withep kanthima: dieow sueng, vol. 2

artist: วิเทพ กันธิมา (withep kanthima)
album: เดี่ยวซึง ชุดที่ 2 (dieow sueng, vol. 2)
tracklist:
01. แขกเชิญเจ้า (khaek choen chao)
02. นางครวญ ๒ ชั้น (nang khruan, 2nd level)
03. ต้นวรเชษฐ์ ๒ ชั้น (ton worachet, 2nd level)
04. ลาวลำปางใหญ่ ๒ ชั้น (lao lampang yai, 2nd level)
05. ลาวกระทบไม้ (lao krathop mai)
06. ลาวเสี่ยงเทียน ๒ ชั้น (lao siang thian, 2nd level)
07. ทยอยญวน (thayoi yuan)
08. สร้อยลำปาง ๒ ชั้น (soi lampang, 2nd level)
09. เขมรไทรโยค (khmer sai yok)
10. กล่อมนางนอน (klom nang non)
11. ลาวราชบุรี (lao ratchaburi)
12. สร้อยลาว (soi lao)
13. ลาวชมดง (lao chom dong)

this week's post marks the fifth 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 fifth 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 cassette is his second volume of solo performances on the sueng, a plucked fretted lute, this time with some light accompaniment and featuring melodies drawn from the central thai classical/folk repetoire. enjoy!

preview: