Thursday, March 20, 2014

Something Old(er) To Share With You

Something a little different to share with you today: a site I've visited often over the past few years, but haven't gotten around to doing a post about - to my minor shame. I'm adding the link in the Other Sites You May Enjoy section on the right-hand column of the site here.

The site is named Monrakplengthai (มนต์รักเพลงไทย) - and it's a treasure trove of Thai music. No, not the most modern stuff, but things you're likely to hear if you're outside of a city, and trust me... that's a good thing.

Primarily taken from cassettes produced over the past 20 years or so, Monrakplengthai features a generous selection of music from throughout the country; available to preview and/or download. Many of these are smaller-scale productions, and it's always an aural adventure when they make a new post.

Their intoductory blurb says they feature  "a collection of great music made by the people of Thailand;," and there isn't much more I need to add to that.  You'll find Morlam, Luk Krung, Luk Thung, "regional folk styles and more". The sound and style isn't for everyone - some I enjoy more than others, I admit - but, as I said, it's an adventure, and an adventure often has some unexpected surprises.

Taste in music being a subjective thing I won't list my favorites I've heard from the site, but if you've ever heard something in Thailand at a market or festival, at a street gathering, in a taxi, while shopping in a store, while visiting a friend's home or by chance somewhere that struck a chord with you (pardon the pun), you're bound to hear something you like there.

In addition to the wide range of music available there are also some links almost guaranteed to derail your day by an hour or so as you drop down the rabbit hole.

Check it out. Everyone deserves some toe-tapping time, if not a little while dancing around, waving your arms in the air...wherever you happen to be now. I bet you'll to catch yourself keeping time with the infectious rhythms.

The page on March 5, 2011

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