withep kanthima: dieow salo lanna

artist: วิเทพ กันธิมา (withep kanthima)
album: เดี่ยวสะล้อลานนา (dieow salo lanna)
tracklist:
01. พม่า (phama)
02. ปราสาทไหว (prasat wai)
03. เชียงใหม่ จะปุ ละม้าย (chiang mai cha pu la mai)
04. ฤาษีหลงถ้ำ (ruesi long tham)
05. สาวไหม (sao mai)
06. อื่อ (uea)
07. เงี้ยว (ngieow)
08. จ๊อย (choi)

this week's post marks the sixth in a series of cassettes gifted to us by educator cliff sloane. a former professor of ethnomusicology and founder of asianclassicalmp3.org, a major influence behind this blog.

our sixth tape from cliff again features the talents of lanna artist withep kanthima. born in 1954, withep trained from a young age with his father in the local music of northeast thailand, studying a range of folk instruments and performance styles. aside from this paternal instruction, withep was also a student of chao sunthon na chiang mai, our previously featured performer from cliff's collection. like his teacher, withep made his name hand-crafting local instruments and instructing young musicians at the chiang mai college of dramatic arts, marking that institution's first hire of a folk musician, according to cliff. he passed away in 2006 at the age of 54^[1]. this third cassette from withep finds him switching to the salo, a three-stringed spike fiddle, running through improvisations on a selection of favorite regional tunes with accompaniment. enjoy!

preview: