Magnificent molam rides again!

Magnificent molam rides again!

A recent concert at Jim Thompson Farm was a real blast

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Magnificent molam rides again!
The All-Thidsa band entertain the crowd. Photos: John Clewley

This year's party at the Jim Thompson Farm in Pak Thong Chai, held each year at the same time -- the farm opened to the public for six weeks -- was a fun affair. The Farm Tour for 2017 is about the importance of water in the country's northeastern region, as reflected in the title, "Rushing Water -- The Life Force Of Isan".

This year, World Beat has been to a lot of small stages, for central Thai folk music, luk thung and molam. I've seen shows by big stars like Tai Oratai, who has a new show and songs out, and fast rising ones like Lamyai. One of the best big shows I saw this year was the Melody Of The Fields charity event organised at Tawandeang Brewery by Tang Isan magazine, and which included Aungkanang Kunchai, Tai Oratai, Khru Salah Kunavutti and Et from Bonglang Sa-On.

But it was the smaller stages and the lesser-known bands and artists that attracted my attention over the past year. The small stages at Wat Khao Kampeng in Suphanburi, where I went to see 50 molam singers perform their annual wai kru ceremony (paying respect to their teachers) had many great molam glawn masters on show like National Artist Chaweewan Damnoen, as well as a stage for more commercially oriented molam bands.

Out of all the bands I've seen from the Northeast, two stand out for their excellent performances, the two main bands on stage at the farm: the All-Thidsa Band from Maha Sarakham and a lam sing outfit, Bow Dam Lam Sing, which I think is originally from Khon Kaen.

Both bands were absolutely phenomenal. The All-Thidsa Band is a fast-rising all-court molam band that plays everything from traditional lam glawn to the more modern lam sing styles; the band's keyboard player, Tony, even croons a luk thung tune or two in their shows. The band is led by Arthit Khamhongsa, a lecturer from Mahasarakham University, and features Weerayut Seekhunlio on saw, and these two fine musicians are the focal point of the band's stage performances, along with young singer Molam Nittaya.

Leader Arthit told me that the band will soon release its first album, having already recorded five songs, and the band's stages at Wonderfruit this year were enthusiastically received.

I was told before the Jim Thompson Party that there would be a great lam sing band performing and my friends were not wrong. Bow Dam Lam Sing arrived in Pak Thong Chai like a hurricane and tore the place apart. The band's hard-driving lam sing rhythms had everyone dancing, and the comedy skits they performed between songs, involving the kind of twerking dance moves that so upset members of the government, were a hoot. The four female hang kruang (chorus line) dancers vied to out-twerk each other while the singer played MC and judge; it was all good fun and very funny. One musician even twerked while playing the khene.

Lam sing has, of course, been somewhat controversial since it emerged in the mid-1980s, as traditional molam glawn singers tried to modernise the appeal of their music to younger audiences by incorporating Western instruments in their band line-ups. The drum set, according to one of the subgenre's originators Ratri Srivilai, was the key modernising instrument, adding a beat absent from the mainly acoustic lam glawn performances. The lam sing bands added elements from luk thungmolam and popular music, which, as a result, meant that the longer poetic vocals were shortened and replaced by a faster beat and more luk thung-style vocals. The early lam sing bands (Ratri Srivilai told me that her brother, well-known molam musician Sunthawn Chairungrueang, was another originator) had to hire younger singers for the luk thung/pop music songs in their sets, while the older lam masters sang the lam sections.

Conservatives bemoaned the fact that this hybrid form had become so popular at the expense of lam glawn concerts, and indeed you could argue that the emergence of lam sing was driven by audiences, often dominated by younger age groups, who wanted something more modern.

And it is true that some lam sing bands are formulaic -- I especially dislike the overuse of Santana-style guitar pyrotechnics over the subtler phin sound -- but when lam sing is in the hands of a decent band like Bow Dam Lam Sing or Ratri Srivilai's band, then everyone can have a good time.

Bow Dam Lam Sing's set was brilliant. Led by a singer whose name I haven't found yet and four female and two male dancers, some of whom jumped into the audience to show foreigners how to fon (Isan-style dance), the band played a mix of lam sing and luk thung Isan that had everyone smiling. It was a great way to celebrate a year of really good music.

- The Jim Thompson Farm Tour 2017 "Rushing Water -- The Life Force Of Isan" is open to visitors from 9am-5pm daily, until Jan 7 at the Jim Thompson Farm, tambon Takob, Pak Thong Chai district, Nakhon Ratchasima province. There are daily molam performances at the farm from local bands.


This columnist can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.

Bow Dam Lam Sing. John Clewley

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