Ayutthaya Sessions + Bass

When i Played some of the recordings back to the guitarist, he immediately started laying down a bass track, so i switched around the SD cards so he could listen to the fist recording, while i recorded the new bass track. Just threw them together in Audacity, think they are more or less synched. Enjoy!

 

Six String Morlam + Sato5+Bass Track by EarSphere

Ayutthaya Sessions

Had the amazing luck in Ayutthaya to run into an Amazing Guitarist who's doing some interesting stuff with Morlam style Phin playing on a 6 string guitar, whereas the Phin is typically a 3 string affair (the three highest strings) so hes playing the three high strings as a Phin and using the three lower strings to provide a foundation of bass for the Phin notes to play with/against. Before starting to play for this session he smoked a whole pill of yabba to the face, which might have contributed to the speed and dexterity at play here. We were also joined by Sato, the manager of our guesthouse, who is partially deaf but plays a mean drum. The nasty feedback you hear on some of the later tracks is from Sato's hearing aid, and is going straight into his ear, and seemed to be incredibly painful, half the set Sato played without his hearing aid and instead had a pair of headphones from my friends zoom with the monitors turned all the way up so he could hear. In the picture below you can see he has the headphones tied to his head with a t-shirt. His real drums were damaged in the recent flood, the skins were gone, so he is playing a home-made drum thats basically a wooden box with a thin plywood top. I returned to Ayutthaya recently and brought him new drum heads, because they are not available in Ayutthaya. The Last couple of tracks are sort of weird covers, and I believe two originals that he pulled out of nowhere in the end of the session.

o

Sato

Recording

 

Ayutthaya Sessions by EarSphere

I also have a bass track Recorded for one of the songs that i will overdub and post soon. Keep it locked more to come, Cambodia soon...

Acoustic Morlam Jam

After the second night at the Temple, the musicians invited me back to their house for more whiskey, food and some more music.

The Guy on the left is the Phin Player/vocalist for most of these recordings, as well as the soloist on most of the full band recordings, he is also responsible for the full color murals at the monastary. The guy in the middle was the youngest of the group, playing bass and percussion mostly, he spoke the best english. The third dude is the main MC as well as a percussionist, he was too drunk to sing by this point though, born in Lao in the 1950s.

Here are selected recordings from that night:

 

Morlam Acoustic Set at Home by EarSphere

In the end of the fourth track you can hear one of the guys (middle in the top picture) give me the headscarf i'm wearing  in the photo below, because i gave him my leather jacket at a previous show.

Second Night of Morlam band at Temple

Second night of performances at the temple, This time with an Erhu, and two hand drums.

 

Second Night of Morlam at the Temple by EarSphere

Later tracks are better, they start playing harder.
Later, the musicians, the guitarist and Phin player took me into the Temple, where they have been living while painting the inner sanctuary, the Phin player did the murals, while the guitarist was responsible for the gold stenciling on the columns. here's pics of the murals:

Recordings from an acoustic jam at the musicians house up soon

Morlam Band busking at the temple in Chiang Khan,. Three of the same players from the previous night's restaurant show, the Kong player is on guitar, but only playing the bass strings, the bass Phin player is on a standard Phin, and one of the vocalists is playing drum and working the crowd. They are joined by an old man playing Pong Lang, and a female vocalist with a Ching. Nice mellow stuff, they took a while to fall into the groove, so the later tracks are more interesting, track 10 "Morlam Sing," is a stand out track. Another set with an Ehru player coming soon.

 

Morlam at the Temple by EarSphere

Siam Center Violinist redux

Very excited about this, a collaboration between a Thai street musician and an American drummer, my good friend and amazing drummer, Colin Fahrner, drummer for Big Tree much love to Colin for putting this together and sending it my way. enjoy:
Siam Man +drums by EarSphere

Loi Kratong Festival in Chiang Khan

During the Loi Kratong festival, where the Thai's traditionally build rafts out of banana leaves, filled with fresh flowers, candles and inscense, this is lit and the raft is placed in the nearest river. Which in my case happened to be the Mekong, not only the Mekong, but the most beautiful spot on the mekong i have yet visited. The main staging ground for the festival was right along the river accompanied by a live Luk Thung band of students from the local school. Unfortunately, they struggled to keep pace with the tempo changes,my recording of them will be in a later post.

Earlier in the day, while wandering about, on the outer edges of the city near the market, i noticed a stage and restaurant set up that had not been there previously. The set up thrilled me, Two Phins, a full trap kit, a Kaen (the vertical bamboo pan-pipe), a Song (curved hammered dulcimer), and set of Kong (hand drums). When i returned later in the night, i was not disappointed.

 

The band was tearing it up, i hung around the periphery for a bit, trying to sus out if it was a private party or open event, not wanting to be disrespectful. A group of older Thai ladies approached me shortly after i had started to record and demanded i join them for a dance. I couldn't say no, the Morlam groove is infectious, its impossible to stand still. The name says it all Mor-lam literally translates as "Dance Professor" (despite my earlier mis-translation "expert singer" i have it from a Thai source I trust that the proper translation is the one above). I set the recorder to record, and joined the ladies for dancing, food and drinking. The band poured me a glass of whiskey after i'd been dancing a while, i couldn't say no. The ladies kept trying to feed me from their table full of food, ate some, but focused my energies on dancing and recording. By the end of the set I was the only one dancing, my friends who had initially pulled me in had called it a night, but the band continued to play until most of the tables were packed up, i can only think for my benefit, as after my friends left, it was only me and one other table far in the back in attendance. As the band packed up, talked to everybody, although there was little English spoken, and my Thai insufficient, we were both clearly happy to be in the others company. At multiple points in these recordings the singer is mentioning me, to what end I'm not sure. I recommend tracks 5-10, but they're all pretty good. Track nine is nice and sparse, Just Kaen and vocals, with a tiny contribution from the, by this point, very drunk Phin player on the Bass Phin.

 

Chiang Khan Morlam Band by EarSphere

The next two days, I kept seeing these same musicians playing in various places all through out town. have about 30 more recordings of this band in various incarnations, including where there is actually a Song player as well as an Erhu. Look for these in the coming days. My last day in Chiang Khan, I played drums in one of their performances, and they had me over to their house, where i was treated to more food and drinking, as well as an acoustic jam. So much love for and from these guys.