Zom Ammara was once hailed as Thailand’s “Queen of Reggae”. With massive hits such as Playgirl and Shake it Baby, Zom epitomised the modern and carefree attitude that her song lyrics were famous for.
In Playgirl she told the world: “I like to go out/What’s wrong with that/’Cause I love the music”. The video for the track, featuring the godfather of Thai hip-hop Joey Boy, saw her shaking her hips to the beat, showing off her long hair and tattooed body.
Six years have passed since her last studio project and Zom is back with a new vibe. She is sporting a pixie-style haircut, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and black trousers.
The singer is in a thoughtful mood, having just left a meeting with executives at Channel 5 — the Royal Thai Army’s TV station — and senior monks from Wat Borvoranives.
“It’s a strange day when a soldier, a monk and a singer meet to work together,” says Zom, whose real name is Siriruk Siripong. “We were discussing a project to raise funds for charitable purposes.”
Zom declined to reveal more, apart from the fact that if the plan goes ahead, she’ll be performing her new album on TV. But don’t expect Zom to be revealing her torso and shaking her hips this time around.
INSPIRATION FROM ABOVE
Her forthcoming album, Capital Muse, is not like any of her previous musical projects. The lyrics are no longer about a straight-talking and fun-loving girl — quite the opposite, in fact. The songs on Capital Muse are based on the teachings of the late Supreme Patriach Somdej Phra Yana Sangvorn, the former abbot of Wat Borvoranives.
“The album is about how people can find happiness in the secular world,” says Zom, who describes the late Supreme Patriarch as “one of the world’s greatest Buddhists”.
A monk might not be an obvious source of inspiration to a hip-hop and reggae artist, but Zom says the decision to incorporate his work into her music came naturally.
“I had been reading his teachings for a long time,” she says. “Most people know me as a sexy hip-hop singer, and that’s fine. But there’s more to me than that.”
What many people don’t know is that Zom ordained as a Buddhist nun last year. “After years of thrills in the entertainment industry, I thought I should spend some time at the opposite end of the spectrum. So I looked for serenity,” she says.
She cut her long hair, shaved her head and stayed in a temple in Chon Buri for one month. “It is easier to observe Buddhist precepts while you’re ordained in a temple,” Zom says. And what about life after the temple? “I feel more at peace.”
A longer stay at the temple was out of the question though, she explains: “I still have to look after my family. My only ‘debt’ to the world is to repay my mother.”
Despite her stint at the temple being short, it helped more than just her music.
Zom argues that religion has given her a valuable insight into political turmoil in the country. “I think the root cause of all this is that people have lost their sense of morality and righteousness,” she says, adding the teachings of the late Supreme Patriarch could solve the ongoing conflict.
RELUCTANT STAR
Zom says she never dreamed of being a singer as a child. She doesn’t play instruments and can’t read a single note of sheet music. She studied communication arts at Assumption University and always “wanted to work in an advertising company”. Her father is a doctor and her grandfather owns a pub. But her vocal talent shone through at a young age and she was invited to sing at various functions while growing up.
After graduating, she worked in the creative marketing department of a well-known department store and moonlighted as a singer.
Her artistic skills did not go unnoticed and in 2002 she released her first album through an indie music label. The album, Sweetless, was produced by T-Bone, a well-known Thai ska-reggae band. With its mix of rock and reggae, Zom’s debut was an instant hit. Her second album Za Ammarom cemented her status as one of Thailand’s most popular female reggae singers.
In 2007, Zom joined the label GMM Grammy and her style took on a more hip-hop orientated sound. “I like rock, jazz, death metal and even classical music,” she says. “My dad introduced me to classical. My music tastes are diverse and my favourite band is Pantera.
“When you work in a particular studio, you automatically adjust what you’re doing to the style of the music label,” she adds.
Although her hip-hop is influenced by Western music, Zom has always tried to add a Thai flavour and sense of humour to her work. On one track, she sings about som tam or papaya salad alongside Joey Boy, who she has known since college.
A number of Zom’s singles, including the popular Playgirl, were released under Joey Boy’s label Gancore Club, which is part of GMM Grammy. “I never anticipated it would become such a hit. Back then, I had to sing that song many times in one night,” she says.
In Playgirl, she talks about how girls should respect themselves: “The song does not encourage girls to be trashy. Yes, they can go out to clubs if they like music, but at the end of the day, they must know what they are doing.”
