I know it’s been quiet around here. I’ve been working, a bit for money and more on working over the next chapter of the book in my head. Writing starts tonight.
While you wait, here’s some music I like.
Seelinnikoi, by Värttinä, who are a force of nature:
M’bifé, a sweet ballad by Amadou & Mariam:
Yedi Gosh, uncredited in the video but sung by the amazing Ethiodiva Aster Aweke:
This next one is เปิดใจสาวแต, by Kratae. I have no idea what this song is about, but it seems vaguely feminist, what with the pink boxing gloves and all. This is a recently-popular example of Luk Thung, Thai country pop music, which has a conception of melody I’ve never seen used anywhere else.
Another cool luk thung video, which I could probably identify for you if I read Thai:
And finally and incongruously, Eduardo Falu playing and singing (that incomparable voice!) Zamba de la Candelaria, with special bonus reading by Atahualpa Yupanqui:
We appreciate your patience. The first available blogger will be with you soon. Your continued visiting is very important to us.
เปิดใจสาวแต
Open [my?] heart, girl.
?
Ah, so about surgery then. Cool.
I started to write up a detailed description of which of the Thai songs were luk thung vs morlum, but aw, screw it. I’ll just say that “luk thung” basically means nothing anymore - as in the past few years - other than Thai and Lao music that follows the style of Thai and Lao folk traditional music, regardless of instruments.
The second song would more accurately be described as morlam or mor lum, depending on who you ask to transliterate, and where they were from (region and language/dialect of Thailand, Laos, or parts of Burma-China-Vietnam and even Cambodia - i.e. T’ai peoples). They are dancing the lamvong - there is probably a more Thai specific transliteration of the word to capture their phrasing but I don’t know it.
Basic theme of the (cute) first Thai song, as you can tell from the video - dude is running game and trying to pick up on a young lady (sao). American equivalent would be like, “Oh baby you so fine, awww I can’t get enuf. I LUV you girrrr.” Unceasingly. That said, SE Asian popular culture is much less crude than American pop culture - this is largely due to the LAW as well as the fact that people of all ages listen to the music and watch the shows - so they don’t get crazy explicit in their music.
Full disclosure: this author is a Caucasian American male exposed to a heavy diet of Lao and Thai pop and folk music, as well as soap operas and nagging.
Great comment, Kyle. Thanks!
I will add one more thing here - the reason that Thai pop music is more soulful, relevant and creative than anywhere else in Asia - save for, possibly, Indonesia - is the adherence to the core musical elements of their culture’s traditional music. This is largely due to a shift in the past fifteen-twenty years. Before that, you had the soulless Western pop emulation that you get, for example, in Korea, which is so derivative and uninteresting that you can feel your spirit leave your body every moment that you are exposed to it. Vietnamese pop music relies pretty heavily on traditional elements but is so heavily regulated and ridig that you can’t help but notice that something is horribly wrong when listening.
That said, SE Asian pop music is definitely an acquired taste, so I’m pretty impressed that you can groove on it.