“ONCE I heard the voice of you, my darling… My heart melted and grew weak.”
“Oh! Look at you!”
“Your face, as if painted by the gods.”
Molam music has soul. The beat is insistent, the songs are plaintive – love won, but generally lost on the endless rice-plains northeast of Bangkok where the Thai world merges with the upland cultural milieu of the Lao.
Perhaps the easiest way of understanding how Molam fits in (or doesn’t) in Thailand is to think of it as comparable with the “Country & Western” music forever shunned by metropolitan New York and Los Angeles, but very much alive – out there – in Nashville and elsewhere in the South.
The khaen – a bamboo free-reed mouth organ, generally with sixteen pipes provides the polyphonic base to Molam.
With its intense and rasping barrage of sound, the khaen represents a proud assertion of Lao identity – one that Thailand’s leaders have long sought to suppress.
The tension between Bangkok’s homogenising Thaification policies and the earthy rambunctiousness of the outlying provinces – such as those in the Isaarn region, with its population of over twenty-one million – lies at the heart of much of Thai political history.
The Ceritalah team was in Khon Khaen province recently to enjoy Molam (the music IS great) as well as to get a sense of how Isaarn with its deep Lao cultural roots was leaning politically.
For nearly 20 years, now the Shinawatra’s have been the dominant force in the region. Their pro-farmer policies have won them deep-rooted support across Isaarn.
Especially popular was former premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s hallmark Universal Healthcare Coverage scheme which provided over two thirds of the population with access to healthcare.
Patiwat Saraiyaem (better known under his stage name, Molam Bank, or simply, Bank) is a twenty-nine-year-old singer from Sakon Nakhon province. He has been performing since he was thirteen. He’s also been a stage actor, though that brings back painful memories for him.
“I was arrested in Bangkok in 2014 and then was jailed for lèse majesté. I was released in August 2016. I had played an advisor to the Thai King in a stage show called “The Wolf Bride”. I said some things I wasn’t supposed to…Sorry, cannot repeat out loud,” Bank apologises with a nervous laugh.
Bank’s controversial performance commemorated a terrible day in Thai modern history – the harrowing 1973 Thammasat University massacre that left more than 100 students dead and over 800 wounded as protests against the ruling military strongman, Thanom Kittikachorn, spiralled out of control.
The lèse majesté provisions are wide-ranging: Article 112 of the penal code imprisons anyone who “defames, insults or threatens” the monarchy for up to 15 years, a law virtually unchanged for eleven decades.
It would seem that speech, as well as culture, has become yet another battleground in increasingly politicised Thailand.
Nonetheless the junta headed by Prayut Chan-o-cha has sought to court Isaarn’s voters ahead of the much-anticipated General Election to be held no later than February 2019 (assuming it actually happens).
Despite the Bangkok elite’s critiques of the Shinawatra’s social welfare policies, 11.7 million people – many of whom reside in Isaarn – receive social welfare cards that provide them with THB200 to THB300 a month under Prayut’s government.
But listening to Bank’s music in Khon Kaen, all of that seems far away indeed.
Accompanied by a khaen and an electric organ, his body starts swaying to the beat as his hands swoop and curl with the melody.
Painfully aware of Bangkok’s apparent disdain for all things Lao and Isaarn, Bank’s songs have become increasingly pointed and political, notwithstanding the gracefulness.
“The state has even tried to assimilate Molam into a “higher form”, more suitable for aristocrats and the elite,” says Bank.
But the artist is doing all he can to counter what he sees as the taming of a rich heritage and culture.
“I’m trying to help evolve Molam by mixing it with the new and old, so that Molam survives as something everyone can enjoy – not just the elite. Molam is for everyone and I will always play Molam for the people.”
Karim Raslan
Fri Aug 10 2018
Patiwat Saraiyaem (better known under his stage name, Molam Bank, or simply, Bank), was one of many who experienced the consequences of Thailands lse majest law, deemed unjust by many. - Muhaimin E-Taela for Ceritalah
Bebaskan pasaran buruh dari perangkap gaji berasaskan kelayakan akademik - Penganalisis
Malaysia harus beralih ke arah penetapan gaji berdasarkan kompetensi pekerja.
Raja Charles III sambung tugas awam minggu depan
Raja Britain, Raja Charles ketiga akan meneruskan tugas awamnya minggu depan setelah cataT perubahan baik dalam rawatan kanser. Baginda akan memulakan dengan lawatan simbolik ke pusat rawatan kanser.
Demonstrasi pro-Palestin di kampus universiti AS
Demonstrasi pro-Palestin tercetus di beberapa kampus utama Amerika Syarikat. Pelajar menuntut gencatan senjata kekal dan menekan Washington untuk menamatkan sumbangan dana tentera kepada Israel.
Dakwaan Israel: PBB masih siasat 8 individu
Pasukan Khas PBB menutup satu kes dan menggantung tiga kes berhubung dakwaan terhadap 12 petugas UNRWA yang terlibat dengan Hamas, susulan kekurangan bukti dari Israel.
Hamas mahu gencatan senjata bersyarat
Hamas komited kuatkuasa gencatan senjata dalam perang dengan Israel, namun dengan syarat yang dituntut.
Penghidap kanser tulang impikan telefon bimbit
Siti Zubaidah, calon SPM yang mengidap kanser tulang, bercita-cita memiliki telefon bimbit untuk merakam kenangan sebelum pergi. Petronas merealisasikan impian ini melalui program 50 Dreams.
Malaysia seru pihak terlibat supaya bertenang dan minta siasatan dijalankan terhadap isu kemanusiaan di Gaza
Malaysia seru semua pihak yang terlibat supaya bertenang dan menghentikan tindakan provokatif yang boleh memburukkan lagi konflik di rantau Asia Barat.
PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu bermula hari ini
PRK DUN Kuala Kubu Baharu dimulakan hari ini dengan proses penamaan calon di Dewan Serbaguna dan Kompleks Sukan Daerah Hulu Selangor. Calon dari parti serta calon bebas boleh serahkan borang pencalonan mulai jam 9 pagi.
Michelle Yeoh terima penghormatan tertinggi Amerika
Michelle Yeoh akan dianugerahkan Pingat Kebebasan Presiden oleh Presiden Joe Biden pada majlis rasmi di White House pada 3 Mei depan.
PM Lee akan hadir Pemukiman Pemimpin Singapura-Indonesia di Bogor
Ini merupakan permukiman ketujuh dihadiri Lee dan Pemukiman Pemimpin terakhir dengan Joko Widodo yang lebih dikenali sebagai Jokowi.
Ceritalah: Sejarah berulang dengan gunung berapi Taal
Pemandangan ketika Taal meletup dan imej-imej semarak debu yang besar dan menakutkan naik ke arah langit diiringi dengan kilatan guruh dan petir yang disebarkan ke seluruh dunia oleh media sosial.
Ceritalah: Tuntutan China atas Laut China Selatan - ASEAN harus bersatu
Pada tahun 2016, pemimpin-pemimpin dunia memandang Beijing dan beliau sebagai suatu hab alternatif - bagi suatu pendekatan terhadap ekonomi dan politik global yang berprinsip dan seimbang.
Ceritalah ASEAN - Joko Anwar: Cemerlang atas usaha sendiri
Tarikannya dan citra jenakanya menyembunyikan suatu minda yang amat bekerja keras dan berfokus.
Ceritalah - Perang dadah Duterte: Rakyat suram sambut Krismas
Kerana enggan kekal diam dan menerima takdir berdarah anaknya, Normita terpaksa meninggalkan rumahnya dan sekarang tinggal bersama seorang sanak saudaranya di bahagian lain bandar itu.
Ceritalah ASEAN - Aung San Suu Kyi: Lannister atau Stark?
Aung San Suu Kyi dari Myanmar - anak seorang jeneral, mengetuai sebuah negara amat rapuh telah menjadi musuh Tatmadaw (tentera) untuk menjadi apologis atau, lebih teruk lagi, pemudah mereka.
Ceritalah ASEAN - Plastik: Patut dikekalkan atau dihapuskan?
Gabungan pendapatan dari 50 firma petrokimia teratas dalam tahun 2018 adalah ASD926.8 bilion, jauh melebihi industri penapisan berjumlah ASD400 bilion.
Ceritalah Indonesia - Jawa: Mengenai bahasa dan perpaduan
Secara berasingan, kesemua tujuh presiden Indonesia mempunyai darah Jawa - termasuk BJ Habibie kelahiran Sulawesi yang baru meninggal. BJ Habibie adalah separuh Jawa.
Ceritalah - Enam hari di laut: Suatu pelayaran di atas Nggapulu
Dari saat para penumpang menaiki feri lapan tingkat itu, Nggapulu menjadi suatu mikrokosmo republik itu sendiri.
Ceritalah Indonesia - Anak muda memberontak: Apa mereka mahu?
Antara 23 dan 30 September, Hamzah adalah salah seorang daripada ribuan pelajar yang membuat bantahan di luar Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR) menghidupkan semula ingatan pada waktu Reformasi.
Ceritalah: Gelombang kemasukan pelancong India ke Asia Tenggara
Sementara ekonomi India mungkin menghadapi kemerosotannya sendiri, pelancong dari gergasi Asia Selatan itu menjadi kuasa yang semakin perlu diiktiraf di rantau Asia Tenggara.