En Thaïlande

EN THAÏLANDE/LA MUSIQUE TRADITIONNELLE DES MÔN

IN THAILAND/TRADITIONAL MON MUSIC 

Ocora, 1979, 558 535

This is another borrowed album for which I only have the French text.
But this is also another great work by Jacques Brunet that Ocora never bothered reissueing or including in its present catalogue; this is quite strange because every album made by Brunet is precious by the music and by the presentation text he wrote for a large public. 
The Môn were an extremely important cultural and political pole in Burma and Cambodia from the seventh to the thirteenth century. They were the first people to be Hindu influenced. This influence is noticeable in their music says Brunet.
He recorded one instrumental band in the Moulmein district as well as solo xylophone zither and flute, a flute and zither duet and only one song in an alternate form which is very popular throughout South-East Asia. 
The recordings were made in October and November 1977.

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Thaïlande

 

THAÏLANDE

MUSIQUES DE L'ASIE TRADITIONNELLE vol. 8 

THAILAND

TRADITIONAL ASIAN MUSIC  vol. 8

Playa Sound, 1979,  PS 33512

This very interesting album was the work of François Jouffa a French journalist and writer; he was born in 1943 and travelled all around the world recording all sorts of music in the field. He was also a producer for radio and television. 
Here he visited ethnic minorities in northern Thailand a country rich in cultural diversity like the neighbouring Laos, Cambodia, Burma and China. Some tracks are a real discovery starting with the Shan mostly settled west of Chiang Mai in the north. Jouffa recorded a small band with four young females singers, one four-string viele, some percussions, a xylophone with bamboo keyboard and cymbals.
The Lisu end side A; they are famous for opium cultivation in hidden fields far away from their villages. They play a khene-like instrument. 
Side B starts with two examples of môn music from the area of Bangkok; this kind of music is well known in Burma as part of the national culture inherited from the Môn by the Burmese. Then we go back to the Golden Triangle with  the Karen with a song by two men and a small band. The Karen were the most numerous in this area. Track B4 brings us among the Akha who came from China; two men sing a song about a bachelor. The album ends with the Lahu people recently arrived from southern Yunnan. Here a tune by two khene-like  players (it's called ''naw" by the Lahu) and a two-string instrument. 
Jouffa managed to get all the names of the people he recorded but he gave the tunes and songs French titles. 
Unfortunately when I borrowed this album a long time ago I didn't copy the English presentation text but only the French one in the form of photocopies. I join them nevertheless. 

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