oichai daen-isan: molam brake taek

artist: อ้อยใจ แดนอีสาน (oichai daen-isan)
album: หมอลำเบรคแตก (molam brake taek)
tracklist:
01. เด็กในโอ (dek nai o)
02. สาววันบ่กล้าเสี่ยง (sao wan bo kla siang)
03. อิสานบ้านเฮา (isan ban hao)
04. ผัวสามสไตล์ (phua sam style)
05. น้ำตาปรี่ที่ญี่ปุ่น (nam ta pri thi yipun)
06. ครูบุญธรรมจำบ่ได้ (khru buntham cham bo dai)
07. สาวดำรำพัน (sao dam ramphan)
08. จีบพี่โก๋ (chip phi ko)
09. แฟนหายใจละห้อย (faen hai chai la hoi)
10. โฉนดหัวใจ (chanot hua chai)
11. มอเตอร์ไซค์ทำแสบ (motorsai tham saep)
12. คิดถึงทุ่งลุยลาย (khit thueng thung lui lai)
13. อยู่ก็เสียใจไปดีกว่า (yu ko sia chai pai di kwa)

this week, the first from our batch of recent acquisitions: we've got oichai daen-isan with a set of non-stop molam-luk thung! oichai is from chaiyaphum, the daughter of very poor itinerant peddlers, and had little formal schooling. her love of singing, however, brought her family advantage; as they traveled from town to town selling charcoal, oichai would sing songs to attract customers. after her father's death, she struck off on her own and lived a turbulent young life, sneaking to bangkok with a singing group who cast her out, cutting her hair short to avoid harassment in the slums, further disguising herself as a boy to live on temple grounds, and generally hustling to get by in the city as a dishwasher, street vendor, and finally nightclub singer. at last she met narong rotcharoen, president of topline diamond. although she considered herself a luk thung singer, the label saw potential for her in the modern molam scene, and particularly their brake taek or "brake failure" style, marked by continuous medley-type sets. achan num phuthai was brought in to lead the band, and the album was a best-seller. according to oichai, though, so many people were involved in the recording that no one made much money off it individually, and her follow-ups failed to repeat its success. she lost interest in a musical career as a main income, and went back to food service¹. today, you can find her selling yam naem (crispy rice salad) from a street stall in the bangkok suburbs, although she still performs occasionally as a singer. enjoy!

preview: