Maft Sai Interview | Page 2

I favor “honest music”. You can encounter with something you have never known before, when you search for that. There is a culture which had been neglected for 30 to 40 years. There are no books or documents about it, and it is not on the TV either. It’s a culture which nobody has touched.

The time I started listening to Thai music seriously was when I came back from studying abroad in 2007. Before that I had listened to music in the category of Thai Funk. It’s strings music from the 60s, 70s and early 80s. As I found a vinyl of music which had influence from the western music such as disco sound which is a cover of soul and funk, I would listen to it. But I did not dig down and listen to the roots music of Thailand, like Luk thung and Molam”. The first Molam vinyl I bought was Chaweewan Dumnern* and Angkanag Kuchai*. I especially listened to the songs of these two artists. The reason why is I felt something very close to the sounds of East Africa, Ethiopia and some others which I had collected and listened to. After that, I came to know Dao Bandon* and for some reason, it reminded me of the Mali music. After that, I listened to Luk thung and it reminded me of Ethiopia. Around that time, I realized that it was similar to the music which I has interest and had bought it and collected. I immediately got into it and was absorbed in searching for the roots music of Thailand. The more I listen to it, I found similarities. Although I could not find anything common in cultural perspective, but as I listened to it I found that each sound has its own original characteristic. So, additionally, I started to study production. At that time, I mainly listened to Isan music, especially music from Isan area to Laos’ culture, and many others. They have many fun music like music for an outdoor event. In Thailand, we had sound system culture from way before and we had many chances to interact with the atmosphere of music playing in the outdoors. After that, we launched a label called “ZudRangMa Records” and created compilation of Thai funk, and in 2009, there was this flow of big movement to host “Paradise Bangkok”.

I favor “honest music”. You can encounter with something you have never known before, when you search for that. There is culture which had been neglected for 30 to 40 years. There are no books or documents about it, and it is not on the TV either. It’s a culture which nobody has touched. So I started wanting to think of a project and make it a reality. Since then I have been actively engaged in releasing sound sources and music events. I kept on playing the music genre which nobody has ever looked into, with the heart that it’s not a fruit from the past which is old, boring and lame. In those music events I played world music with the roots music of Thailand. And then, the audience started realizing that Thai music actually has parts that are similar to the sounds of other countries in the world. As a result of that, the people who had no interest in Thai music whatsoever, started opening up.

*Molam:
It has the meaning of “expert of Lam” or “expert of speech”. Performing arts of Lao cultures of the Isan area in northeast Thai, which has the routes from Laos. It is used with the meaning of both “songs” of a specialist, and a specialist “singer”. It has similarities with Luk thung as it focuses on the living of poor people in the villages. The characteristics are the rapid vocalization, rhythmical vocalization, and the funk from the percussion. Performs usually with a khene.

*Chaweewan Dumnem:
Born 1945. Female singer from Ubon Ratchathani Province. She was the first singer of the Ranshman Orchestra and was greatly popular in the 60s and the 70s.

*Angkanang Kunchai:
Born 1956. Female singer from Amnat Charoen Province. She has released a hit song “Isan Lam Phloen” (1971).

*Dao Bandon::
Born 1947. Male singer from Yasothon Province. He has many hit songs. He kept singing daily life of the people with the theme of alcohol, women, money and so on. One of the most successful singers.