. This record is particulary interesting as mister Terry miller, the 70's specialist of Lao/Esan music is behind it. For those interested, Terry miller also wrote traditional music of the Lao : kaen playing and mawlum singing in Northeast Thailand (If someone have a PDF version of this book, let me know) as well as the garland handbook of Southeast Asian music.
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