GOING HER OWN WAY
Once her contract with Gancore Club came to an end, Zom decided to go independent and began writing songs for adverts. In 2013, she penned a track called What We Hope For to raise funds for a children’s hospital. She also set up Mr. Chicago Co Ltd, a communications and marketing company. She is the company’s managing director.
Tackling teenage pregnancy is a personal crusade, and Zom has spoken at various events to help educate young people about sex and relationships.
Brunch first met Zom at a Senate forum on the issue in Bangkok two years ago. She was invited to address about 500 students. “Ask yourself what you can’t tell your parents,” she told the students at the time. “The things that you can’t tell your parents might be the things that you shouldn’t do.
“My message was that you have to respect and love yourself and be thankful and honest to your parents,” she says, recalling that day.
Zom’s interest in educating young people stems from the fact she was worried she might have had a part to play in leading teenagers astray. Two years ago, she told Brunch she had seen young girls getting drunk and leaving her shows with boys: “I wondered if I had made them go out and put themselves in a vulnerable situation.”
Asked if she still has the same worries, Zom says she has come to realise that young people have to be responsible for themselves. “I think regardless, they will go out anyway. You cannot change that,” she says. “But what we can do is educate them and tell them to respect themselves and know what they are doing.”
COLOUR-CODED CLASHES
In the last couple of years, Zom has become increasingly interested in political divisions in the country, trying to understand the ongoing conflict. “Why are Thai people fighting each other? Our ancestors did not sacrifice their lives to see us divided like this,” she says.
Zom believes a moral vacuum is to blame. Since she found solace in the words of the late Supreme Patriarch, she felt a wider audience would benefit from his teachings too.
“In March last year, I went to Borvoranives Monastery to ask the acting abbot Somdej Phra Wannarat for permission to write songs based on the Supreme Patriarch’s teachings,” she says. Somdej Phra Wannarat agreed. She began work on the Capital Muse project in August and sent her first lyrics to the temple for approval in September last year.
She is working on up to 30 songs for the project, in collaboration with 100 students from four universities where she lectures on project management — Mahidol, Silpakorn, Rangsit and Burapha University.
The first single on the album, Sang Song Jai, which translates as “heart of light”, is already available on YouTube. Zom appears singing with cropped-hair, since the video was shot not long after she left the clergy. She sings the ballad with musical accompaniment from her students.
The song is inspired by the Supreme Patriarch’s writings on the concept of sang song chai (the light that shines to your heart). “Your good deeds are like stars,” Zom says, explaining her interpretation of the teachings. “You won’t see them during the daytime, but they are always there for you. During the night, which is a symbol of your suffering, you will see the stars and they will guide you out of suffering.”
Capital Muse will be performed in concert for the first time in September this year, she says.
NATIONAL PRIDE
Zom’s other ongoing work in progress is a collection of songs entitled Soul. She is writing six rock tracks, including three Thai songs and three English songs as part of the project, which started life four years ago. Against a background of political turbulence, the music focuses on three themes: belief, love and the country.
Zom says Soul is an independent project, backed by a small group of experienced musicians. They are Tang, the drummer from Super Becker, August Dila the drummer from Heretic Angels and co-producer of the project, Chon the keyboard player from Shopping Bag, and Bank the guitarist from Bew Souls.
The six songs will be accompanied by digital cartoons and the band will tour colleges with performances of the tracks after debuting at Burapha University in December.
Soul is an independent project for now, but that could change. “We are discussing it with a certain music label, but nothing is finalised yet. We didn’t want to wait, so we decided to go ahead with it as an indie project for now,” she says.
The first single will be Last Goodnight. “Every person has a mission in life,” Zom says, explaining the premise for the track. “Like soldiers, we have a mission to protect the country in everyday life. When the mission is incomplete, you’re forced to try again. It is a cycle. Last Goodnight refers to the fact that if a solider can accomplish his mission, he can sleep peacefully.”
Asked if the themes featured in Soul will sell albums, Zom is relaxed. “I don’t know. I haven’t been thinking about that. But this is what we want to do,” she says, adding that the band is rehearsing the six songs ahead of their planned release next month.
Zom refuses to dish the dirt on what her life’s ambition is. “I won’t tell you,” she says, but she insists: “We own our lives. Don’t let anyone dictate your life to you. You have to direct your life on the right path.”
Her secret to keeping on that righteous path is having a good network of friends and mentors: “Before I do anything major, I always consult with people I respect to see whether they think I’m right or wrong.” n
