Photoblog from Thailand

In June 2008 I spent three weeks in Thailand engaged in music projects and exploring. It was one of the great experiences of my life, highlighted by my participation in a multi-cultural concert in Umphang and a recording of songs by Burmese people living in the Umpiem Mai refugee camp.

Sightseeing in Sukhothai

My first stop after flying into Bangkok was Sukhothai in Central Thailand. Sukhothai ("dawn of happiness") was the center of Thailand's first independent kingdom and birthplace of the Thai nation, established in 1238. I spent a blissful few days there with my beautiful travel companion, Jamie, bicycling through town and the historical park filled with Buddha images and brick temples. Also enjoyed the first of many Thai massages there. We stayed at the incredible Orchid Hibiscus Guest House in Old City Sukhothai and highly suggest you do the same if you ever find yourself in Sukhothai.

Not much to see in New City Sukhothai, but we did get a cheap guitar there. By the way, food, goods, transportation, lodging, massages, etc. are all INEXPENSIVE throughout Thailand, so bring a few bucks and live like a king or queen.

We took a bus to Mae Sot in the western borderlands of Central Thailand and spent two days and nights there. Relatively uneventful, save for a few unsettling hours trying to get a ride back to our hotel from the market on the Burma border while armed military men patrolled for refugees. If you're ever in Mae Sot, stop into a bar there called Kung's. Kung is a great artist and music aficionado.

Recording in Umpiem

Next we had a special music recording project at the Umpiem Mai refugee camp. Over 150,000 refugees live in various camps in Thailand having fled a military regime in neighboring Burma that “arbitrarily arrests, tortures, rapes and executes its own people, wages war on minorities within its own borders, and builds itself new cities, while looking the other way as refugee flows increase, narcotics and human trafficking grow, and communicable diseases remain untreated.” (US Acting Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, January 2007)

Jamie works with refugees in the Umpiem camp through American Refugee Committee. She found that her particular group informally sings songs they have written about their quest for basic human rights, expressed with a spirit of great hope for the future. Jamie and I proposed that we make an audio recording of them singing their songs and package it for use by the ARC.

I found the camp to be a spectacular site sprawled over the rolling hills of Central Thailand. We spent a wonderful afternoon listening to and recording great songs of hope and peace on my iPod through an Audio-Technica AT822 stereo microphone. The instrumentation was provided by just two musicians: one playing an acoustic guitar, and one playing a Yamaha keyboard plugged into a car battery for power. Some of the keyboard parts were programmed in advance and some were played live, but all were coming out of the built-in speaker on the keyboard. The songs were recorded live into a single stereo microphone with no overdubs.

Youth Are the Future
listen
lyrics (English)

Hope
listen
lyrics (English)

I'm not sure in what format the recordings we made on that day will be available to the general public, but I certainly hope to make it happen soon.

I brought my trusty banjo along for the ride, and swapped American folk songs and Burmese songs with the group. They didn't want their photographs published in connection with the recording project for fear of possible negative repercussions, hence the picture with their backs to the camera.

Multi-Cultural Concert in Umphang

From Umpiem we traveled a winding mountain road to the beautiful, simple village of Umphang, located in the Tak province of Thailand. Situated at the confluence of the Mae Khlong and Umphang Rivers, it is surrounded by pristine countryside, roaring waterfalls, ancient jungles, hot springs, limestone cliffs, and remote hill-tribe villages.

In Umphang there is a charming coffeehouse/souvenir shop called BanKruSun. It is run by a girl named Gift, her mother and grandmother. Gift's mother was married to a prominent Thai musician known as Krusun. The name of the cafe, BanKruSun, means "home of Krusun."


Krusun dedicated his music and career to helping local village children who were growing up in poverty. Money raised from the sales of his music was used to buy food and school supplies for the children, for whom he also gave concerts and provided music classes. Krusun passed away at an early age, but a foundation in his name, the Krusun Foundation, continues the work he started.


Prior to my visit, Gift arranged a special multi-cultural concert to benefit the Krusun Foundation. The concert took place at BanKruSun on Saturday, June 14, 2008. It featured traditional American folk music, represented by me and Jamie, and traditional music from Northern Thailand, represented by the Children's Group of Mehklong Village and the Elder's Group of Umphang. The Thai musicians played a violin-like bowed instrument called a 'sawoo,' a mandolin-like plucked instrument called a 'sung,' and various percussion instruments.

I met with members of the Elder's Group the night before the concert. We didn't understand a word each other said, but managed to effortlessly infuse their traditional Thai music with my clawhammer banjo playing. The rehearsal and concert were magical and I cannot express how grateful I am for the incredible experience of making music with and for the people of Umphang.

Elder's Group of Umphang (with me on banjo)

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Matthew Sabatella and Jamie Lee Ganger

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Children's Group of Mehklong Village

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Other Highlights from Umphang

While in Umphang we enjoyed rafting down the Mae Khlong River and walking through rice paddy fields. We also narrowly survived an elephant riding excursion through the Thai jungle.

Rafting Down the the Mae Khlong River

Elephant Riding through the Jungles of Thailand

Crossing the Scariest Bridge in the World
to What We Only Hoped Would be an Elephant Waiting on the Other Side

Riding the Elephant That Was Waiting on the Other Side

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Crossing the Rice Paddy Fields to the Waterfall

The Waterfall

Last Stop: Bangkok

Despite being told that five days was too long to spend in Bangkok, we decided to proceed with our plans anyway. We actually had a great experience there enjoying some of the creature comforts that were not available in the more remote areas of Thailand we had explored (like non-Thai food).

A Violent Massage

Lumphini Park

(The Central Park of Bangkok)

Night Market and Khao San Road

Thanks for Stopping By!