45 of the week - Thai goes Disco - "Rasputin...Khao Niao"!

Since my previous posts cover early seventies stuff I decided to leap forward into the late seventies and into Disco! It is still surprising for me to see how popular songs like "Dschingis Khan", "Rasputin" or "Kung Fu Fighting" still are in Thailand. Once you listen to the Thai Versions you will realise how great some of these tunes are. So to pay respect to Disco pioneers like Frank Farian (German Writer, Producer and Singer of Boney M) I picked my favorite Thai Disco number, Nutchanat Nantana and Rasputin...khao niao. Khao Niao means sticky rice, so I assume that Miss Nantana is from Thailands North East. Another great cover version is to be found on the first Zudrangma Thai Funk CD, by Pannada Chayapark. To me, Nutchanat Nantana's is the better one - enjoy!

Hypnotic Lae Music from Waiphod Petsuphan (4-track EP)!

This little killer EP consists of 4 songs from Mr. Waiphod Petsuphan, in my humble opinion probably the best thai singer of all time! He started out singing Lae Music, which has a strong beat and usually religious or philosophical lyrics (other famous Lae singers are Porn Pirom or Kwanjit Sriprachan), and these 4 songs show several aspects of Lae. The first 2 songs are hypnotic variations on the same rhythm, with Mr. Waiphod using his voice on 2 tracks to speed up the acoustic music. The 3rd song has a mellow beat, whereas the last song comes closer to older and original forms of Lae. This little EP holds it all, so I uploaded the whole thing. If you are a little familiar with Thai Music you might know his song "Ding Ding Dong" which is a free improvisation on the "Ding Dong song" (referring to the caveman movie "When Women played Ding Dong" from 1971) and is featured on "The Sound of Siam" compilation from DJ Maft Sai. Paradise Bangkok recently did a repress of Ding Ding Dong (7"), get it while it is still available! Enjoy!

Pet Phin Thong - their debut record (HLP 260), full album!

Here is a gem from the Phet Phin Tong Band, issued on the Phet Phin Thong Label. The Band uses 2 Khaens (the mouth-organ carried by the players left and right on the cover) and the Phin, a 3-string guitar (seen in the center). For support some drums are added (Glong Yao, Thai longdrums), creating a hypnotic and driving beat that pushes harder than any funk number I know of. Usually the songs start slow and then pick up speed. I assume this record is from the early or mid-seventies. Several Tracks are "Lam Ploen" style, a music that is original from the area of North-East Thailand and has developed from very early forms of Khaen playing and singing. With the arrival of american soldiers in the sixties and tours of western pop-bands (The Shadows were huge in SEAsia!) these traditional forms of Thai music were played more and more danceable - other bands used western instruments (guitar, bass, drums) and combined them with thai instruments, creating exciting hybrid sounds. Enjoy this instrumental groovy monster and excuse me for just creating one audio-file...!

45 of the week - Bratuang Siangpalong: Tahan Plat Song

funky, slow, and very groovy - Mr. Bratuang Siangpalong! Rather hard to classify if this is Luk Thung or Molam style - it sounds actually similar to some early ska or rocksteady tunes (Prince Buster, Tommy McCook come to mind). Enjoy!

Ploen Promdaen - "Glua Duang", as made famous by the Butthole Surfers!

For my first post I selected the song which initiated my interest in Thai Music. In 1987 I saw the Butthole Surfers in Hamburg Germany, when they had a supposedly deaf skin-headed dancer on stage that would dance to what I then believed to be an arabian belly dance tune. That song was called "Kuntz". Fast forward, 20 years later I found myself working in Thailand, when out of Nostalgia I listened to that song again, suddenly realizing it was sung in Thai and being able to understand some, but not able to make sense out of it. Playing that song to several people I found out it was sung by famous singer Ploen Promdaen. Remarkable is that the Butthole Surfers hardly changed the song, just a bit of echoe and a spoken KUNTZ mixed in. Mr. Promdaens lyrics play with words, so it is not easy to understand. The original says just "khan" which means it "itches", refering to a "spot" (duang, caused by ringworm infection) on the skin, but using "duang" ambigiously also for fate (duang) - "why is a good fate good, when it itches...!". The Surfers added the "s", making it sound like a rather impolite word.  BTW, the Surfers said they got the Song of a tape (entitled simply "Thai Shotgun") that was send to them anonymously. So first post, first song, off the Album Glua Duang, here it is!