Friday, November 19, 2010

loy krathong

this week's post comes to us courtesy of norwegian record collector gojira... he specializes in popular music across asia, from turkey to thailand, and he's just started his own great blog, stereomono!


artist: various
album: loy krathong
tracklist:
01. loy krathong
sung by ดอน สอนระเบียบ (don sonrabiap)
02. loy krathong
sung by ฉันทนา กิติยพันธ์ (chanthana kitiyaphan)

in late november (specifically, the full moon night of the 12th lunar month, this year the 21st), thailand celebrates loi krathong, a brahmin festival where little rafts made to resemble lotus flowers are loaded with candles & floated downriver for good luck, an offering to the river goddess ganga. the holiday is a big hit with locals & foreign visitors alike, and as such, there is a catchy theme song to go with it! the original is a ramwong from the 50's by the suntaraphon big band, but here we've got two peppy string versions, sung in charmingly halting english by 70's disco stars don sonrabiap & chanthana kitiyaphan. enjoy! and suk san wan loi krathong!!

8 comments:

Paul Garrigan said...

This is a brilliant track. This is really going to put the family in the Loy Kratong spirit. I'll have to bookmark it in my reader for future use (or is it possible to download it?) Keep up the good work.

peter said...

hi paul!
you can download all the albums discussed here by clicking the "tracklist" link!

Paul Garrigan said...

Thanks Peter

Á Go-Gojira said...

I wonder if this record was aimed at the tourist market in Thailand since they're singing in English here.

peter said...

i imagine you're right!
as you know, it's pretty rare to find thai records with english on the covers, so i think that's the most probable explanation.
i know the holiday is heavily promoted by the tourism authority of thailand nowadays, i wonder what it was like in the 70's!
thanks again for this great contribution, gojira!

jesse said...

nice track! thanks guys

Holly said...

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!

Anonymous said...

effin' hell... been looking for don's version since 1988 but couldn't remember his name. thanks so much.