Wednesday 1 April 2020

"SOME CALL IT THAI FUNK" an Esan compilation of popular western songs IN ENGLISH !

Strange days indeed, locked at home, empty streets and busy hospitals...
I recently took the time to have a look at my huge collection of Esan music and I compiled ALL the popular western songs covered in English by some famous Esan singers involved in Esan "rock", luk thung and molam during the production of tape cassettes (roughly a period of 30 years).
On top of that I included a rare live recording of the most popular English song in Esan.

I don't think I forgot any songs but if I find more I'll update this post. 


As far as I know this compilation is the most accurate western point of view on the "mind blowing" influence of English language songs on Esan popular music. I omitted  the songs in Central Thai or Esan languages performed by Esan singers featuring 2 or 3 words in English (Even though I previously mentioned some).
I did not take the time to include the song tittles or the original performers but you won't have any troubles finding by yourself...

I invite those who did not read it yet to have a look at the important document I published recently on the same subject.

NOTE: The photos illustrating this post have really been taken at various places in Thailand, by some American soldiers during the late 60's. They of course reflect in NO WAY the kind of entertainments or music Esan people enjoyed at that time... They were listening to molam and they still do!

NOTE (2): Additional information about this post can be found in the comment section.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are only 3 songs in the downloaded file...

SAOBAO ESAN said...

Of course April 1st was a great opportunity for such post...

If this post is obviously ironic it's also pretty accurate and really features all the (very few) English language songs performed by famous Esan singers and available on tapes (well those I actually own).
If those tapes were produced during a period of +/- 30 years, many re-editions of music recorded previously was available (+/- 60 years of popular music recordings).

This post is one more evidence of the lack of interest the Esan people who listen to Esan music have for western music (the post: THE GENESIS "HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA" features some links showing a very different kind of interest for western music right next to Esan).

As mentioned previously, the Esan people who listen to Esan music have nothing against western culture... They simply already have their own fascinating culture... And they love it!

Thomas said...

"Anonymous said...There are only 3 songs in the downloaded file..." THAT's exactly the point :-)

Thomas said...

Was just thinking...what about a compilation of western music but singing in Thai language?